Connacht on revenge mission
Elwood says his squad is aware of Connacht’s poor record in the Scottish capital, where last year the hosts ran in eight tries to record their biggest Magners League win.
“It’s always a tough place to go,” he said. “We did not have a good outing last year, but that is the challenge. We went to Glasgow and performed after a previous week’s disappointment, but this is going to be a bigger challenge because they are very strong.”
Brian Tuohy makes his first Magners League start for Connacht this season coming in for the injured Fionn Carr, while Shane Monahan is preferred to Troy Nathan, who drops to the bench. Eoin Griffin continues to partner Keith Matthews in the centre in the absence of Niva Ta’auso, while Miah Nikora retains the number 10 jersey with Ian Keatley on the bench.
Up front, Dermot Murphy continues at hooker and joins Jamie Hagan and Brett Wilkinson in the front row. Mike McCarthy moves to the second row alongside Michael Swift, with young Andrew Browne named on the blindside alongside Johnny O’Connor and captain John Muldoon.
“We all know how Edinburgh play so it’s important we have a strong work ethic in defence,” said Elwood.
“You can’t leave any gaps and over commit too much to the breakdown because they’ll expose it. So we have to fill the park with numbers and make sure the tackles hit and stick.”
Edinburgh are looking to repeat last year’s triumph and head coach Rob Moffat says his players needs to show the same ruthlessness tonight: “If we get that intensity, we can give the fans another positive performance.”
He has made four changes from their 21-9 victory over Treviso with lock Craig Hamilton replacing Scott MacLeod, and Scotland A’s Stuart McInally making his first start at number eight. Chris Paterson is at full-back while Tim Visser returns to the wing.
CONNACHT: G Duffy; S Monahan, E Griffin, K Matthews, B Tuohy; M Nikora, F Murphy; B Wilkinson, D Murphy, J Hagan; M Swift, M McCarthy; A Browne, J O’Connor, J Muldoon (c).
Replacements: R Loughney, D Rogers, R Sweeney, B Upton, M McComish, C Willis, I Keatley, T Nathan.
EDINBURGH: C Paterson, J Thompson, B Cairns, J Houston, T Visser, D Blair, G Laidlaw, K Traynor, A Kelly, D Young, C Hamilton, F McKenzie, N Talei, R Grant (c), S McInally. Replacements: F Gillies, G Cross, L Niven, S Turnbull, S Newlands, R Samson, A Grove, A Turnbull.
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