Connacht coach Michael Bradley confirmed yesterday his new signings Keith Matthews and Colm Rigney will make their first competitive appearances for Connacht since joining in the summer. Bradley has named a 22-man squad for Saturday's opening Celtic League clash with Cardiff at the Sportsground (2:30pm).
Rigney returns to Ireland having spent two seasons in England with Leeds Tykes, while 23-year-old Matthews, a former Irish under-21 centre, will be making his debut for the province as Connacht seek their first win over the Blues in two years.
Victories over the Cardiff side in 2001 and 2002 seasons have been followed by four straight defeats.
While James Downey and Mark McHugh are long-term Connacht injuries, Ulster have had better luck with Irish outhalf David Humphreys. Having missed Ulster's warm-up match against London Irish two weeks ago due to injury, Humphreys hurt the same calf muscle against Rotherham last weekend when a player stood on his leg.
"He just aggravated an old calf injury, but we are expecting him to be fit for the Cardiff match," said an Ulster official.
Ulster do not have a match this weekend and will be the first recipients of the new four-point rule change. Because there are an uneven number of teams in the league the side who do not play at any given weekend are awarded four points. Ulster begin their campaign in week two against Cardiff.
Ulster also announced that their representative sides, Ulster A, Ulster Under-21 and Ulster Under-19, have clinched a significant three-year sponsorship package with Ulster Bank. As a consequence of the deal, the first since Ulster rugby turned professional, an Ulster A team will play a series of competitive fixtures, kicking off their season with a match in Barcelona against Catalonia on September 10th.
They will then play a further seven games throughout the season, home and away, to both Leinster and Munster with another three matches against English or Welsh opponents, details of which will be announced later in the season.
"As well as being able to commit to a series of A fixtures, we also have an under-19 team that for the first time will play a full interprovincial series this season, while the under-21s have just returned from a pre-season tour to Gloucester, which will help them prepare for the defence of their interprovincial title," said Ulster Rugby chief executive Michael Reid.
In Leinster, Clontarf have benefited where Shannon have lost out after former Irish Under-19 captain and first-pick scrumhalf, Fiach O'Loughlin informed the club he intends to transfer to the Dublin side for the coming season. Citing his disappointment at not being considered for a professional contract for either Munster or Connacht, hopes that Leinster may look at him appear to have been a driving force in deciding to depart from the seven-times All-Ireland League winning club.
A player with Shannon since the age of eight, O'Loughlin has been an integral part of Shannon's most recent successes where he has won three AllIreland League titles.
He also played Munster Schools and Irish Schools as well as captaining the Irish Under-19s in 2002.
CONNACHT - Forwards: Ray Hogan, Stephen Knoop, Dan McFarland, Ronan Loughney, John Fogarty, Chris Venter, Andrew Farley, Christian Short, Michael Swift, Colm Rigney, Brendan O'Connor, John Muldoon, Matt Lacey. Backs: Chris Keane, Conor O'Loughlin, David Slemen, Paul Warwick, Darren Yapp, Keith Matthews, Daniel Riordan, Conor McPhillips, Matt Mostyn.
