Cardiff Blues travel to Galway on Friday to face an inform Connacht side who have won three of their last four games in the Magners League. The Blues know that nothing short of a win will do if they are to climb back into the Play-Off places having recorded a draw with the Ospreys at Swansea a fortnight ago.
The Blues welcome back Chris Czekaj who had to pull out at the last minute against the Ospreys due to a minor knee injury and also welcome back John Yapp to bolster the front row, with the Welsh international having recovered from a calf injury.
Cardiff Blues have secured just one victory from their last four outings: 16-11 at Edinburgh on 4 March and it won’t be an easy task at the Sportsground, where Connacht have recorded five straight victories – their best ever league run. The Blues however do have a good record against the Irish province with their only loss in the last ten encounters a 18-16 defeat at the Sportsground in September 2009.
The match which kicks off at 7.45pm, is not televised on S4C or BBC, but supporters can receive live up dates on the Cardiff Blues App.
Cardiff Blues 15 Chris Czekaj 14 Leigh Halfpenny 13 Casey Laulala 12 Jamie Roberts 11 Tom James 10 Dan Parks 9 Richie Rees
8 Xavier Rush 7 Martyn Williams 6 Maama Molitika 5 Paul Tito (c) 4 Bradley Davies 3 Taufa’ao Filise 2 Gareth Williams 1 John Yapp
16 Rhys Williams 17 Sam Hobbs 18 Scott Andrews 19 Michael Paterson 20 Deiniol Jones 21 Lloyd Williams 22 Ceri Sweeney 23 Dafydd Hewitt
The following players were not available for selection because of injury:
Richard Mustoe - Groin
T Rhys Thomas – Hip
Sam Warburton - Knee
Ben Blair - Knee
James Down - Foot
Gethin Jenkins – Toe
Tom Shanklin - Knee
Tom Davies – Calf
Andries Pretorius - Knee