Edinburgh v Connacht: Teams
Edinburgh scrum-half Chris Leck will make his full competitive debut for the Scottish outfit when they host Connacht at Murrayfield.
Last Updated: 15/09/11 12:45pm
Edinburgh scrum-half Chris Leck will make his full competitive debut for the Scottish outfit when they host Connacht at Murrayfield on Friday.
The former Sale player will form a half-back partnership with skipper Greig Laidlaw, who moves from the No. 9 position to stand-off, where he shone at the end of last season.
Lee Jones replaces the injured Simon Webster on the wing while prop Jack Gilding and lock Steven Turnbull come into the pack to complete four changes from the 26-19 defeat to Ospreys last time out.
Young flanker Stuart McInally is included as a replacement after recovering from a foot injury.
Although he was pleased with the improvement his side made against the Ospreys, Edinburgh coach Michael Bradley says that the hosts now need to record an overdue win.
"The boys stuck in to the Ospreys match for the full 80 minutes which was important for us as it was something we targeted going in to the match," Bradley said.
"We now have to maintain that in all our games this season.
"Our scramble defence and general effort on the day was a huge improvement and we got ourselves into a position to win the game but unfortunately didn't take it.
Commitment
"We now need to a repeat that commitment and hunger and take any opportunities to win this game.
"It's very important that we get a 'W' on the board tomorrow, no matter how we do it, we need to get a win."
Connacht, who have won two from two in the RaboDirect PRO12 season so far, have made two changes to the starting XV that defeated the Scarlets last weekend.
Ethienne Reynecke is given the start at hooker with Adrian Flavin moving to the bench and Johnny O'Connor comes in for Ray Ofisa at openside flanker.
Ofisa is nameds among the replacements, with TJ Anderson on dropping out of the squad and Dylan Rogers replacing Stewart Maguire as the replacement tighthead prop.
Michael Swift will write himself in the Connacht history books as the first player to reach 200 caps for the team this weekend.
The towering lock is now just five behind Cardiff Blues' Deiniol Jones in the all-time appearance standings in the Celtic League.
Connacht will be hoping they can turn their early-season momentum into a first ever win over Edinburgh at Murrayfield.
Edinburgh: 15 Tom Brown, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Jim Thompson, 12 James King, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Greig Laidlaw(c), 9 Chris Leck, 8 David Denton, 7 Roddy Grant, 6 Sean Cox, 5 Steven Turnbull, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Jack Gilding, 2 Steve Lawrie, 1 Kyle Traynor.
Replacements: 16 Andrew Kelly, 17 Robin Hislop, 18 Shaun Knight, 19 Esteban Lozada, 20 Stuart McInally, 21 Alex Black, 22 Gregor Hunter, 23 Matt Scott.
Connacht: 15 Gavin Duffy, 14 Mark McCrea, 13 Eoin Griffin, 12 Henry Fa'afili, 11 Tiernan O'Halloran, 10 Matthew Jarvis, 9 Frank Murphy, 8 George Naoupu, 7 Johnny O'Connor, 6 John Muldoon, 5 Mike McCarthy, 4 Michael Swift, 3 Rodney Ah You, 2 Ethienne Reynecke, 1 Ronan Loughney. Replacements: 16 Adrian Flavin, 17 Brett Wilkinson, 18 Dylan Rogers, 19 Dave Gannon, 20 Ray Ofisa, 21 Paul O'Donohoe, 22 Niall O'Connor, 23 Brian Tuohy.
