JARRAD BUTLER WILL make his 100th Connacht appearance in tomorrow’s BKT United Rugby Championship trip to the Ospreys [KO 7.35pm].
Butler joined the western province in 2017 and spent three seasons as captain.
“Jarrad reaching 100 caps is a brilliant achievement,” said Director of Rugby Andy Friend.
“He’s a genuine leader within the group both on and off the field, and it’s a testament to him that he has hit a century of appearances in just six seasons with us.”
Lock Darragh Murray and winger Adam Byrne are both in line to make their Connacht debuts at Swansea.com Stadium having been named among the replacements.
Connacht (v Ospreys):
15. Tiernan O’Halloran
14. Alex Wootton
13. Tom Farrell
12. David Hawkshaw
11. John Porch
10. Jack Carty (C)
9. Caolin Blade
1. Denis Buckley
2. Dylan Tierney-Martin
3. Jack Aungier
4. Oisín Dowling
5. Gavin Thornbury
6. Shamus Hurley-Langton
7. Conor Oliver
8. Jarrad Butler
Replacements:
16.Grant Stewart
17. Jordan Duggan
18.Sam Illo
19. Darragh Murray
20. Paul Boyle
21. Kieran Marmion
22. Tom Daly
23. Adam Byrne
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Bit nervous for this match – Ospreys are a bit of a bogey team for us, and despite them not winning on the road, they only lost to Lions at home. Morgan Morris and Keelan Giles have looked good for them. Still, a win away against them and Ulster doing us a favour in Thomond Park, and we could potentially leap frog Munster after a considerably harder fixture list. That would really give us a good shot at qualifying for the European places.
@Joe Vlogs: they’ll be out to prove a point too after last week, gonna be a tight game
That’s a decent team given the time of year. Glad we not playing Connacht when our main men are away.
@Ro Molloy: ooh well done on Butlers 100th. Class player.
any chance of some analysis against previous form between both teams, pros and cons for both, etc?