JJ Hanrahan poised to give Connacht badly needed boost

POISED FOR RETURN: JJ Hanrahan is looking for a return to play from ACL injury the end of January.

JJ Hanrahan is poised to give Connacht a big boost as they try to rescue a season which has nosedived with three successive URC defeats where they failed to pick up a single point.

The Kerry native has been out of action since suffering an ACL injury against one of his former sides the Dragons back in April.

The 32-year old has returned to integrated training and while he is unlikely to be used in the upcoming Challenge Cup games against Lyon and Cardiff, he could make his return away to Glasgow Warriors on January 24 as Connacht bid to salvage their hopes of a top eight finish and a place in next season’s Champions Cup.

Connacht signed one-cap All Black Josh Ioane after a failed attempt during the summer to lure Sam Prendergast to join his older brother Cian on loan from Leinster.

Ioane has, by and large, been preferred to former skipper Jack Carty for most of the season but the former Chiefs out-half has struggled to make an impact with his opportunity hampered by a couple of head injuries.

Head coach Pete Wilkins confirmed before Christmas that Hanrahan had returned to integrated training.

“We're still tracking towards mid to late January, and, obviously, depending how the fixtures fall, is whether we use him before that break or not. But he's on track, which is brilliant news,” he said.

Hanrahan joined Connacht last season and played in 19 of the 21 games, including 14 starts, before suffering the knee injury in April.

Meanwhile, Connacht will be expected to maintain their 100% start to the Challenge Cup next weekend when they take on Lyon at Dexcom Stadium on Saturday night (8pm).

Lyon, like Connacht, have won both of their opening games but the French club are set to send a second string side to Galway as they continue to fight a relegation battle in the Top 14.

Lyon, despite having what is believed to be the fifth highest playing budget in the Top 14, moved to tenth at the weekend after scoring an invaluable 17-12 win over Perpignan in a relegation tussle but they remain just three points from safety.

Connacht will hope to have top spot secured before they head to Cardiff the following week and they are boosted for this weekend by the availability of hooker Dave Heffernan, who missed the dismal loss pre-Christmas home loss to Ulster with a calf injury, along with lock Joe Joyce (foot) and back rower Oisin McCormack (calf).

Lock Darragh Murray is out with an achilles injury while a hamstring injury rules out back rower Sean O’Brien as Connacht bid to back up their bonus point wins at home to Zebre and away to Perpignan against the French side.