Big Match Focus: Shannon v Garryowen

SHANNON v GARRYOWEN, Thomond Park Stadium, 7.30pm
Referee: David Keane (Leinster)

Previous AIB League Meetings: 21 (Shannon won 12, drawn 1, Garryowen won 8); At Coonagh/Thomond Park: 10 (Shannon won 4, drawn 1, Garryowen won 5)

Last Season: Saturday, November 3, 2007 – Garryowen 6 Shannon 8, Dooradoyle; Saturday, May 3, 2008 – Semi-final – Shannon 6 Garryowen 31, Coonagh

Recent AIB League Form: Shannon (most recent games on left hand side): WWLLW
Garryowen: WWLLL

Shannon – Notes: * Shannon are currently 11th in the Division One table, with one win in two games. They have a points differential of -10
* They finished second in the Division One table last season, with a record of played 15, won 12 and lost 3, before losing to Garryowen at the semi-final stage
* They have won twelve of their last 13 home games in Division One, eleven of them at Coonagh
* Have managed only one win in their last six Division One games at home to Garryowen
* They first played AIB League rugby against Garryowen in January 1991 – lost 15-12 to them back then at Dooradoyle
* They have a 40% winning rate playing in the league at home to Garryowen. This is the twelfth season of the Division One play-offs – Shannon have made it to six previous semi-finals (five of them at home)
* Their 31-6 defeat to Garryowen last May was their first ever semi-final loss at home in the competition
* They won the Munster Senior Cup and the AIB Cup last season. But they lost in the second round of this season’s Munster Senior Cup to Cork Constitution (21-7) – they will face Blackrock College in the AIB Cup’s second round on November 1
* Centre-cum-out-half Andrew Thompson has to date scored exactly 1200 AIB League points. This is the Laois man’s 15th season of AIB League rugby

Top Points Scorer In 2008/09 AIB League: Tadhg Bennett 34 points; Top Try Scorer In 2008/09 AIB League: Richie Mullane 2 tries

Garryowen – Notes: * Garryowen are currently 12th in the Division One standings, with no wins from two games. They have a points differential of -5 but boast two losing bonus points
* Last season, as defending champions, they reached the final before losing 18-8 to Cork Constitution. They finished the regulation campaign with a record of played 15, won 12, drawn 1 and lost 2
* The story on the road in Division One last season was played 8, won 7 and drawn 1. They were unbeaten in their last eleven AIB League matches away from Dooradoyle before going down to Con in the final
* Before last season’s 31-6 semi-final win over Shannon, there had been no more than two points separating Garryowen and Shannon in their previous three Division One encounters
* They are gunning for their fourth straight away league victory over Shannon this weekend
* Garryowen famously won the senior treble in the 2006/07 season, lifting the AIB League trophy, the AIB Cup and the Munster Senior Cup
* Former Connacht flanker Paul Neville has captained the club for the past two seasons
* The club’s technical director, Greig Oliver, is a former Scotland scrum half, while ex-Ireland international Philip Danaher is chairman of rugby at Dooradoyle
* To date, Garryowen’s full-back Conor Kilroy has accumulated 978 AIB League points, spread over three different clubs

Top Points Scorer In 2008/09 AIB League: Conor Kilroy 21 points; Top Try Scorers In 2008/09 AIB League: Willie Staunton, Kieran Lewis, Lorcan Bourke, Conor Kilroy 1 each