Could this be Niall's last run out at Ravers?
Ravens coach Gary Longwell has named Robbie Diack as captain for their final British & Irish Cup game against Moseley on Wednesday (KO 2pm, Ravenhill).
Adam Macklin and Darren Cave will make their long-awaited return from injury after they were named in the starting XV. Macklin broke his ankle in September during his last outing with the Ravens, while Cave has been out since November with a hamstring injury.
The squad is made up of a mixture of contracted players, Academy members and promising club players. The team includes second row Neil McComb and Connacht bound duo Mark McCrea and Niall O’Connor. Tommy Seymour, Jamie Smith and Conor Gaston make up an exciting back three.
Ravens (15-9):J Smith, T Seymour, D Cave, M McCrea, C Gaston, N O’Connor, M Heaney (1-8):C Carey, J Burns, A Macklin, D Huston, N McComb, D Bradford, D McGuigan, R Diack (capt). (16-22): J Murphy, K McCall, A Whitten, P Pritchard, C Spence, M Allen, D McIlwaine.
It’s a bit of a mix and match for the Ravens side with Ireland and Ulster playing this week and a lot of the Under 20′s starlets away with the Ireland side. However having said that I’m still pleasantly surprised at the talent that we can put out.
Of course the return of “aging croc” Darren Cave is the highlight of the squad but it”ll also be interesting to see how McCrea and O’Connor perform given that I rate them higher than most other armchair pundits would!
Macklin will add some much needed grunt to a decimated pack and while I’m disappointed to see Robbie Diack here instead of in Friday’s team it will be worth the trip to Ravers to see how he performs alongside Dave McGuigan. Both excellent ball carriers with good rugby brains could we be getting a sneak preview of a future Ulster back row combination?
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