Connolly comes full circle to fill in as Test full-back
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Your support makes all the difference.Gary Connolly will end his rugby league career where he started, at full-back, when he fills one of Great Britain's problem positions in the first Test against New Zealand at Blackburn on Saturday. Connolly has been drafted into the role left vacant by ill-timed injuries to Kris Radlinski and Paul Wellens.
"I started off there and I'm going to finish there,'' said the 31-year-old, who has featured almost exclusively in the centre for his country.
Connolly has already ended his club career with Wigan and will link up with their Rugby Union subsidiaries at Orrell after the Test series. "I never thought I would go out like this, playing full-back in a Test series, but I'm really looking forward to it,'' he said. "I played there about six times for Wigan this season when Kris was injured, so I'm still quite used to it.''
The Great Britain assistant coach, Brian Noble, is confident that Connolly will adapt to his old position without too many difficulties. "It's great when you lose players like Paul and Kris and have someone of international calibre to bring in,'' Noble said.
Another talking point in the team is the selection of Bradford's Mike Forshaw at loose- forward, with captain Andy Farrell moving from his regular role into the second row. "It doesn't bother me one bit,'' Farrell said. "I started off as a second-rower. I never particularly set out to be a loose-forward, it was just something that happened.''
In the absence of Paul Sculthorpe, who could have played either loose-forward or stand-off, Kevin Sinfield starts alongside Paul Deacon. There is no place in the team for Terry O'Connor, who finished the domestic season with a series of injuries and is being nursed along with the other matches in the series in mind.
The only question left open in coach David Waite's selection is which four of five possible substitutes will be called upon at Ewood Park, where ticket sales have edged past the 10,000 mark. The one player in line for his Test debut is the Castleford stand-off, Danny Orr. "I'm keeping my fingers crossed,'' he said. "I've been waiting for a lot of years".
New Zealand will name their side today, with Ruben Wiki's thumb injury now their main worry.
GREAT BRITAIN (v New Zealand, Ewood Park, Saturday): Connolly (Wigan); Pryce (Bradford), Gleeson (St Helens), Senior (Leeds), Pratt (Leeds); Sinfield (Leeds), Deacon (Bradford); Fielden (Bradford), Cunningham (St Helens), McDermott (Leeds), Farrell (Wigan, capt), Morley (Sydney Roosters), Forshaw (Bradford). Substitutes from: Anderson (Bradford), Peacock (Bradford), Joynt (St Helens), Orr (Castleford), Gilmour (Bradford).
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