Connacht Name Extended Squad For Interpro Derby
Connacht have announced a 26-man squad ahead of their Magners League clash against Munster at Thomond Park on Saturday (kick-off 7.30pm).
In the backs, Daniel Riordan, Aidan Wynne and Mel Deane have all been called up to the squad, while up front David Nolan and David Gannon are added as Connacht prepare to head for Limerick on Saturday.
The Connacht team to face Munster will be confirmed on Friday afternoon.
Michael Bradley’s men scored a bonus point win over the Newport Gwent Dragons in their last Magners League outing and will be hoping to shock the European champions this weekend as they did earlier this season when they claimed a memorable 12-6 win at the Sportsground.
Bradley told IrishRugby.ie: “Going into these last four games in the Magners (League), depending on how the results fall for us, two or three wins will get us into Europe. That’s what we’ve left to play for.
“You can see that there’s plenty of good, positive play once we get a fair shake up front. We proved against the Scarlets, Cardiff and the Dragons that we can be very, very competitive.”
Team captain John Muldoon said: “We ended up getting another hammering against Northampton (last week). It’s not a nice feeling because we have a quality team and we have to believe in ourselves, we need to start moving forward.
“I feel we’re not that far away, we’ve quality in this side. It’s just a matter of getting the results that we need to get us up there and challenging, and it would be nice to start that down in Thomond Park.”
CONNACHT Squad (v Munster): Backs (12) – Liam Bibo, Fionn Carr, Mel Deane, Gavin Duffy, Andy Dunne, Ian Keatley, Frank Murphy, Troy Nathan, Conor O’Loughlin, Daniel Riordan, Niva Ta’auso, Aidan Wynne.
Forwards (14) – Andrew Browne, Sean Cronin, Andrew Farley, Adrian Flavin, David Gannon, Ronan Loughney, Brian McGovern, John Muldoon, David Nolan, Johnny O’Connor, Ray Ofisa, Colm Rigney, Michael Swift, Brett Wilkinson.