Jack Carty will be making his 200th appearance for Connacht when he captains the side facing the Saracens this weekend.
Connacht are headed to London where they will face the English team in the Champions Cup on Saturday.
It’s been more than a decade since Carty first debuted for Connacht in 2012. In that time he has become the club’s all-time high point scorer.
He will now become the sixth player to reach the 200 cap milestone for the province, after John Muldoon, Michael Swift, Denis Buckley, Kieran Marmion and Tiernan O’Halloran.
Another welcome addition to the starting XV tomorrow is Gavin Thornbury, back in action after a year since he suffered a serious knee injury against Brive last season.
In addition, Shayne Bolton, who joined Connacht in 2021 from his native South Africa, will be making his first appearance of the season.
Also coming into the starting 15 from last weekend are props Jordan Duggan and Jack Aungier, flanker Conor Oliver, number 8 Paul Boyle, centre Tom Farrell and full-back John Porch.
Commenting ahead of the game, head coach Pete Wilkins said, “As players and coaches we were very blunt in our review of last weekend, with honesty and ownership about how the game got away from us.”
“The reaction from the group in training this week has been excellent and we look forward to getting out there and delivering a performance befitting of our ambitions this season.”
“Saracens are a world-class outfit with a fine European pedigree, so there’s no better place to challenge ourselves and show what we’re about.”
CONNACHT RUGBY MATCHDAY 23 VS SARACENS
13:00, Saturday, December 16 – StoneX Stadium
15. John Porch (183)
14. Byron Ralston (23)
13. Tom Farrell (103)
12. Bundee Aki (128)
11. Shayne Bolton (5)
10. Jack Carty (199) (C)
9. Caolin Blade (178)
1. Jordan Duggan (42)
2. Dave Heffernan (185)
3. Jack Aungier (56)
4. Darragh Murray (15)
5. Gavin Thornbury (71)
6. Cian Prendergast (54)
7. Conor Oliver (70)
8. Paul Boyle (86)
16. Dylan Tierney-Martin (30)
17. Denis Buckley (235)
18. Finlay Bealham (193)
19. Joe Joyce (7)
20. Jarrad Butler (118)
21. Michael McDonald (1)
22. JJ Hanrahan (7)
23. Diarmuid Kilgallen (21)
