Connacht have made one change to their side ahead of their European Challenge Cup quarter-final against Northampton at Franklin’s Gardens on Saturday afternoon (kick-off 3pm).
Frank Murphy returns to the side at scrum half in what is otherwise an unchanged line-up from that which beat the Dragons at the Sportsground last Friday in the Magners League.
Connacht will be looking for a repeat of their result of October 1997 when they travelled to Northampton and got a 20-15 win when these two sides faced each other last.
Kieran Campbell (hip), Tim Donnelly (knee), John Hearty (hip), Michael McCarthy (foot) and Robbie Morris (foot) were not considered due to injury.
“We’re looking forward to the game. Northampton are a quality side and have a great record at home but anything is possible,” Connacht captain John Muldoon said.
“Sport is like that, it throws up those type of scenarios. If you go over with a defeatist attitude you might as well not turn up.
“We’ll go over, try to sting them with a couple of things. We have our game-plan set up, we’re training hard.
“It’s a two-horse race, anything can happen. If they don’t take us seriously there might be a sting in the tail for them. Obviously, our confidence is high rolling off the Dragons win.”
CONNACHT (v Northampton Saints): Gavin Duffy; Fionn Carr, Niva Ta’auso, Keith Matthews, Liam Bibo; Ian Keatley, Frank Murphy; Brett Wilkinson, Sean Cronin, Ronan Loughney, Andrew Browne, Andrew Farley, John Muldoon (capt), Johnny O’Connor, Ray Ofisa.
Replacements: Adrian Flavin, Brett McGovern, Michael Swift, Colm Rigney, Conor O’Loughlin, Andy Dunne, Troy Nathan.
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