O’Connor relishing return north

CONNACHT out-half Niall O’Connor is looking forward to playing in Ravenhill again tomorrow night when he hopes to pull one over on his former Ulster colleagues in the RaboDirect PRO12.

The 24-year-old made his debut in the competition four years ago for Ulster but decided to move to Connacht at the end of last season. And the Derry-born No 10 expects to have nothing easy as Ulster bid to end a four-match losing run and Connacht aim for their first win in Belfast in half a century.

“It is going to be a tough match, especially as they will have their World Cup players back in action. Both teams will be under pressure to take the win, but personally it is going to be nice to play in Ravenhill again.

“I had five years as a player after I left school and I loved playing for the province. I got a few chances to impress and played a few games each season, but from a development point of view I felt it was better that I made the move to get more game time,” he said.

TJ Anderson and Mark McCrea also made the move from Belfast to Galway, and O’Connor has no regrets about the switch, having been forced to share the number 10 shirt in Ulster with Ian Humphreys.

“I battled it out with Humps for that last few years. Last season I got the nod for the first six or seven games but picked up an injury and Ian took his chance and held on to the shirt.

“When you get the chance you have to keep your spot when you can and he did that. And with ten being a key position, coaches can be reluctant to make a chance when things are going well there,” he added.

Connacht coach Eric Elwood will name his team this morning.

CONNACHT SQUAD: Forwards – B Wilkinson, R Loughney, S Maguire, D Rogers, R Ah You, E Reynecke, A Flavin, M Swift, D Gannon, M McCarthy, J Muldoon, TJ Anderson, R Ofisa, E Grace, G Naoupu.

Backs: P O’Donohoe, F Murphy, M Nikora, B Tuohy, M Jarvis, N O’Connor, G Duffy, D McSharry, F Vainikolo, T O’Halloran, H Fa’afili, Eoin Griffin, M McCrea