Connacht boosted by Bundee Aki’s return

Colin Newboult
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Bundee Aki of Connacht during the Guinness PRO14 Round 12 match between Connacht Rugby and Cardiff Blues at the Sportsground in Galway, Ireland on February 20, 2021 (Photo by Andrew SURMA / SIPA USA)

There are just two PRO14 Rainbow Cup encounters on Saturday after Ulster’s game with the Scarlets was cancelled due to Covid.

Benetton v Connacht

Benetton will look to build on their winning streak when they host Connacht at Stadio Monigo in Treviso with just one change to the starting XV from their Round Three triumph over Zebre.

The only alteration made by the Italian outfit’s head coach, Kieran Crowley, sees Marco Riccioni replacing Filippo Alongi at tighthead prop. He is joined in the front-row by Corniel Els (hooker) and Thomas Gallo (loosehead prop) while Federico Ruzza and Niccolò Cannone pack down in the engine room.

The rest of the pack consists of flankers Sebastian Negri and Michele Lamaro while Toa Halafihi is the number eight.

In the backline, Dewaldt Duvenage leads the team from scrum-half with Paolo Garbisi starting at fly-half while Ignacio Brex and Marco Zanon continue as the centre combination.

The back three is made up of Jayden Hayward (full-back) while Monty Ioane and Edoardo Padovani are the starting wings.

For Connacht, Denis Buckley will become just the third player to reach 200 caps for the province after he was named in the starting XV to face PRO14 Rainbow Cup leaders Benetton.

The Roscommon prop made his debut for his home province in September 2011, which coincidentally came in the Stadio di Monigo where he will make appearance number 200 tomorrow. He joins John Muldoon and Michael Swift as the only players to earn a double century of caps for Connacht.

The other notable inclusion is Bundee Aki’s return to the starting XV. Aki hasn’t featured for Connacht in nearly three months after serving a suspension following Ireland duty, and will now be keen to pick up some game-time before he travels with the British & Irish Lions to South Africa.

Aki partners Tom Daly in the centre who starts for the 15th consecutive game, while Alex Wootton, Peter Sullivan and John Porch form the back three. The backs are completed by scrum-half Kieran Marmion and out-half Conor Fitzgerald.

Shane Delahunt and Finlay Bealham partner Buckley in the front-row, while Niall Murray and Cian Prendergast are retained after excelling away to Munster last time out. Murray partners Ultan Dillane in the second-row, with Prendergast joined in the back-row by the returning Paul Boyle and captain Jarrad Butler.

The teams:

Benetton: 15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Edoardo Padovani, 13 Ignacio Brex, 12 Marco Zanon, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage (c), 8 Toa Halafihi, 7 Michele Lamaro, 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Corniel Els, 1 Thomas Gallo
Replacements: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17 Ivan Nemer, 18 Filippo Alongi, 19 Irné Herbst, 20 Manuel Zuliani, 21 Marco Barbini, 22 Callum Braley, 23 Ratuva Tavuyara

Connacht: 15 John Porch, 14 Peter Sullivan, 13 Bundee Aki, 12 Tom Daly, 11 Alex Wootton, 10 Conor Fitzgerald, 9 Kieran Marmion, 8 Paul Boyle, 7 Jarrad Butler (c), 6 Cian Prendergast, 5 Ultan Dillane, 4 Niall Murray, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Shane Delahunt, 1 Denis Buckley
Replacements: 16 Dave Heffernan, 17 Paddy McAllister, 18 Dominic Robertson-McCoy, 19 Oisin Dowling, 20 Abraham Papali’i, 21 Caolin Blade, 22 Jack Carty, 23 Sammy Arnold

Venue: Stadio Monigo
Kick-off: 18:15 local (17:15 BST, 16:15 GMT)
Referee: Ginaluca Gnecchi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Marius Mitrea (Italy), Federico Vedovelli (Italy)
TMO: Stefano Penne (Italy)

Dragons v Glasgow Warriors

Props Brok Harris and Lloyd Fairbrother return as Dragons prepare to face Glasgow Warriors in a PRO14 Rainbow Cup clash at Cardiff City Stadium.

