Fresh wave of injuries for depleted Connacht

Connacht Rugby has a number of fresh injury woes heading into this Saturday’s RaboDirect Pro 12 clash with Ospreys in the Sportsground (5pm), as they seek their second league win of the Pat Lam era.

Flanker Willie Faloon broke his foot in the disappointing defeat to Ulster at the Sportsground and he is expected to be sidelined for at least four months and possibly six.

Faloon was man-of-the-match in this fixture last year and was instrumental in Connacht securing a 22-10 win over the visiting Ospreys in February, scoring a first-half try that sent the home team on their way to victory.

The prognosis for hooker Jason Harris Wright isn’t as bad as was first feared – he was substituted just 12 minutes into the Ulster game with bicep trouble but medics are hopeful he’ll be back in action within four to six weeks.

Elsewhere, new signing Craig Clarke lasted only 40 minutes in his first competitive start for Connacht before being replaced at half-time, but that game-time should blow the cobwebs away and he is available for selection against a visiting Welsh outfit that will look to boss proceedings upfront before unleashing their renowned backline.

Meanwhile, centre Dave McSharry and prop Denis Buckley have stepped up their rehabilitation and have rejoined training but remain unavailable for selection. Irish international Robbie Henshaw was involved in a two-day Ireland training camp in Kildare earlier this week and will return to Connacht training ahead of the game on Saturday.

The team to face Ospreys is set to be announced at noon on Friday.

It remains to be seen whether the Saturday kick-off, which clashes with the televised All-Ireland hurling final between Clare and Cork, will have any impact on attendance, which was just over 4,600 for this fixture last season.

Connacht and Lam badly need to turn their fortunes around, and even at this early stage of the season pressure is on.

Losing to Cardiff away and Ulster at home in themselves, on the face of it, were not necessarily terrible results.

It’s the lame manner in which they lost, and the reality is that both Cardiff and Ulster were mediocre and there for the taking yet Connacht just couldn’t capitalise. That’s part and parcel of the frustration of being a Connacht fan.

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