Wilkins shuffles the deck for Connacht's meeting with the Dragons

Connacht head coach Pete Wilkins has shuffled the deck for the upcoming BKT United Rugby Championship meeting with the Dragons at Dexcom Stadium. The game will be played tomorrow (Saturday) at 7.35 p.m. in the Galway city venue.

In the pack there’s three changes from the side that started the Leinster game last week, with Peter Dooley and Dylan Tierney-Martin coming into the front row for their first starts of the season, while Niall Murray replaces his brother Darragh in the second row.

Finlay Bealham, Joe Joyce and backrowers Sean O’Brien, Paul Boyle and captain Cian Prendergast retain their places.

Behind them there’s a new half-back pairing of Caolin Blade and Jack Carty, while the final change sees Cathal Forde come in at outside centre alongside Bundee Aki. The back three of Santiago Cordero, Shayne Bolton and Piers O’Conor is retained.

Among the replacements are the local duo of hooker Eoin de Buitléar and scrum-half Matthew Devine, who will make their first appearances of the season if called upon.

Commenting on his team selection, Wilkins said: “This is another very important game in the context of our overall season. We were disappointed not to get anything from last week, but this Dragons encounter provides us with an opportunity to bounce back with a determined and high-energy performance.

“Dragons are a seriously competitive side – abrasive at the contact zone, a well-drilled forward pack, and a very smart kicking game – so it’s up to us to match them physically and then attempt to impose our game on them.

“If we continue to demonstrate the growth of recent weeks and perform to our potential, we can head into the URC break with a lot of positivity.”

The Connacht starting XV in full is as follows: Piers O’Conor, Shayne Bolton, Cathal Forde, Bundee Aki, Santiago Cordero, Jack Carty, Caolin Blade; Peter Dooley, Dylan Tierney-Martin, Finlay Bealham, Joe Joyce, Niall Murray, Cian Prendergast, Sean O’Brien, Paul Boyle.

On the replacements' bench are: Eoin de Buitléar, Denis Buckley, Jack Aungier, Darragh Murray, Sean Jansen, Matthew Devine, Josh Ioane, Hugh Gavin.