Cork Con's Abbott replaces clubmate in Ireland Club XV
Ireland Club head coach Gearoid Prendergast has made two changes to his starting line-up for their return game at home to Scotland at Energia Park this Friday (kick-off 5.45pm).
Cork Constitution hooker Max Abbott replaces his clubmate John Sutton in the no. 2 jersey, while Terenure's Matthew Byrne starts on the wing after scoring off the bench in last Friday’s 39-17 win.
Abbott has three previous caps at this level against England Counties, France Fédérale, and Scotland Club XV.
Three uncapped players come onto the bench, with Conor Bartley (Young Munster) providing front-row cover, and Gearoid Lyons (Clontarf) and Sam Coghlan Murray (Terenure College) coming in as back-line back-up.
"We’ve made changes that will help us build on last week’s performance. The Scots owned the ball for long periods in the second half and we’ll need to address that," said Prendergast.
"We said from the outset we wanted to play a high tempo ball-in-hand game and I think we’ve shown that.
"We’ll have talented players with a high skill-set on a synthetic surface at home in Energia Park. It should be pretty entertaining."
15. Jamie Heuston (Garryowen) 1
14. Colm Hogan (Dublin University) 1
13. Pa Ryan (Shannon) 1
12. Bryan Fitzgerald (Garryowen) 1
11. Matthew Byrne (Terenure College) 1
10. James Taylor (UCC) 1
09. Aran Hehir (Shannon) 1
01. Conor Maguire (Old Wesley) 1
02. Max Abbott (Cork Constitution) 3
03. Andrew Keating (Garryowen) 2
04. Brian Hayes (Cork Constitution) 3
05. Alan Kennedy (Young Munster) 2
06. Michael Melia (Terenure College) 5
07. John Foley (Young Munster) 1
08. Paul Derham (Old Wesley) 1
16. Adam Clarkin (Terenure College) 1
17. Conor Bartley (Young Munster) 0
18. Corrie Barrett (Garryowen) 1
19. Peter Claffey (Terenure College) 1
20. Ryan Murphy (UCC) 1
21. Gerry Hurley (Cork Constitution) 10
22. Gearoid Lyons (Clontarf) 0
23. Sam Coghlan Murray (Terenure College) 0
