Triple Crown hero’s son named in Welsh side
The 6'2", 15 stone 3lbs player is a former Welsh Youths International who played for Galwegians and Connacht last season before returning to Wales where his family has lived for a number of years. He played in Caerphilly's recent heavy defeat by Ulster and is assured of a rousing welcome should he enter the fray at a venue where his father was such a great favourite with both Shannon and Munster throughout the 70s and 80s.
Unfortunately, Caerphilly are travelling with a damage limitation strategy in place. A part-time outfit that doesn't boast anything like the financial clout of Welsh neighbours like Llanelli, Pontypridd and Cardiff, they have so far been cannon fodder for the other teams in their group, losing to Neath (6-25), Llanelli (34-43), Ebbw Vale
(25-45), Edinburgh (32-66), Swansea (32-37) and Ulster (15-67).
Caerphilly include two Tongan Internationals in their side full back Sione Tuipolutu and winger Taumaholo Taufehema and are captained by hooker Christian Ferris. Manager and coach Rob Roome accept that their direct interest in the Celtic League has long since been at an end and they are now preparing for the beginning of the Welsh League next weekend.
They do so with the encouragement of having scored five tries when only going down 31-27 to Harlequins in the Parker Pen Challenge Cup at The Stoop last week. Flanker Gareth Jones bagged two of the tries with one each going to second row Nic Rouse, number eight Andrew Williams and hooker Feao Vunipola, who, however, is not in the squad for tomorrow night.
That performance was certainly a big improvement on the first leg which they lost by 77-20 at their own Virginia Park. They fly from Birmingham to Shannon tomorrow morning and return on Saturday.
Munster coach Alan Gaffney is in the unusual situation of having his Irish squad members available for selection and he isn't complaining. He knows that a win over Caerphilly will guarantee them a home quarter-final with the chances that a bonus point will see them top the group and at home again in the semi-finals, should they qualify.
Accordingly, the only change from the side that defeated Perpignan in the Heineken Cup last Saturday sees the young UCC back row Denis Leamy taking over the number six jersey from Jim Williams, who has a minor knee injury and is being rested as a precaution.
There is a strong chance that Connacht will provide Munster's opposition in the quarter-finals. They travel to Glasgow tomorrow night having made five changes from the side that qualified for second round action in the Parker Pen Cup after two fine wins over the French side Mont de Marsan. The return of former Australian second row Warwick Wagh is a huge boost to their chances.
Big Tongan Salesi Finaa has been selected at inside centre as Llanelli head to Ravenhill tomorrow night to secure a Celtic League quarter-final berth. The hard-tackling winger steps into the No 12 jersey at the expense of captain Leigh Davies, who is unavailable through injury.
Llanelli director of rugby Gareth Jenkins said the team were looking forward to clash with Ulster.
"We realise this is our last opportunity to get to the quarter-final stages, and we will be very disappointed if we don't get to that stage," he said.
"Ulster are in form at the moment having beat Cardiff convincingly at home, but we have beaten them and can beat them, and we're looking forward to going to Ravenhill," Jenkins said.
Meanwhile, the first two rounds of Heineken Cup matches attracted a bumper television audience including a tournament weekend record of over six million viewers for round one.
A staggering 3.3m viewers tuned into BBC Grandstand for the match between Gloucester and Munster a Grandstand figure bettered by only one previous Heineken Cup match in the seven-year history of the competition.
Derek McGrath, chief executive of ERC, the tournament organisers, were looking to reach a 5 million audience each of the six weekends of Pool matches but, in exceeding that by 20% from the kick-off, the Heineken Cup has got off to a real flier.
MUNSTER: D. Crotty; J. Kelly, M. Mullins, J. Holland, M. Lawler; R. O'Gara, P. Stringer; M. Horan, F. Sheahan, J. Hayes, M. Galwey, M. O'Driscoll, A. Quinlan, D. Leamy, A. Foley.
Replacements: J. Blaney, S. Kerr, E. Halvey, P. Malone; M. Prendergast, K. Keane, J. O'Neill.
CAERPHILLY: S. Tuipoluto; R. Howells, S. Cox, R. Boobyer, Taumaholo Taufehema; J. Murphy, S. Headintonj; L. Manning, C. Ferris capt, R. Skuse, M. Workman, N. Rouse, R. Lloyd, J. El Abd, A. Williams.
Replacements, F. McLoughlin, O. Ashman, S. Goddard, P. Jones, G. Liddon, G. Williams.
LLANELLI (v Ulster): G. Evans, M. Jones, M. Watkins, S. Finau, T. Selley, S. Jones, G. Easterby; I. Thomas, R. McBryde, J. Davies, L. Gross, C. Wyatt, D. Hodges, D. Jones, S. Quinnell.
Replacements: M. Madden, P. John, V. Cooper, J. Cudmore, D. Peel, G. Bowen, B. Davies.
CONNACHT: G. Duffy; J. Norton, D. Yapp, M. McHugh, W. Munn; E. Elwood, C. Keane; D. McFarland, J. Flannery, P. Bracken, W. Waugh, R. Frost, C. Rigney, J. O'Sullivan, J. O'Connor.
Replacements: R. McCormack, M. Uijs, D. Browne, E. Peters, M. Walls, S. Moore, T. Robinson.
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