Celebrations come early for Connacht ahead of Toulouse tie

With a €20m boost in funding for their Sportsground redevelopment project in the bag, Andy Friend’s Connacht need to secure victory against French champions Toulouse to keep their hopes of reaching the Champions Cup quarter-finals alive.

The promise of the final €20m towards the €30m Sportsground redevelopment — €10m comes from the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund, with the other €10m topped up by extra Government funding — means work can commence on Connacht’s new stadium. The province had already secured €10m of their own through provincial funds and bank loans.