Muldoon targets Heineken Cup place

Connacht captain John Muldoon believes that the province is capable of qualifying for the Heineken Cup this season.

To do so, the Westerners would have to finish above one of the provincial rivals in the Magners League standings – something they have never done before.

However, Muldoon has faith in his side and believes that an opening-round victory over the Ospreys, on September 4, would do wonders for Connacht’s self-belief.

"We want to finish above an Irish team in the Magners League," the number eight told Setanta Sports Ireland.

"We want to be there in the Heineken Cup on merit and us achieving something. We want to get to the Heineken Cup and don't want to be also-rans.

"But the Ospreys is our goal right now, we'll take it game by game and hopefully by Christmas we'll be in the main pack [in the Magners League]."

Muldoon is well aware, though, that Connacht’s form on the road will have to improve significantly if they are avoid finishing bottom of the pile again this term.

"Last year we got some good results - Leinster and Munster obviously stand out - but our away form was poor," he admitted. "The inconsistency that we showed last season, we've got to knock that out.

"We had a couple of results that we were not too proud of. We've just got to those inconsistencies out of our game and get some away results, because our home form was pretty good."