Matthews injury blow for Connacht

Connacht coach Eric Elwood has named his team for Friday night’s Magners League game against Cardiff Blues, kick-off 7.45pm.

However, Elwood and his squad suffered an injury blow when centre Keith Matthews ruptured an Achilles tendon during yesterday’s Captains run.

The 28-year-old, who earned is 100th cap for Connacht two weeks ago against Edinburgh, looks set to be out for the next six to eight months with the injury.

Connacht Academy graduate Tiernan O’Halloran will replace Matthews on the bench for this evening’s game against Cardiff Blues at The Sportsground.

Connacht Rugby Head Coach Eric Elwood: “We’re all very disappointed for Keith; he’s put in a tremendous amount of work and been an integral part of our achievements this year. He was really looking forward to finishing the season on a high but unfortunately it looks like he’ll be out for a good chunk of the year now. It’s a good opportunity for one of our homegrown talents, Tiernan, to step up now and we’d like to wish Keith a speedy recovery”

Connacht: Ronan Loughney, Sean Cronin, Jamie Hagan, Mike McCarth, Bernie Upton, Andrew Browne, Johnny O’Connor (C), Ray Ofisa; Frank Murphy, Ian Keatley, Fionn Carr, Troy Nathan, Niva Ta’auso, Brian Tuohy; Gavin Duffy

Replacements: Adrian Flavin, Brett Wilkinson, Rodney Ah You, Mike McComish, John Muldoon, Mark Dolan, Tiernan O’Halloran, Eoin Griffin