Connacht made it two wins from two for the Irish provinces when they saw off French side Grenoble by 26 points to 21 in France in the first leg of their European Challenge Cup quarter final. The win means that Connacht will take a crucial 5 point lead into the return leg next weekend in Galway.
Connacht will look to bounce back from recent bad form in this Friday’s European Challenge Cup Quarter final 1st leg tie with Grenoble at the Stade Lesdiguieres
Ulster moved ahead of Connacht in the Celtic League table courtesy of a 23-14 victory over their major rivals for European qualification at Ravenhill on Saturday afternoon.
Ulster out-half David Humphreys returns for Saturday’s Celtic League clash with Connacht in Belfast. Humphreys’s inclusion is the only change to the starting line-up from the narrow defeat to Leinster last Monday.
Today saw the first of two weekends of derbies in the Celtic League with Munster visiting Connacht and Ulster making the trip to Dublin to face Leinster. In the end it was the kickers, Paul Burke for Munster and Felipe Contepomi for Leinster who saw their teams to narrow victories.
Munster coach Alan Gaffney has decided to choose an experimental side for his side’s trip to Galway on Monday to fact Connacht. The back-line in particular has an experimental feel to it with Mike Mullins and Rob Henderson being given time off for Jason Holland and James Storey to get a start.
With some injury worries and the nature of the Christmas break, Connacht coach Eric Elwood has like the other provinces decided to name delay selection of his side in favour of a 25-strong squad for next Monday’s clash with Munster at the Sportsgound kick off 2pm.
Alan Gaffney has named a 25 man squad for the trip to Connacht next Monday. The squad sees the return of Anthony Foley and Anthony Horgan, both of whom were rested last week, while both Ronan O’Gara and Peter Stringer have been rested for this match.
Despite beating some of the top teams in the league in recent weeks Connacht couldn’t manage to get anywhere against Glasgow tonight. Connacht lost out by 35 points to 0.
With their current good form in both the Celtic League and the European Challenge Cup, Connacht will be looking for a win from their trip to Glasgow this Friday. A win could see Connacht move up as far as fourth place in the league.