The front-row duo are part of six changes made to the starting line-up by Dean Ryan, director of Dragons rugby, for the fixture in the Welsh capital.

Hooker Richard Hibbard also packs down up front while lock Matthew Screech is back to partner Ben Carter in the second-row.

Wales international Ross Moriarty is recalled and will captain the team in the Round Four fixture. Aaron Wainwright moves to number eight.

The only change in the backline is a return for on-loan full back Ioan Davies.

Hooker Elliot Dee is named among the replacements alongside the returning Evan Lloyd and Jamie Roberts.

Meanwhile, Glasgow head coach Danny Wilson has named a starting XV showing six changes from the bonus-point victory over Edinburgh at Murrayfield last time out, as his side travels to take on the Dragons tomorrow night.

With Rodney Parade undergoing work on its pitch prior to the 2021/22 campaign, Wilson’s men will instead make a first trip to the Cardiff City Stadium since October 2011, when a Sean Lineen-led squad claimed a bonus-point victory over then-tenants Cardiff Blues.

The front-row sees George Turner retain his place at hooker after a player of the match-winning performance last time out, as props Aki Seiuli and Zander Fagerson come into the starting line-up.

Scott Cummings returns to the squad after missing the visit to Murrayfield, taking his place alongside Rob Harley in the engine room.

An unchanged back-row sees captain Ryan Wilson and Rory Darge line up on the flanks, with Matt Fagerson – a try-scorer on his last outing – starting at number eight.

Behind the scrum, Ross Thompson continues in the number 10 jersey, whilst Ali Price comes back into the matchday squad to start at scrum-half.

Sam Johnson starts in the midfield having missed the double-header with Edinburgh, with Nick Grigg starting his eighth consecutive match at outside centre.

Cole Forbes – who has made more metres with ball in hand than all bar three players in the Rainbow Cup to date – is another to return to the matchday 23, as Kyle Steyn and Adam Hastings complete the back three.

The bench sees Tom Lambert included in his fourth successive matchday squad after impressing against Edinburgh a fortnight ago, the loosehead joining international duo Fraser Brown and Enrique Pieretto as the front-row cover.

Kiran McDonald wears the 19 jersey, while Fotu Lokotui also comes back into the 23 to cover the back-row positions.

George Horne and Stafford McDowall each rotate to the bench having started at BT Murrayfield, the former having touched down for one of the Warriors’ four tries on the night.

The replacements are completed by Rufus McLean, as the Scotland U20 star is included in a matchday 23 for the first time since the Challenge Cup clash with Montpellier at the start of April.

The teams:

Dragons: 15 Ioan Davies, 14 Jonah Holmes, 13 Jack Dixon, 12 Aneurin Owen, 11 Rio Dyer, 10 Sam Davies, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Ollie Griffiths, 6 Ross Moriarty (c), 5 Ben Carter, 4 Matthew Screech, 3 Lloyd Fairbrother, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Brok Harris
Replacements: 16 Elliot Dee, 17 Josh Reynolds, 18 Aaron Jarvis, 19 Joe Davies, 20 Taine Basham, 21 Dan Babos, 22 Evan Lloyd, 23 Jamie Roberts

Glasgow: 15 Adam Hastings, 14 Kyle Steyn, 13 Nick Grigg, 12 Sam Johnson, 11 Cole Forbes, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Ali Price, 8 Matt Fagerson, 7 Rory Darge, 6 Ryan Wilson (c), 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Rob Harley, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 George Turner, 1 Aki Seiuli
Replacements: 16 Fraser Brown, 17 Tom Lambert, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Kiran McDonald, 20 Fotu Lokotui, 21 George Horne, 22 Stafford McDowall, 23 Rufus McLean

Venue: Cardiff City Stadium
Kick-off: 19:35 BST (18:35 GMT)
Referee: Chris Busby (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Ben Whitehouse (Wales), Craig Evans (Wales)
TMO: Dan Jones (Wales)

Benetton Treviso