WITH their place in next season’s Champions Cup all but assured after the result in both Challenge Cup semi-finals went their way last weekend, Connacht head to Ravenhill this Friday looking to extend this season when they take on Ulster in the first of the weekend’s league quarter-finals (7.35pm).

With the Scarlets and Benetton both losing last weekend, the only way Connacht will be denied a place in next season’s top European competitions is if the Sharks win the URC final, but considering the fact the South African side need to overcome Leinster in their quarter-final in Lansdowne Road on Saturday, that looks highly unlikely.

The near-confirmation of their place in the Champions Cup will have been a boost to the Connacht camp this week, as will the news that a total of 41 players are available for selection for a game which the visitors go into with not a shred of pressure on them.

Ulster won both meetings between the sides this season, including a 36-10 blowout on the opening weekend back in September, on their way to finishing second in the regular season standings, and given they will be backed by a partisan home crowd, all the expectation will be on Dan McFarland’s side.

That will suit Connacht perfectly: they play their best rugby with the shackles off, and with a few whispers coming out of Belfast this week of a little bit of unhappiness in the Ulster camp, Connacht are in a good place to make it three wins from their last seven visits to the Belfast venue: before the first win in that run, in 2018/19, Connacht had gone 58 years without a win in Ravenhill.

“We’ve had some big games, big moments, but we live in the present, and this is definitely a huge week for us, and probably the most important,” Connacht’s Director of Rugby, Andy Friend, said this week when asked where the game ranks in terms of importance during his time at the province, which will come to an end with the end of Connacht season.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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