The Guinness PRO12 champions have six players in the Irish squad but have to settle for three on the bench at Newlands.
Joe Schmidt named six Leinster, six Ulster and three Munster players in his team to face South Africa in Saturday’s First Test.
The men than helped Connacht to their first ever league title can put their feet up.
There were a couple of positive selections made by the Kiwi this afternoon – Iain Henderson at lock, Paddy Jackson outhalf with Luke Marshall outside him at inside centre and Jared Payne dropping back to fullback. Other than that it was business as usual.
Some controversial calls mixed with some common sense https://t.co/lDCVY85i1K
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) June 9, 2016
Schmidt is not a man to veer from his preferred path too much. There were five changes from the Ireland side that beat South Africa but all were enforced by injury and circumstance [Tommy O’Donnell’s impending wedding].
As for the PRO12 champs, Ultan Dillane, Kieran Marmion and Finlay Bealham are in reserve. Matt Healy, Tiernan O’Halloran and Quinn Roux will be in the stands. Robbie Henshaw is contracted to Connacht for the next couple of weeks but he is, by all intents and purposes, a Leinster man having sealed his switch earlier this year.
As one might expect, Connacht fans were livid with Schmidt’s selections. This is just a sample of the Connacht reaction on the Irish Rugby Facebook page:
Johnny Mannion: ‘Connacht who are the form team all year get one starter; joke of a set up.’
Duane Fogarty: ‘Healy and O’Halloran should at least be on the bench!!’
Gary Farrelly: ‘One player starting from the pro12 winners?? and hes not even Connacht anymore.’
There was a more muted response over on Twitter but there was still some disgruntled souls.
https://twitter.com/philthrill69/status/740882922660581376
Also 4 Connacht, 3 Munster in the 23 😉
— Pól O'Caithniadh (@czarak) June 9, 2016
