CONNACHT COACH PAT Lam has given 21-year-old out-half Jack Carty a shock first start for Connacht in tomorrow’s Pro12 derby with Leinster in Galway.
The Buccaneers man is in his third year in the Connacht academy and has earned international honours up to under 20 level as well as making three substitute appearances for his province.
With Dan Parks on the bench, Carty is part of an all-Irish back-line which includes Robbie Henshaw and Eoin Griffin partnered in midfield with Darragh Leader named at fullback.
“Jack has been involved with us in training all year,” says Lam, “and has had some good performances with the Eagles.
“It is a great boost to his development as a young Irish qualified 10 to play against such quality opposition and I know he is very much looking forward to the test.”
Andre Browne will win his 100th cap for the western province in the back-row alongside John Muldoon and Eoin McKeon. Craig Clarke captains the side from the second row.
Leinster, meanwhile, have recalled some of their international big guns as Rob Kearney, Brian O’Driscoll and Jamie Heaslip come back into the side.
Heaslip captains the side amid ongoing speculation that his time in Ireland could be limited. His return to number eight means Jordi Murphy is moved to openside flanker at the expense od Dominic Ryan.
Connacht: D Leader, F Carr, R Henshaw, E Griffin, M Healy, J Carty, K Marmion: B Wilkinson, J Harris-Wright, N White; M kearney, C Clarke (Captain.), A Browne, J Muldoon, E McKeonReplacements: D Heffernan, D Buckley, R Ah You, M Swift, G Naoupu, P O’Donohoe, D Parks, T O’Halloran.
Leinster: R Kearney, Z Kirchner, B O’Driscoll, G D’Arcy, L Fitzgerald, I Madigan; E Reddan: J Mcgrath, S Cronin, M Moore, D Toner, T Denton, R Ruddock, J Murphy, J Heaslip (Captain).
Replacements: A Dundon, J O’Connell, M Ross, M McCarthy, D Ryan, I Boss, J Gopperth, D Kearney.
First Henshaw now Carty great to see some Athlone lads starting to make a breakthrough
Best of luck to Jack Carthy, great to see Connacht fielding a young, all Irish back line.
Would love to see Jordi have a great game at 7 and get into 6 nations contention to fill the gap left by SOB. Will also be keeping a close eye on Henry and Tommy O’ D tonight
C’mon Connacht.
Exciting game ahead. Leinster will be scratching after last yrs result but Connacht will meet ye more than half way!!!!
FYI. You have only listed 14 starting players for Leinster. Devon Toner has become a one-man machine in the second row…
Scratch that, you have added Tom Denton.
I have. He just about caught the bus. Cheers.
Tom Denton catching something? What’s seldom is wonderful
Kirchner on the wing, hopefully he’ll spark some exciting back plays.
Murphy at 7 puts even more pressure on Henry and o’donnell
He’s only back from injury but I really liked the work rate and professionalism of o donnell last year! I think at the moment if have him and murphy ahead of Henry in the long run
I’d rather go to a funeral than watch a rugby match
In that case shouldn’t you read an obituary column instead of an article on rugby?
Paulie I’d say you depress everyone at a funeral
Give it to him Lizzy!
Right in his Walnuts!
Haha, if I thought he had some Robby I would but my guess is he’s all mouth and no trousers ;)
Nicely put Elizabeth, well said!
There something wrong in the system when the IRFU won’t give the appropriate funds to a team who funds an all irish backline but prefers to spend money on big name signings to boost another provinces profile. Then they are wondering why they are not unearthing players to fill the roles of the retiring legends of the last few years? Connacht could be a good conveyor belt for Ireland in areas that are been missed, just look at Athlone.
Both Munster and Leinster are producing massive amounts of Irish players and ulster have brought some through too. To say spending money on overseas players is a waste is just wrong.
Players like Isa and rocky done so much for Leinster
As did dougie and him Williams for Munster and all these young ulster backs
I assume you’re referring to the same Connacht who are the only province not restricted by the IRFU’s stringent new rules on overseas recruitment & who boast more overseas players in their squad than any other province? Change the record. We’ve all heard this tune before
Del. We have relatively few non-Irish players and more and more of our squad is IQ. In face more and more of our squad is Connacht academy.
The reason why Connacht is not bound by the overseas rule is because the IRFU implicitly want Connacht to be a development province. They are not explicit about it because it annoys everyone here but that is the reason. Hence Connacht IQ players can be moved to other provinces and they are told to shop abroad.
The first example of this was Macca. Granted Connacht did well to bring Clarke in, but it will not always work out that like.
Personally I would much prefer Connacht to be properly funded and have the same rules apply to us as the rest of the provinces.