Connacht prepare for Dragon's lair...
By Sea_point
May 3 2007
Connacht coach Michael Bradley has made five changes to his Connacht squad for Friday nights game which is being televised on BBC2 Wales and Setanta Sports. He has named Ronan Loughney in his panel for the first time since suffering a knee injury in a friendly against Narbonne last August.
Dragons v Connacht
Date: Friday, 4 May Kick-off: 1915 BST
Venue: Rodney Parade, Newport
Watch: BBC Two Wales (Scrum V) & Online
Listen: GBFM (TBC), NewstalkFM, or Magners MatchdayLive
Connacht
Connacht coach Michael Bradley has made five changes to his Connacht squad for Friday nights game.
Bradley has named Ronan Loughney in his panel for the first time since suffering a knee injury in a pre-season friendly against Narbonne last August.
The return of the former Ireland U21 international is a major boost for the province as he steps up to take the place of Brett Sturgess.
Mark McHugh having recovered from a groin injury sustained against the Cardiff Blues a month ago, and is now likely to become the seventh Connacht player to reach 100 caps for the province in Friday's match. A fitting finale as McHugh heads to the south of France to play next season for Montpellier.
Mark takes the place of David Slemen in the squad while Ted Robinson is recalled after recovering from a hamstring injury in place of the unlucky Ireland U20 Grand Slam winner, Aidan Wynne.
Stephen Knoop has also recovered from a hamstring injury to be named in place of Ray Hogan and David McGowan is in the squad in place of the injured Matt Lacey.
"In the last few seasons we've managed to beat the Dragons at home only to lose to them in Wales so we know just how strong they are," said Connacht coach Michael Bradley.
"At the same time we're looking to finish our season on a high note and see this as an ideal opportunity to do so, as building some momentum before travelling to Wales again the following week when we play the Scarlets."
The Dragons
The Dragons have targeted the one point they need to ensure a shot at next season's Heineken Cup from Friday's Magners League visit of Connacht.
That would mean the Irish province could only draw level with them in the table, and the Dragons have a vastly superior points difference.
Finishing above Connacht and Borders would give the Dragons a Heineken play off spot, if the Cup goes ahead.
"It's a key game to build a platform for next year," said coach Paul Turner.
"We've blooded a lot of youngsters this season and I was proud of them in the midweek defeat to the Blues."
The Dragons will be without Nic Fitisemanu, Nathan Brew, Craig Warlow and Lee Harrison, while Rhys Thomas (muscle injury), Aled brew (back), Colin Charvis (elbow), Paul Emerick (knee) and Peter Sidoli (broken hand) will be monitored.
Whoever makes a potential Heineken Cup play-off will face the third-best Italian province, Overmach Parma having beaten the Dragons in last year's corresponding fixture at Rodney Parade.
Record V Dragons
|
Wins |
3 |
|
Loss |
4 |
|
For |
121 |
|
Agst |
144 |
|
Previous Encounters | |||||||
|
23 Nov 2003 |
14:30 |
Dragons |
28 |
- |
19 |
Connacht |
Newport |
|
1 May 2004 |
14:30 |
Connacht |
14 |
- |
32 |
Dragons |
Galway |
|
28 Nov 2004 |
13:05 |
Connacht |
19 |
- |
14 |
Dragons |
Galway |
|
16 Apr 2005 |
17:30 |
Dragons |
24 |
- |
19 |
Connacht |
Newport |
|
6 Jan 2006 |
19:10 |
Dragons |
27 |
- |
19 |
Connacht |
Newport |
|
15 Apr 2006 |
14:30 |
Connacht |
15 |
- |
10 |
Dragons |
Galway |
|
13 Oct 2006 |
18:30 |
Connacht |
16 |
- |
9 |
Dragons |
Galway |
Dragons: Kevin Morgan (capt); Richard Fussell, Paul Emerick, Gareth Maule, Aled Brew; Ceri Sweeney, Alex Walker; Adam Black, Steve Jones, Lee Harrison, Ian Gough, Luke Charteris, Joe Bearman, Colin Charvis, Michael Owen.
Replacements (from): Ben Daly, Jamie Corsi, Andrew Hall, Dan Lydiate, Gareth Wyatt, Aled Thomas, Phil Dollman, Gareth Baber.
Connacht: G Duffy; D Yapp, D Riordan, J Hearty, C McPhillips; P Warwick, C Keane; B Wilkinson, J Fogarty (capt), S Knoop; D Gannon, A Farley; J Muldoon, R Ofisa, C Rigney.
Replacements: A Flavin, R Loughney, M Swift, D McGowan, P Durcan, M McHugh, T Robinson.
Referee: Malcolm Changleng (Scotland)