Muldoon to captain Connacht against Castres

John Muldoon will captain Connacht in the first of two games against French Top 14 side Castres Olympique this week.

Muldoon to captain Connacht against Castres

John Muldoon will captain Connacht in the first of two games against French Top 14 side Castres Olympique this week.

The Portumna native moves to number eight as Michael Bradley announces an extended squad for the first of the games on Tuesday at the Sportsground (kick-off: 7 pm).

The second game will take place at the Sportsground next Saturday (4pm).

There are 10 changes to the starting line up as well as four positional changes from the game against South Africa as Michael Bradley rotates his squad in preparation of facing the French top 14 side twice in the space of five days.

A number of players in the extended Connacht squad will get game-time against Castres with former USA 'A' international Alipate Tuilevuka, who has joined Galwegians, starting on the wing, while former London Welsh scrum-half Rob Shaw will also make his first appearance in a Connacht shirt.

Daniel Riordan and Darren Yapp are included in the starting line up having missed the encouraging tie against South Africa last week.

In the forwards, Joe Merrigan, John Lyne, Michael Swift, Andrew Browne, Michael McCarthy and Johnny O'Connor return to the starting line up.

For McCarthy and O'Connor it will be their first start in their second spell with the province. John Lyne, after coming off the bench last week against South Africa gets his first start for Connacht at loosehead prop while Brett Wilkinson reverts to tighthead.

Connacht will finalize their replacements prior to the match from an extended squad which includes two academy players in backrow Liam Casserly and full back Sean Carey.

Connacht team:

D Riordan; D Yapp, J Hearty, M Deane, P Tulevuka; P Durcan, R Shaw; J Lyne, J Merrigan, B Wilkinson; M Swift, A Browne; M McCarthy, J O¹Connor, J Muldoon (c)

Replacements from:

C Muldoon, B McGovern, A Farley, D Gannon, R Ofisa, C McPhillips, T Donnelly, A Wynne, O Treviranus, L Casserly, S Carey.

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