Connacht v Cardiff Blues

Cardiff Blues will be bolstered by the return of Dan Parks, Tau Filise and Rhys Thomas for Saturday's Pro 12 game away to Connacht in Galway.

Scotland fly-half Parks and Tonga prop Filise have completed their recovery period following the World Cup.

Hooker Thomas is available after surgery to solve a knee injury.

Tonga World Cup star wing Fetu'u Vainikolo, who scored the winning try in the victory over France, is named in the Connacht starting team.

Samoan international centre Henry Fa'afilli renews his exciting partnership with Eoin Griffin who comes back into the team after missing the trip to the RDS with a late injury.

The half-back pairing again sees Frank Murphy paired with Niall O'Connor.

There are two changes in the front row with Adrian Flavin coming in at hooker and Rodney Ah You coming in at tighthead.

They join Ireland Wolfhound Brett Wilkinson who starts at loosehead.

Michael Swift and Mike McCarthy are selected in a second row that has over 300 caps between them.

There is more experience in the back row with centurions John Muldoon and Johnny O'Connor joined by Ray Ofisa, who is winning his 96th cap for the province.

The pack has a total of 948 caps and they will look to call on all their experience as they look to extend their 100% home record this season.

There is more good news for Connacht amongst the replacements with George Naoupu returning after picking up an injury away to Edinburgh and Miah Nikora making his first appearance of the season.

The Kiwi out-half came off the bench in the 'A' game against Munster last Friday and he will be sure to get a rapturous welcome from the Connacht Clan if he takes to the field.

Both the Blues and Connacht come into the game at the Sportsground on the back of defeats.

Blues head coach Gareth Baber is hoping his returning players can help them bounce back.

"The squad have trained well, adapted well to those boys coming back in and we want to kick-start our RaboDirect campaign again," said Baber.

Baber and Justin Burnell have been in charge of team affairs since former director of rugby Dai Young left to take up a similar role at London Wasps.

World Cup-winning New Zealand coach Graham Henry has been linked with a return to Wales, with the Blues one possible destination and Baber says he could learn a lot from the ex-Wales boss.

"I'm a young coach, I want to progress quickly in this environment," Baber said.

"If someone like Graham Henry came in, or Graham Henry's ilk, I would be a fool if I didn't think I wouldn't learn off him.

"I think it would be great for the Cardiff Blues if that did happen.

"For the likes of Justin and myself, we're pushing on with what we've got to do and if the directors and the board feel that's a move to push the Blues in the right direction, then we'd be okay with that."

TEAM NEWS:
Connacht: G Duffy (capt); F Vainikolo, E Griffin, H Fa'afili, T O'Halloran; N O'Connor, F Murphy;B Wilkinson, A Flavin, R Ah You; M Swift, M McCarthy; J Muldoon, J O'Connor, R Ofisa.

Replacements: E Reynecke, R Loughney, D Rogers, D Gannon, G Naoupu, P O'Donohoe, M Nikora, B Tuohy.


Cardiff Blues: Chris Czekaj; Alex Cuthbert, Casey Laulala, Dafydd Hewitt, Tom James; Dan Parks, Richie Rees; John Yapp, Rhys Thomas, Taufaao Filise, Michael Paterson, Paul Tito, Maama Molitika, Josh Navidi, Xavier Rush.

Replacements: Ryan Tyrrell, Sam Hobbs, Scott Andrews, Deiniol Jones, Ellis Jenkins, Lewis Jones, Ceri Sweeney, Gavin Evans.

Referee: Neil Paterson (SRU)

Assistant Referees: Leo Colgan, Peter Roche (both IRFU)

Citing Commissioner: John Cole (IRFU)

TMO: Jude Quinn (IRFU)



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Should be a good game, with the Blues fielding probably their strongest team of the season - pity that Pretorious is still out, Navidi needs to step up and prove a point with Warbs, Williams and Pretorious out.

It will also be interesting to see the Blues line-up next week as they need to integrate their internationals back into the game, but player like Jamie Roberts are bound to be shattered, it will also be interesting to see if Henson gets a run before the HC, judging by what the Blues management has said, he may not appear until the end of November.

Not too sure where you got the info from, but Vainikolo was injured for the France game and didn't play.

Connacht have some big names returning, such as nikora and Naoupu, that's a strong bench. Cardiff might just have enough but home advantage might swing it the other way.

greybeard wrote:Not too sure where you got the info from, but Vainikolo was injured for the France game and didn't play.

Connacht have some big names returning, such as nikora and Naoupu, that's a strong bench. Cardiff might just have enough but home advantage might swing it the other way.

Its the BBC news article - there not great to be honest.

Very soft try from the Blues, nearly pinched one themselves within the 1st 5 minutes though.

Could be a good game.

...on the other hand, the Blues are "bolstered" by Dan Parks, and miss number 2.

I seriously dont know why I bother watching anymore :/

Forwards are clueless, Backs never get the ball and have not been coached any attacking moves.

Cant wait for the return of Roberts, Warburton, Jenkins et al - And Henson to play 10 now! With Halfpenny kicking.

2 Tries in the first 5 minutes and I retract some of my previous statement....

good grief

hope you DID bother watching after all 606

Not too bad (or good) by the Blues, nice try from Cuthbert, and closed out the game well (though were helped by the wind). Connacht played quite well but not enough creativity in the backs to punish the Blues yellow card

rumpelstiltskindoh wrote:hope you DID bother watching after all 606

I did, still not that happy though with only another week of pro12 before the HC - Getting our internationals back is going to be difficult, and we have the toughest game up first :/.

It's worrying for the blues, they have some great youngsters but too many of their experienced players are over the hill and you've got the choice of a 10 that doesn't get your backs going or 1 of the most inconsistent 10's in the league.

I still think it'll be a big risk putting Mr Oragne at 10 as well (at least straight away)

Quite a comeback by the Blues, Laulala spared a few blushes and Parks' Jekyll emerged second half. Was impressed by Navidi again, hopefully he can keep it up and give Warbs some competition on return.

Navidi was awesome he seemed to be everywhere (though that could be his hair, which you can't miss), Paterson had a good game as well

Smirnoffpriest wrote:Navidi was awesome he seemed to be everywhere (though that could be his hair, which you can't miss), Paterson had a good game as well

Agree, Paterson seemed to take over the field kicking from Parks at one point

I'm telling you Paterson and Gethin J are the new Blues No 10s!

Navidi was very good tonight, a nice backup to Warburton (and Wales in the future?)

IronMike wrote:Navidi was very good tonight, a nice backup to Warburton (and Wales in the future?)

Bit soon to talk about Wales, hopefully he will get more gametime over Martyn this year.

The backup for Warburton should be Tipuric for the forseable.

Still, the Blues certainly like producing 7s, we still have Thomas Young aswell...

I've been cirtical of Navidi, but he was good out there against Connacht. I think he's too small though. I think the U20 prospects Hamilton, Young and one other have better potential. Would I also be out of line if I pointed out Navidi is the strangest looking kid I've ever seen?

Morgannwg wrote:I've been cirtical of Navidi, but he was good out there against Connacht. I think he's too small though. I think the U20 prospects Hamilton, Young and one other have better potential. Would I also be out of line if I pointed out Navidi is the strangest looking kid I've ever seen?

Young has had a few opportunities, but hasnt really impressed. Navidi is a couple of years ahead in his development and needs to be given a run after today (he should start next week with Warburton banned and Martyn still out - I think)

won £39 on this match