Olympus name XV to face Connacht in Challenge Cup

Spanish entrants Olympus Madrid, an amalgam of clubs from the city, will travel more in hope than expectation to Connacht for their first match in the Challenge Cup tomorrow night.

Spanish entrants Olympus Madrid, an amalgam of clubs from the city, will travel more in hope than expectation to Connacht for their first match in the Challenge Cup on Friday night.

They are largely based around the C.R.C. Madrid team, who won the 2009 Division de Honor title after losing just one of their 18 matches and finishing 11 points clear of 2008/09 European Challenge Cup side Cetransa El Salvador.

“CRC won the Division of Honour title and are the reigning Spanish champions but they were not in a position to compete in the Amlin Challenge Cup so the Federación Española de Rugby contacted ERC to see if we could enter an invitation side in the tournament,” said Keith Chapman, manager of both Olympus Rugby XV Madrid and the national Spanish team.

OLYMPUS, MADRID (Connacht): M Mazo; A N Other, J Canosa, B Pardo, J Cano; J Palumbo, P Feijoo; V Acevedo; C Bohorquez, A Onega Camacho, L Fernandez, J Recuerda, M Acena, J Gonzalez, I Criado.

Replacements: J Arbelaitz, M Serrano, S Hattori, S Souto, C Arenas, M Heredia, M Poggi, M Tudela.