Denis Buckley to make 250th Connacht apperance

Denis Buckley will make his 250th appearance for Connacht when they host Sharks on Saturday.

The Roscommon man becomes just the third player to reach the milestone after John Muldoon and Michael Swift. Buckley lines out in a front row of three double centurions, with Dave Heffernan and Bealham alongside him.

There are four changes from the side that narrowly lost to Munster last week. Niall Murray and Shane Jennings come in for the injured Joe Joyce and Shayne Bolton.

Whereas, Finlay Bealham and debutant David O’Connor replace Jack Aungier and Darragh Murray. Indeed, the pair were both selected in the Emerging Ireland tour of South Africa.

“I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s game” explained Connacht head coach Pete Wilkins. “Our intensity and overall performance last week was encouraging despite the bitter disappointment of the result”.

“Against a very strong Sharks team we will require a repeat of that effort along with evidence of growth in our game from round one”.

“Picking up home wins in such a tight league will be crucial, and I know the sold out Dexcom crowd will provide huge energy to the lads regardless of the slightly different surroundings”.

“It’s an important day for two of our players for very different reasons with Denis earning his 250th cap and David O’Connor his debut. We’re determined to give them a fitting performance.”

The only change on the 6-2 bench sees Paul Boyle wear the number 23 shirt in place of Sean Jansen who has also linked up with Emerging Ireland.

Connacht: 15. Santiago Cordero, 14. Mack Hansen, 13. Piers O’Conor, 12. Cathal Forde, 11. Shane Jennings, 10. Josh Ioane, 9. Ben Murphy, 1. Denis Buckley, 2. Dave Heffernan, 3. Finlay Bealham, 4. Niall Murray, 5. David O’Connor, 6. Josh Murphy, 7. Conor Oliver, 8. Cian Prendergast (C)

Replacements: 16. Dylan Tierney-Martin, 17. Peter Dooley, 18. Sam Illo, 19. Oisín Dowling, 20. Shamus Hurley-Langton, 21. Caolin Blade, 22. David Hawkshaw, 23. Paul Boyle