Club captain Jack Carty will line out for Connacht for the 200th time on Saturday, after he was named to start against Saracens in the Investec Champions Cup tomorrow in London.
The Roscommon native made his debut in September 2012 and became club captain last year, while he is also the club’s all-time record points scorer.
He will now become the sixth player to reach the 200 cap milestone for the province, after John Muldoon, Michael Swift, Denis Buckley, Kieran Marmion and Tiernan O’Halloran.
Also named is Gavin Thornbury - who makes his return exactly one year to the day since a serious knee injury against Brive last season – and Shayne Bolton who makes an appearance for the first time in the campaign.
Also coming into the starting 15 from last weekend are props Jordan Duggan and Jack Aungier, flanker Conor Oliver, number 8 Paul Boyle, centre Tom Farrell and full-back John Porch.
Here is the Connacht side that lines out tomorrow, with kick off at 1:00pm:
STARTING XV:
15. John Porch (183)
14. Byron Ralston (23)
13. Tom Farrell (103)
12. Bundee Aki (128)
11. Shayne Bolton (5)
10. Jack Carty (199) (C)
9. Caolin Blade (178)
1. Jordan Duggan (42)
2. Dave Heffernan (185)
3. Jack Aungier (56)
4. Darragh Murray (15)
5. Gavin Thornbury (71)
6. Cian Prendergast (54)
7. Conor Oliver (70)
8. Paul Boyle (86)
REPLACEMENTS:
16. Dylan Tierney-Martin (30)
17. Denis Buckley (235)
18. Finlay Bealham (193)
19. Joe Joyce (7)
20. Jarrad Butler (118)
21. Michael McDonald (1)
22. JJ Hanrahan (7)
23. Diarmuid Kilgallen (21)