Champions Cup: Connacht fired up for Bear fight

In other times the venue would have sold out several times over and the atmosphere around Galway for a 5.30 kick-off on a Sunday evening five days before Christmas

General view as Bernard Le Roux of Racing 92 wins possession of a lineout during the Heineken Champions Cup Pool B Round 1 match between Racing 92 and Connacht at La Defense Arena in Paris, France. Picture: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

No matter how much people become accustomed to games being played behind closed doors, there are just some fixtures where the absence of the crowd is lamented more than others. Connacht’s clash with Pat Lam’s Bristol Bears tomorrow is right up there in that regard.

The venue would have sold out several times over and the atmosphere around Galway for a 5.30 kick-off on a Sunday evening five days before Christmas would have been electric as the men who led Connacht to their greatest ever triumph four years ago return to the Sportsground.