Connacht looking to build on recent momentum

Connacht's Piers O'Conor. Pic: James Crombie/Inpho

It may be an uphill battle but successive bonus point wins at home have kept Connacht’s hope alive of finishing in the top half of the URC which would not only secure a knockout place in the league but also qualification for the Champions Cup next season when they unveil their €40m redevelopment of Dexcom Stadium in Galway.

They head to Swansea to take Ospreys in a Saturday afternoon (5.15pm) encounter on the back of 13 straight wins over Welsh competition in the league, although their hosts hold a 23-15 advantage in this clash down through the years.

Scrum and contact coach Colm Tucker said the bonus point wins over Cardiff and Benetton have been a big boost.

“With the last two wins we put ourselves back in contention. It’s the business end of the season now. We’ve three big games in a row, and hopefully more knock-out rugby after Cardiff,” he said, with a Challenge Cup last-16 game in the offing.

“We just need to keep momentum, keep it game to game – the same five points you get for beating Benetton is the same four or five points you get for beating the Ospreys, so that’s the focus.” 

The side shows three changes to the team which defeated Benetton 38-30 last time out. All of the changes are up front, although at the back Finn Treacy and Shayne Bolton, who scored a couple of tries in that win, switch wings.

Denis Buckley comes in for Peter Dooley at loosehead, Joe Joyce skippers the side and takes over from David O’Connor, while in the back row Josh Murphy comes in for the unavailable club captain Cian Prendergast.

Head coach Pete Wilkins and his management have opted for a 6-2 split on the bench.

Ospreys will be without Wales captain Jac Morgan and Six Nations colleagues Dewi Lake and Gareth Thomas but unused internationals Dan Edwards, Sam Parry and Ben Warren are included for a side one point behind Connacht in the table as both of them go for their sixth win in 13 games.

Ospreys: J Walsh; D Kasende, E Boshoff, K Williams, K Giles; D Edwards, K Hardy; G Phillips, S Parry (c), T Botha, J Ratti, A Beard, M Morse, J Tipuric, M Morris. 

Replacements: G McGuigan, S Thomas, B Warren, J Fender, T Davies, R Morgan-Williams, P Cokanasiga, I Hopkins.

Connacht: P O’Conor; F Treacy, H Gavin, C Forde, S Bolton; J Ioane, C Blade; D Buckley, D Heffernan, J Aungier; D Murray, J Joyce (c); J Murphy, S Hurley-Langton, P Boyle. 

Replacements: D Tierney-Martin, T Lasisi, S Illo, O Dowling, D O’Connor, M Devine, JJ Hanrahan, S Jansen.

Referee: A Barrett-Theron (South Africa).