GUY Noves shuffles his cards with seven changes, but the quality of those called up (William Servat, Yohan Montes, Romain Millo-Chluski, Jean Bouilhou, Shaun Sowerby, Jean-Marc Doussain and Yann David) hardly weakens their hand. Conor O’Shea recalls fit-again centre Tom Casson, winger Ugo Monye and Chris Brooker, with Mark Lambert and Will Skinner replacing the injured Joe Marler and Maurie Faasavalu.
ONCE MORE Connacht go to the well, but after a ninth defeat in a row the fear must be they are running a little dry. They will roll up their sleeves in typical fashion but against the same foes as last week, their limited resources are being stretched to the limit.
It wasn’t just last week’s latest loss against Gloucester, more the manner of it. To still be in contention entering the last minute, having tackled themselves to a standstill to earn one more abortive shot at a win was a monumental effort given they were not only starved of quality set-piece ball, but were scrummaged and mauled off the park, never mind being the victims of a brutally unforgiving 12-4 penalty count by Scottish referee Neil Paterson.
Connacht managed to limit the toll last week, but may pay the price this week for another marque game which, despite carrying less tangible importance than their Pro 12 matches, demands they put their best forward for another live televised outing.
Besides, it’s not as if Eric Elwood has the luxury of a rotation policy, and in the circumstances Johnny O’Connor’s return from injury is timely given he can replace Ray Ofisa (knee), who has been patently playing through the pain barrier in recent weeks.
Similarly, Eoin Griffin has also recovered from his hamstring problems to resume his midfield partnership with Dave McSharry, the two having recently signed two-year contracts, as has one of Connacht’s bulwarks John Muldoon (with O’Connor signing a one-year extension).
With Griffin to provide a spark, Connacht can also take inspiration from the outstanding form of Gavin Duffy, who has risen to the challenge of their first foray into the Heineken Cup, while it’s also true to say their most potent performance to date was, ironically, away to Harlequins in round one.
They have continued with their attempts to play expansively in the two games since, although the absent Miah Nikora appears to bring more out of his backline than Niall O’Connor, while Fionn Carr’s departure is still chronically felt. Even so, while there’s an argument for resorting to a more rudimentary approach, it was the change to a more adventurous style which galvanised Duffy, Griffin et al, not to mention the supporters. Besides, as the last two weeks have showed they don’t have the firepower up front to do a number on opponents, especially at this level.
As two of Gloucester’s five changes are at prop that might dilute their overwhelming supremacy of last week at scrum time. The problem is that, on last week’s evidence, the cherry and whites also have more pace and footwork out wide, even if they failed to make that count in Galway.
GLOUCESTER RUGBY: O Morgan; C Sharples, M Tindall, E Fuimaono-Sapolu, J Simpson-Daniel; T Taylor, N Runciman; D Murphy, S Lawson, R Harden, P Buxton, J Hamilton, B Deacon, A Hazell, L Narraway (capt). Replacements: M Cortese, N Wood, S Knight, W James, A Qera, R Lawson, F Burns, J May.
CONNACHT RUGBY: G Duffy (capt); M McCrea, E Griffin, D McSharry, T OHalloran; N OConnor, F Murphy; B Wilkinson, E Reynecke, R Loughney, G Naoupu, M McCarthy, D Gannon, J OConnor, J Muldoon. Replacements: A Flavin, D Rogers, R Ah You, M Kearney, E McKeon, P ODonohoe, M Jarvis, K Tonetti.
Referee: Leighton Hodges (Wales).
Previous meetings: (2011-12) Connacht 10 Gloucester 14.
Results so far: Gloucester – 17-21 v Toulouse (a); 9-28 v Harlequins (h); 14-10 v Connacht (a). Connacht – 17-25 v Harlequins (a); 10-36 v Toulouse (h); 10-14 v Gloucester (h).
Leading try scorers: Gloucester – Simpson-Daniel, Sharples, Trinder 1 each. Connacht – Gavin Duffy 2.
Leading points scorers: Gloucester – Freddy Burns 25. Connacht – Miah Nikora 12.
Betting (Paddy Powers): Gloucester, Draw, Connacht. Handicap odds (Connacht + pts) 10/11 Gloucester, Draw, 10/11 Connacht.
Forecast: Gloucester to win.
