Laulala returns for Blues

Cardiff Blues centre Casey Laulala returns to action this Thursday when the Blues take on Connacht, 7.05pm kick off, Cardiff City Stadium.

Cardiff Blues centre Casey Laulala returns to action this Thursday when the Blues take on Connacht, 7.05pm kick off, Cardiff City Stadium.

recovered to take his place in the Centre alongside Dafydd Hewitt. Gareth Cooper makes his first start of the season for the Blues at scrum half. Richie Rees has not recovered from his calf strain while Lloyd Williams is out injured with a dead leg. Young Pontypridd Scrumhalf Kristian Baller covers on the bench.

In the forwards Xavier Rush captains the side with Rhys Williams at Hooker. T Rhys Thomas is rested having played all games so far this season.

John Yapp starts at loosehead and will play this position for the next three weeks with some big Heineken Cup matches approaching. He is still committed to converting to tighhead but having only played 105 minutes in this position, it is not ideal preparation for European matches. Gethin Jenkins is on the bench having suffered with flu all week, while Martyn Williams is out with a shoulder injury as is Maama Molitika who has a groin strain.

Tickets are available for only £10 for adults and £5 for juniors and £12 for a family tickets (2 adults 2 children).To purchase tickets call 0845 345 1400 or online at www.cardiffblues.com/tickets

Blues Team:
15 Ben Blair 14 Leigh Halfpenny 13 Casey Laulala 12 Dafydd Hewitt 11 Chris Czekaj 10 Dan Parks 9 Gareth Cooper

8 Xavier Rush (c) 7 Sam Warburton 6 Michael Paterson 5 Deiniol Jones 4 Bradley Davies 3 Tafa’ao Filise 2 Rhys Williams 1 John Yapp

Replacements
16 Kristian Dacey 17 Gethin Jenkins 18 Scott Andrews 19 Paul Tito 20 Andries Pretorius 21 Kristian Baller 22 Ceri Sweeney 23 Tom Shanklin

Connacht Team:
1 Brett Wilkinson 2 Adrian Flavin 3 Jamie Hagan 4 Michael Swift 5 Andrew Browne 6 Michael McCarthy 7 Ray Ofisa 8 Mike McComish