Roberts returns to face Connacht
Cardiff Blues boss Dai Young has named Lions star Jamie Roberts in his starting team for the first time this season but has opted to once again keep new signing Sam Norton-Knight on the bench.
Roberts, voted player of the tour for the Lions in South Africa, is set to make a big impact this weekend partnering Gareth Thomas in the midfield for the Blues.
Previewing this weekend’s big encounter, Young says he was pleased with the improved performance against Munster but insisted that things would not be getting any easier this weekend as the Blues travel to Connacht.
“I think our performance against Munster was far more spirited and far more together than our match against Edinburgh, where we looked totally disjointed.
“Having said that, our primary possession especially in the line out just wasn’t good enough and also our play in the contact area needs to improve.
“These are two massive issues that we have to address. We find it difficult to get into our game at the minute because we are not winning quality ball and when we do win it we are not holding on to it.
“It’s as simple as that really. Until we sort those two areas out we are going to struggle.
“Connacht are a very abrasive team and very confident at home. It always seems to be windy over in Galway and they play the conditions well.
“They are a very difficult team to beat over in Ireland as the Ospreys found on the opening weekend. If you look back at last year, if I’m being honest it was a game that we sneaked right at the end. We are under no illusions we always find it difficult over there.
“Where we are at the moment I feel the next two matches are massive games for us. We want to get the win under our belt and then we face the Scarlets at home.
“We start with Connacht, who are a difficult team for any side to face at the Sportsground but I feel we have enough quality to win. However, we have to make sure we match that quality with the desire, hunger and accuracy to get the right result.”
Connacht meanwhile have made two changes for tthe big clash at the Sportsground.
Brett Wilkinson returns from injury and starts at loosehead while Ronan Loughney is named amongst the replacements.
Miah Nikora will make his first competitive start when he takes over from Ian Keatley at out-half.
Prop Robbie Morris and centre Niva Ta’auso were not considered because of injury.
The teams:
Connacht: 15 Gavin Duffy, 14 Brian Tuohy, 13 Troy Nathan, 12 Keith Matthews, 11 Fionn Carr, 10 Miah Nikora, 9 Frank Murphy, 8 Mike McComish, 7 Ray Ofisa, 6 John Muldoon (captain), 5 Bernie Upton, 4 Andrew Browne, 3 Jamie Hagan, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Brett Wilkinson
Replacement: 16 Adrian Flavin, 17 Ronan Loughney, 18 Mike McCarthy, 19 Johnny O’Connor, 20 Conor O’Loughlin, 21 Ian Keatley, 22 Aidan Wynne
Cardiff Blues: 15 Ben Blair, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 Gareth Thomas, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Chris Czekaj, 10 Ceri Sweeney, 9 Richie Rees, 8 Xavier Rush, 7 Sam Warburton, 6 Maama Molitika, 5 Paul Tito, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Taufa’ao Filise, 2 Gareth Williams, 1 John Yapp.
Replacements: 16 Gary Powell, 17 T Rhys Thomas, 18 Deiniol Jones, 19 Adam Powell, 20 Gareth Cooper, 21 Sam Norton-Knight, 22 Gavin Evans.
Date: Friday, September 18
Venue: Sportsground
Kick-off: 19:00 (18:00 GMT)
Referee: Neil Paterson (SRU)
Assistant Referees: John Lacey (IRFU), Peter Roche (IRFU)
