Connacht set to mix and match for Challenge Cup encounter with Newcastle

IN a way, it is hard to know what to make of Connacht’s bonus-point win over Treviso last weekend, a result that keeps them in the hunt for a top-eight finish in the URC and qualification for both the league play-offs, and possibly the European Champions Cup.

No-one in their right mind wants to lose a game, but it leaves the province with decision to make as they take a break from regular league action this weekend to take on Newcastle Falcons on Saturday in the European Challenge Cup in the Sportsground (5.30pm).

Connacht’s Jekyll & Hyde start to the season – four wins in nine games and just three bonus points – means they have work to do to make the upper echelons of their own league, but achieving that is very much in reach, as they are ‘just’ three points off the pace at the half-way stage in the league.

It also means that they can’t go full-tilt at Europe, and they are clearly accepting that themselves: although the squad for Saturday won’t be announced until lunch-time the day before, Connacht have already confirmed that Finlay Bealham, Dave Heffernan, and Cian Prendergast will be absent as part of an IRFU protocol requiring all international players to sit out two games from the block of nine following the resumption of club action after the November internationals.

“There is healthy competition for selection, we have a few internationals away on holidays as well, so it does open it up to the squad, and it opens up to a squad that has been training well and has been training hard,” scrum-coach Colm Tucker said this week.

“You have to manage guys through the season, it is something last year that towards the end of the season, guys were a bit banged up, so we are very focused on that this year in terms of managing loads on players, so I think you will see some familiar faces out there mixed with some new faces, which is very positive for us,” he said.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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