Connacht Eagles Team Shows Three Changes

The Connacht Eagles team to face Jersey in round 4 of the British & Irish Cup at St. Peter’s on Saturday (kick-off 2pm) has been named.

Connacht Eagles head coach Nigel Carolan has made three personnel changes to the side that lost 40-10 to the same opposition at the Sportsground last weekend.

Scrum half and last week’s try scorer, Stephen Kerins, is promoted from the bench to start at St Peter’s in an otherwise unchanged back line.

The front row sees the introduction of hooker Pat O’Toole and tighthead prop Conor Kenny from the Connacht Academy.

Commenting on the province’s second successive meeting with the Islanders, Carolan said: “It was tough day at the office against Jersey last week and I expect the same ding-dong battle over there. It will be another groundhog day but at least we know what to expect now.

“We know that if we play some positive rugby, it will create some opportunities. The challenge is if we can take our chances, and deal with the maul – we will have a small chance.

“It’s a tough competition and for us, it’s just about trying to deal with the difference in physicality. There’s a professional team against players that are developing at this level. We are certainly learning, and the guys won’t mind having another scalp at them on Saturday.”

CONNACHT EAGLES (v Jersey): Ciarsn Gaffney; Adam Leavy, Api Pewhairangi, Cormac Brennan, Ed O’Keeffe; Conor McKeon (capt), Stephen Kerins; Jacob Walshe, Pat O’Toole, Conor Kenny, Peter Claffey, Cillian Gallagher, Marc Kelly, Rory Moloney, Stephen McVeigh.

Replacements: Juan Anaya Lazaro, Matthew Burke, Cian Romaine, Matthew Cosgrove, Ryan Feehily, Aidan Moynihan, Jack Keegan.