Half time 6-3 chiefs. Great performance so far

Cooney on the bench.

Poolman will probably play v Harlequins in the friendly, along with the likes of Muldoon, Loughney, Wilko, White, Duffy, McCarthy. Those lads have been held back

He's here already

When does Poolman join up with the squad

But who will replace him?

Just to clear that up, Cooney is travelling to exeter, he won't be playing v the American team

Interesting XV, obviously the team who starts against Cardiff in 3 weeks will bear very little resemblance to this side but its important to run out the squad and see the options we have.
O'Halloran at full back is an interesting one, probably our best alternative at full back to Duffy for the time being although I'd have hopes of Layden seeing some gametime there also.

It'll be good for Loxton to get a run at senior level and see what he's about.

Murphy at 12, not too sure but hopefully he puts his case forward, would have preferred them to maybe experiment with Jarvis there.

Moore at 9 is only because the other two scrum halfs aren't travelling but hopefully he can put his name forward in a position where there is no stand out candidate.

2nd row and back row isn't our strongest but still looks competitive.

Front row is a worry though. Flavin will need to use all his experience to coach the two rookies through this one but it'll be good experience for them


Connacht XV

15 Tiernan O’Halloran

14 James Loxton

13 Kyle Tonetti

12 Brian Murphy

11 Fetu’u Vainikolo

10 Miah Nikora

9 Dave Moore

1 Finlay Bealham

2 Adrian Flavin

3 Peter Reilly

4 Michael Swift

5 David Gannon

6 Andrew Browne

7 Eoghan Grace

8 George Naoupu



Replacements (from): Jason Harris Wright, Dennis Buckley, JP Cooney, Mick Kearney, Thomas Anderson, Willie Faloon, Eoghan McKeon, Kieran Marmion, Jack Carty, Mark McCrae, Mata Fifita, Robbie Henshaw, Matthew Jarvis

Reilly is listed n°3 in Exeter covered by Cooney, I think we need White, Wilko or Loughney, because we use 8 props at the same time ( 2 full members and 2 subtitutes in each teams)...
Otherwise Conney will do the 1st half in Sandy Park, teleport himself in the Sportsground and play the 2nd half in Galway :lol:

It's a small mistake, obviously he's playing in the Sportsground tomorrow he won't be going to Exeter.

my guess would be that they mixed him up with peter reilly who wasn't listed anywhere

Problem : JP Conney is listed in the Academy XV and the senior XV! how on earth could it be?

Front row in for a big learning curve tomorrow!

Great to see Brownie back

Interested to see how Moore gets on at 9, ditto Murphy at 12

Chance for Grace to stake an early claim for the 7 shirt

It would appear alot of lads are being held back for the Quins game

Browne at 6 and Peter Reilly !! all is lightning Green!

Connacht announce team to face Exeter in first of pre-season fixture

Connacht Rugby have announced the team that will face the Exeter Chiefs tomorrow in the first of the pre-season fixtures. The game will take place at 2pm at Sandy Park.

These fixtures are a great opportunity for Eric Elwood to blend the new summer signings and development players into the squad. Tomorrow’s line up sees a blend of youth and experience picked from a large squad and offers Eric Elwood and his management team the chance to try out a number of different combinations.

Included in the line-up for tomorrow, academy prop and former Irish U20s International Finlay Bealham earns his first start for the province in the front row.

Newly signed Brian Murphy will start at inside centre, having joined from Ulster Bank AIL club side Galwegians. Murphy was voted the iRadio Senior Club Player of the Year having performed consistently over the course of the season.

Tiernan O’Halloran, who featured predominantly on the wing last season, will move to Full-Back position.

Scrum-half Kieran Marmion had a very successful Ireland U20s campaign in the Junior World Championship and will be looking to stake his claim for the highly competitive number nine position from the bench.

Also in the replacements line up is Buccaneers player Robbie Henshaw. The talented centre has been a vital member of Nigel Carolan’s Academy.


Head Coach Eric Elwood is eagerly looking forward to the first game of the new season. “Pre-season training has being going very well and the players are itching to kick off with the new season. Our new guys have settled in excellently and we’re ready for the challenge Exeter pose as a very strong side.”

This season will be Exeter Chiefs debut season in the Heineken Cup, where they have been pitted against Leinster, Clermont Auvergne and the Llanelli Scarlets. Last season they performed consistently throughout the year, and finished just outside the play-off positions in fifth place in the Aviva Premiership, the only team outside of the top four to win more games than they lost. Club captain Tom Hayes, brother of former Munster and Ireland prop John, is one of three Irish players on the books.

The game kicks off at 2pm tomorrow 11th August. Follow Connacht Rugby on Facebook and Twitter and we will keep you up to date with the scores as they happen.

This game is followed a week later by a clash with old time rivals Harlequins at the Stoop on Saturday 18th at 2.45pm.




Connacht XV

15 Tiernan O’Halloran

14 James Loxton

13 Kyle Tonetti

12 Brian Murphy

11 Fetu’u Vainikolo

10 Miah Nikora

9 Dave Moore

1 Finlay Bealham

2 Adrian Flavin

3 Peter Reilly

4 Michael Swift

5 David Gannon

6 Andrew Browne

7 Eoghan Grace

8 George Naoupu



Replacements (from): Jason Harris Wright, Dennis Buckley, JP Cooney, Mick Kearney, Thomas Anderson, Willie Faloon, Eoghan McKeon, Kieran Marmion, Jack Carty, Mark McCrae, Mata Fifita, Robbie Henshaw, Matthew Jarvis

Team will be named later today.

I was about to complain about the idiot who promised the team would be announced yesterday but then I remembered it was me. As you were.