DB CONvEDI URC Digital Match Programme

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PRESIDENT’s
WELCOME
As President of Connacht Rugby I
am pleased to speak to you today ahead
of this evening’s BKT United Rugby
Championship fixture with Edinburgh
Rugby.
Today is our first Pro fixture at The
Sportsground in nearly 2 months so it’s
great to be back and kick off a hugely
important time of the season for the club.
The best of luck to all the players and
management for today’s fixture.
It’s fair to say a lot has happened in the
2 months since we were last here. At the
start of February the club announced the
appointment of Pete Wilkins as our new
Head Coach from next season. Pete is a
brilliant coach and even better person,
and I’m sure I speak for everyone when I
wish him every success for the next three
seasons.
There’s also been a number of exciting
player announcements – both current
players who are staying with us and future
players who’ll be joining us. Like yourselves
I was particularly excited to see this week’s
announcement of Santiago Cordero’s future
arrival. Cordero is a genuine world class
player and a huge congratulations must go
to the recruitment team of Pete, Tim Allnutt
and Willie Ruane in making the deal a reality.
We are all Irish rugby fans so the scenes at
the Aviva Stadium last week were ones we
will never forget in a hurry. To win just our
fourth ever Grand Slam, on St. Patrick’s
weekend at home to England…you couldn’t
script it any better! From a Connacht
perspective it’s been so good seeing the
contributions not just of Mack Hansen and
Bundee Aki, but the likes of Finlay Bealham,
Cian Prendergast and Caolin Blade who all
played their parts too.
On the club scene the last two Wednesdays
here at The Sportsground have seen the
Connacht Schools Senior and Junior Cup
finals take place. A warm congratulations to
all the winners and my commiserations to the
beaten finalists. There’s no doubt about it that
the future is looking bright.
That’s only the start of it though. Tomorrow
we have the latest final of the historic Bank
of Ireland Junior Cup between Westport and
Creggs, and then throughout April we have a
plethora of finals at youth level. There’s plenty
of exciting action to look forward to!
To our visitors today from Scotland, I’d like to
welcome their players and travelling party to
the West of Ireland. We hope you enjoy your
stay and have a safe trip back to Edinburgh.
Go raibh mile maith agat, and enjoy the
evening.
Connachta Abú!
Padraig Moran
President, Connacht Rugby 2022-23

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Coach PREVIEW
The BKT United Rugby
Championship is the main focus
this weekend in the rugby calendar
and the big games are coming thick
and fast as places for the playoffs
heat up.
Saturday see’s Connacht welcome
Edinburgh to The Sportsground
with both teams in the hunt for a
top eight finish.
Four wins in-a-row and seeing
Ireland win the Grand Slam, mood
around camp is extremely high
with players itching to get out
and perform in front of the home
support.
Speaking ahead of the game was
Connacht’s Director of Rugby Andy
Friend. He spoke about the positive
factor to the camp added by seeing
the two Irish teams winning Grand
Slams last weekend.
“It was brilliant to see both teams do
what they did”
“The senior team have been the form
team of the tournament”
“To cap it off with a bonus point win
and at home was fitting for them”
“Andy Farrell has his team have done
a great job and it leads them into a

great position going to the World
Cup”
“For the U20s, like the Seniors
they were the form team of the
tournament”
which shows our attack is going well
but we just need to get that final
piece at the end right consistently
now and when we do we’ll be a tough
side for anyone to stop”
“I felt all the Connacht players
did themselevs, their familes and
the province proud with their
performances”
“Irish rugby is in a good spot”
The question now that most fans will
ask, when will those international
players be back in action for
Connacht?
“Bundee and Mack will be back next
week, Cian Prendergast is back with
us which is great and he’s ready to
go” said Friend
Could we potentially see some of
the Irish U20 players get called up
into the senior squad?
“Those four fellas that played for
the 20s shown themselevs to be
good operators and we will probably
start to see more of them at our
training sessions”
Heading into Saturday’s game, Andy
spoke about the improvements
his side need to make from their
previous two games in the URC.
“We need to be more clincial”
“We are creating these chances

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Player PREVIEW
With three games to go in the
regular season of the BKT
United Rugby Championship,
Connacht and Edinburgh
get set to do battle with the
playoffs still the prize for
both teams.
The last two games in the URC
have seen Connacht on the
road picking up wins in Italy
and Wales. Connacht centre,
Tom Farrell is looking forward
to this weekend and playing
back at home.
“We’re ready, we had two good
wins on the road recently”
“Maybe from the outside people
would fee those two games
were games would should be
winning easily but I can tell
you now that going over to the
Dragons is never easy so that
was a massive win for us”
“Dragons are a proud team in
fron tof their home support so
that challenge was never a give
me one”
The Scottish side still have
hope of reaching the playoffs
themseleves and Tom is
expecting a massive challenge.

