A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Elwood names squad to face Benetton Treviso
CONNACHT coach Eric Elwood has named his match squad – the team and replacements will be confirmed at lunchtime today – for tomorrow's Magners League game against Benetton Treviso at the Stadio Communale di Monigo.
Barry Fa’amausili joins centurion and Ireland squad member Brett Wilkinson, academy graduates Dermot Murphy and Ronan Loughney, Adrian Flavin and Jamie Hagan in terms of the frontrow options.
Connacht squad: Adrian Flavin, Barry Fa’amausilli, Bernie Upton, Brett Wilkinson, Dermot Murphy, Ezra Taylor, Jamie Hagan, John Muldoon, Johnny O’Connor, Michael McCarthy, Michael Swift, Ronan Loughney, Ray Ofisa, Cillian Willis, Darragh Fanning, Fionn Carr, Frank Murphy, Gavin Duffy, Ian Keatley, Keith Matthews, Miah Nikora, Niva Ta’auso, Troy Nathan.
Coach Kiss impressed with players' input
IRELAND defence coach Les Kiss has been impressed in the manner in which the national squad has embraced new patterns and ideas ahead of the upcoming November Test series, writes John O’Sullivan.
“It’s been fantastic so far. The guys, you know I have to compliment them. They’ve come here and embraced the new ideas that the coaching staff have put on the table, they’ve added their own bits to the mix and we’re grateful that they’ve put in such a good performance for the week.”
The series of matches that sees Ireland take on world champions South Africa, Samoa, the number one team in the world New Zealand and Argentina presents a massive physical challenge.
Kiss admitted: “That starts in defence in a lot of ways with the Springboks in particular, as they challenge you at the set-piece; they challenge you around the edge of the rucks and they also have the ability to shift the ball around the park and hurt you in that way as well. Plus will they play a contestable kick game and challenge you in that way. So we have a lot on our plate to handle in that area, but the approach so far has been fantastic.”
Brian O’Driscoll and Keith Earls (ankle) both sat out training in Limerick but Kiss did suggest that the Ireland captain was making good progress from his hamstring injury. “Brian is working very hard and over the last two or three days he has put in some good rehab work with the medical staff who are doing a fantastic job there.
“Talking to him after the session he was very happy where he ended up, so he has another (rehab) session tomorrow and a couple of days rest where he will obviously be doing a little bit of stuff and we will see how he goes after that.”
