Connacht name squad to travel to South Africa

The Connacht management team have named a 29-man travelling squad to South Africa for the BKT United Rugby Championship fixtures against the Hollywoodbets Sharks and Vodacom Bulls.

This evening the squad fly to Durban where they will be based for the majority of the two weeks, with their opening game against the Sharks this Saturday at 3pm Irish time.

They then fly to Pretoria ahead of their clash with the Bulls at the same time on Saturday 25th November. Both games will be broadcast live on RTÉ.

Unavailable for selection are Bundee Aki, Jack Aungier, Shayne Bolton, Santiago Cordero, Mack Hansen, Shane Jennings, Oisin McCormack and Gavin Thornbury.

CONNACHT TRAVELLING SQUAD VS HOLLYWOODBETS SHARKS + VODACOM BULLS

Forwards (17)

Finlay Bealham

Denis Buckley

Peter Dooley

Oisín Dowling

Dave Heffernan

Shamus Hurley-Langton

Sam Illo

Sean Jansen

Joe Joyce

Tadgh McElroy

Darragh Murray

Niall Murray

Conor Oliver

Sean O’Brien

Dominic Robertson-McCoy

Cian Prendergast

Dylan Tierney-Martin

Backs (12)

Caolin Blade

Jack Carty

Tom Farrell

Cathal Forde

JJ Hanrahan

David Hawkshaw

Diarmuid Kilgallen

Tiernan O’Halloran

John Porch

Byron Ralston

Colm Reilly

Andrew Smith