Meanwhile, Finlay Bealham returns from a knee injury to make his 100th appearance for Connacht.

Connacht prop Conor Carey is hoping to push on this spring and start emulating some of the achievements enjoyed by the tightheads he came through with on an exceptional Irish U20 squad.

Sixteen seasons and counting now since Connacht have claimed a win in Dublin — and they have never tasted success at the RDS — but they came as close as humanly possible to ending that drought last night without actually getting their lips to water.

Connacht hooker Tom McCartney says he is ready to leave his injury woes behind and play his part in a busy Christmas period for the westerners.

Ulster loosehead Kyle McCall is like any prop: he wants to scrummage, and scrummage his opposite number off the park. 

Connacht coach Kieran Keane knows his men have an uphill battle if they are to oust champions Scarlets at Parc y Scarlets tonight.

Connacht return to their happiest hunting ground in the league this evening, bidding for their seventh win in 16 visits to Rodney Parade when they take on Dragons.

The level of conversation between players after matches is minimal at the best of times and even less so in these December double dates, but a snippet of information picked up by Connacht after Sunday’s 32-17 loss to Wasps has been thrown about the changing room in the Sportsground quite a bit this week.

This evening’s clash at the RDS will be Pat Lam’s 98th in charge of Connacht and it is safe to say that he still has little difficulty coming up with a cause for his men each time they go out.

Zebre 7 Connacht 52: Two rounds played in the Champions Cup and only three teams in Europe have chalked up two wins. No surprise that Saracens and Clermont Auvergne have begun in such stellar fashion, but Pat Lam’s men are beginning to show that their historic PRO12 win might not be a one-hit wonder.

Ballygunner 4-20 Passage 1-12: The memory of the late Pat Flynn was honoured in style by his Ballygunner clubmen as they claimed a thoroughly convincing third consecutive senior county title in front of a disappointing 3,811 Walsh Park crowd.

A lot has happened on and off the field since Connacht’s match against Zebre in Parma was called off at half-time last month when a storm struck.

Passage 1-13 Dungarvan 1-12: Passage manager Peter Queally let his emotions run wild at the full-time whistle after his 14 warriors battled their way to an unlikely semi-final victory.

You would have thought Connacht’s bid to get their first points of the season would be the primary focus of this encounter, but the surprise midweek departure of Edinburgh coach Alan Solomons has changed the dynamic of this clash.

Maurice Shanahan measured a last-minute free to supply Lismore with the draw they required on Saturday night to reach the quarter-finals and nudged Fourmilewater towards the relegation play-off.

Waterford SHC, Round 4: With their backs to the wall beforehand, county champions Passage came out fighting last night to claim a vital Group 1 win over Fourmilewater in a crunch fourth round clash at Fraher Field (3-18 to 1-18).

Waterford SHC

Ballygunner 3-13 Passage 3-16

Senior Hurling titles were up for grabs in Waterford, Tipperary, Kerry, Roscommon, Mayo and Leitrim this weekend.

Passage 1-19 Ballyduff Upper 0-17

Those who believe Declan Kidney will be quickly able to find alternatives and back-up support for Cian Healy, Mike Ross and Tom Court, the trio who have carried the scrummaging responsibilities throughout the RBS 6 Nations Championship, will have to think again.

PROWLING for sex with prostitutes ended in “remorse and significant embarrassment” for 21 men caught by female detectives in a Garda operation.

Following Saturday’s 15-10 victory over the Scarlets in Llanelli, the Leinster management report no major fresh injury concerns aside from the usual bumps and bruises ahead of the visit of Aironi to the RDS on Saturday (6.30pm).

Rhys Ruddock will captain a Leinster side bearing little resemblance to that which overhauled Northampton in last season’s Heineken Cup final when the province take on the Ospreys in their first RaboDirectPRO 12 match tomorrow night.

THE effects of four games in 12 days were very much in evidence as a jaded Ireland Under-20 side were hammered 57-15 defeat by their South African counterparts in a one-sided IRB Junior World Championship play-off clash in Padova last night.

South Africa 57 Ireland 15

The Ireland Under-20 team to face South Africa in the Junior World Championship has been named.

Ireland U-20s 30 Scotland U-20s 13,

Although the Ireland Under-20s have failed to register a point in Pool C of the IRB Junior World Championship, head coach Mike Ruddock has been pleased with their performances so far.

The Ireland Under-20 team to play South Africa has been named by coach Mike Ruddock.

New Irish U20 coach Mike Ruddock has named his side for Friday’s opening Six Nations Championship game against Italy in Parma, kick-off 6pm.

St Michael's College lock Emmet McMahon will lead the Ireland Under-19 Schools team, coached by Terry McMaster and Bobby Byrne, to play the Australian Under-19 Schools at UCD tomorrow.

HAVING already unluckily lost two group games in the Waterford SHC against Ballyduff Upper and Mount Sion, it was a case of the same old story for Fourmilewater at Fraher Field, Dungarvan, on Saturday evening when Lismore edged them out with a late point for a 0-18 to 1-14 victory.

KEN McGRATH is set to make his first start for Waterford in the current National Hurling League campaign when the Decies make the long trip north to Portaferry to take on pointless Down, on Sunday.

WATERFORD make one change from the team that narrowly defeated Wexford for tomorrow’s NHL clash with All-Ireland champions Cork at Páirc Uí Rinn.

Waterford 1-13 Wexford 0-14

Waterford manager Justin McCarthy will test the strength of his extended panel in Sunday's NHL Division 1A opener against Wexford at Dungarvan (throw-in 2.30pm).

THE Lismore duo of Allstar Dan Shanahan and Dave Bennett have been left out of Waterford side for Sunday's Allianz NHL opener against Wexford at Dungarvan.