“They aren’t that far off us,
I’m not sure if they have their
Scottish players back but they
have great depth”
“They’ll be coming over here
with a lot of belief I’d imagine”
Farrell pairs up with Cathal
Forde in the midfield again and
its one he’s enjoying.
“Cathal is extremely is easy to
play with, he’s calm on the pitch
but he’s a great communicator
as well to be honest”
“He’s really grown into that 12
jersey the last couple of weeks
and with the compeition for
places in that jersey its only
a positive thing for Connacht
that he’s playing so well”
The connacht attack has been
flowing these last few months
with over twenty tries scored in
their last four URC games.
“I think our attack is going very
well the last while now, at the
start of the season we were
a little staggered but I think
thats because we were only at
the start of gelling a few things
together’
“Lads are undertsanding the
system a lot better now which
takes time to bed in but I think
we’ve found that switch now”

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Ciaran
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Back Row
Paul
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denis
buckley
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matthew
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SHAMUS HURLEY-
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sam
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Diarmuid
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kieran
marmion
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Sean
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oisin
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Oran
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Back Three
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DarragH
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Niall
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Pro team MANAGEMENT
Tim
Allnutt
Director of
Rugby
Operations
Andy
Friend
Director of
Rugby
Pete
Wilkins
Head Coach
Dewald
Senekal
Forwards
Coach
Colm
TuckeR
Scrum &
Contact Coach
Mossy
LawlEr
Attack & Skills
Coach
Simon
Kavanagh
Senior
Video Analyst
Mikey
KIELY
Head of Athletic
Performance
David
Hanly
Head of
Physiotherapy
Martin
Joyce
Logistics
Manager
Gavin
Rackard
Performance
Nutritionist
Johnny
O’Connor
Senior S&C
Coach
Barry
O’Brien
S&C
Coach
Oisin
O’Dalaigh
Asst.
Performance
Analyst
Colin
Nash
Physiotherapist
Stephen
Long
Communications
Manager
Deirdre
Lyons
Player
Development
Manager
Chloe
Mccrann
Rugby
Operations
Executive

ACADEMY MANAGEMENT
Eric
Elwood
Academy
Manager
ANdrew
Browne
Elite Player
Development
Officer
Mark
Sexton
Elite Player
Development
Officer
Mervyn
Murphy
Provincial Talent
Coach
Sebastian
Delport
Provincial Talent
Coach
Andrew
Murphy
Head of Athletic
Development
Mark
Gallagher
Lead
Physiotherapist
Alan
Doonan
Performance
Analyst
Emma
Brennan
Performance
Nutritionist
Micheal
Devane
S&C
Coach
Evan
Fitzgerald
Physiotherapist
Deirdre
Lyons
Player
Development
Manager
Aidan
O’Flynn
Personal
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Chloe
Mccrann
Rugby
Operations
Executive

cLUB & COMMUNITY
A barnstorming second-half display
saw Sligo Grammar secure back-toback
Connacht Schools’ Senior A Cup
titles, overcoming Marist College in a
wet and windy Sportsground.
It was the Athlone side who started
the better, playing much of the first
ten minutes inside Grammar’s 22.
However, a stern defence saw Grammar
repeatedly finding a way to keep the
Marist out.
In the fifteenth minute of the game, the
defending champions found their own
attacking foothold. George Barlow
was the talisman, as he showed brilliant
footwork to break through several
tackles in midfield and find himself in
open ground.
From there, the winger made no mistake
and placed down beyond the Marist line
in the Bohermore end. It didn’t take long
for Grammar to build on that lead and
make it 10-0, with Earl Norris taking
an easy three points after Marist were
punished for not releasing in the tackle
in front of their own posts.
The young Athlone side, with six players
still in transition year, showed great spirit
to fight back before the break and get
their sole try of the game. It came after
James Clarke got the ball outside via a
skip pass, where Conor Dowling showed a
clean set of heels to Grammar’s defence
to cross the whitewash and make it 10-7
at the break.
Early in the second half, Grammar’s
strength in the breakdown began to
show though, as well as their game
management experience.

Earl Norris popped over two penalties
to make it 16-7 shortly after half-time.
From there, Marist had to chase the
game, but Grammar seemed to have
an answer to every question asked of
them.
With ten minutes remaining, Jacob
Kilcoyne’s quick thinking saw him take
advantage of a loose ball in broken play
and cross the line for the Sligo side,
and put the game beyond Marist. Arran
Platt added another late on to put
the seal on what was a commanding
second-half display from the backto-back
champions. Captain Conor
Creaven lifted the trophy in front of
a delighted crowd, with Grammar
once proving to be the side to beat in
Connacht school’s rugby.
Sligo Grammar School: Alex Harte;
Dara Holmes, Gerard Murtagh, Conor
Creaven, George Barlow; Earl Norris,
Gareth McGinty; Arann Platt, Quentin
Moughty, Jack Deegan; Matthew Ryan,
Paddy Wright; Diarmaid O’Connell, Dylan
McCloat, Ambrose Bamber.
Replacements: Jack Kilcoyne for Norris
(7-10 mins, blood) Max Hunter for Wright
(half-time), Kilcoyne for McGinty (52),
Francis Ellison for Ryan (67), Milo Holmes
for D Holmes (70)
Marist College: Danny Reid; Conor
Dowling, Thomas Cotton, Tom Sheehan,
Tom Burke; James Clarke, Charlie
O’Carroll; Leon Cassidy, Eoin Naughton,
Bobbie Foxe; Conor Sheehan, Luca Giles;
Paddy Egan, Callum Kelly, Niall Tallon.
Replacements: Evan McMickan for Foxe
(half-time), Foxe for Naughton (50),
Éanna McDonnell for Burke (54), Seán
Doyle for Kelly (62), Vinnie Meyer for
Sheehan (69)
Referee: Johnny Quinn

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ACADEMY PROFILES
donnacha
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Eoin
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John
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Matthew
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John
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Hubert
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