Connacht determined to clip Ospreys’ wings

CONNACHT will be aiming to benefit from having a largely settled squad during the Six Nations period, and their first task is to see off an Ospreys side who sacked their head coach two weeks ago.

Kieran Keane is able to call on plenty of experience in the likes of John Muldoon, Tiernan O’Halloran and Tom McCartney, while Andrew Browne also returns. Keane is demanding that his side carry their European form into the PRO14.

“We are up for this game, we know the importance of it,” Keane said.

“This is a really important block of games for us and will have a big bearing on our PRO14 season.

“We have a quarter-final in the Challenge Cup to look forward to later in the season but there is a lot of rugby to play before that, so our focus is firmly on the league at the moment.”

Verdict: Connacht CONN AC HT–TO’ Hall oran; CK el le her, E Griffin, T Farrell, M Healy; C Ronald son, C Blade; DCoul son, T McCartney, C Carey; A Browne, J Cannon; E Master son, ND aw ai,JMul do on( capt ). Reps: S Dela hunt, P McCabe, D Robertson-McCoy, GT horn bury, J Con nolly, J Mitchell, J Carty, P Ahki. OSPREYS–D Evans; H Dirks en, FF ono tia, A Beck, D Ho wells; S Davies, TH abbe rfield;R Jones, SOtten,D Ar hip; L Ashley, J King; O Crack nell, W Jones, RM cK us ker( capt ). Reps: SParry,NSmith, MFia,G Mercer, SC ross, R Morgan-Williams, L Price, J Thomas. Connacht v Ospreys, Sportsground, 7.35