Pete Wilkins hoping Connacht can continue red-hot form against Edinburgh
Jack Carty will pull the strings again for Connacht against Edinburgh. Photo: Sportsfile
New Connacht boss Pete Wilkins is hoping to make it Connacht’s second best start to a season by notching their fourth win on the spin in Edinburgh this evening. And in the process he hopes they will take another step towards matching the five-match winning run achieved under South African Steph Nel back in 2002-’03.
Wilkins though has made eight changes to the side which pipped understrength Ulster 22-20 last weekend as he returns to a club where he spent a couple of seasons as defence coach before moving to Galway in 2018. He knows they can expect a backlash from a side who lost their winning start to a second-string Leinster side in Dublin last weekend.
“When you see an Edinburgh team at full strength they have a very dangerous back three, a powerful front-row and a big scrum on the back of that. So we know their strengths and it is interesting to see how they are evolving under Sean Everitt in terms of the type of rugby they played last season. I do think they are changing their identity slightly there.
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“I think they will be stronger at home than against Leinster and I think they will have their frustrations coming out of that game. We know it will be a massive challenge but we are really looking forward to it.
“Since they moved to their new stadium out of the back of Murrayfield they want to turn it into a fortress. Traditionally, whether it is Edinburgh or Glasgow, Connacht have found the Scottish teams tricky to play over there and I’m really aware of that over the past five years but it is up to us to implement our style of rugby.”
Four of the changes are at the back with a new three-quarter line of John Porch, making his first appearance of the season, Byron Ralston, Tom Daly, also making his seasonal bow, and Andrew Smith.
Jack Carty again gets the nod ahead of JJ Hanrahan at out-half, while the four changes up front see hooker Tadhg McElroy and No 8 Seán O’Brien make their first starts for Connacht, while loosehead Peter Dooley and Darragh Murray come into the side, with Murray partnering his older brother Niall in the second-row.
Edinburgh: B Kinghorn; W Goosen, M Bennett, J Lang, D van der Merwe; B Healy, C Shiel; P Schoeman, E Ashman, J Sebastian; G Young, G Gilchrist (c); T Dodd, C Boyle, B Mata. Reps: D Cherry, B Venter, A Williams, M Sykes, B Muncaster, B Vellacott, C Dean, R McCann.
Connacht: T O’Halloran; J Porch, B Ralston, T Daly, A Smith; J Carty (c), C Blade; P Dooley, T McElroy, J Aungier; N Murray, D Murray; C Prendergast, C Oliver, S O’Brien. Reps: D Tierney-Martin, J Duggan, S Illo, J Joyce, J Butler, C Reilly, D Hawkshaw, JJ Hanrahan.
Ref: B Whitehouse (WRU)
Edinburgh v Connacht, Live, TG4 and Premier Sports 2, 7.35
