LAST UPDATE | 13 Nov 2023
WORLD PLAYER OF the Year nominee Bundee Aki is in a race to be fit for Connacht’s Champions Cup games next month as he recovers from a hamstring injury picked up in France.
He has been omitted from the 29-man squad which left Galway on Monday afternoon to take on the Sharks and the Bulls in South Africa over the next two weekends, while Irish winger Mack Hansen is also remaining at the Sportsground, nursing an ankle injury he suffered at the World Cup.
Head coach Pete Wilkins is confident Hansen will be available for their game against Leinster when they return from South Africa, but it remains to be seen if Aki will be fit for the opening Champions Cup match at home to Bordeaux-Bègles on 8 December or away to Saracens a week later.
“I’d like to think he will make it back for the Champions Cup. We will see where he is in another two weeks’ time when we are back from South Africa.
“Plan A is that he is back for Bordeaux; if not, then against Saracens, but we will just have to wait and see,” said Wilkins.
Connacht’s third World Cup squad member, tighthead Finlay Bealham, has been included in the squad for South Africa and he could end up providing cover on the other side of the scrum as well as only two looseheads, Denis Buckley and Peter Dooley, are travelling, although Wilkins said they could bring out reinforcements if necessary.
“We have done that before, we brought out scrum-half Colm Reilly before, but again Plan A is to stick with that 29.
“We have guys that can cover if necessary if we had an injury at the back end of the week, but if it is at the start of the week then we can look at bringing someone out,” he added.
This is Wilkins’ eleventh tour to South Africa as either an analyst or coach and he knows they have to be able to adapt to various scenarios.
They left Galway by coach at 4pm on Monday afternoon to fly from Dublin to South Africa overnight via a two-hour stopover in Dubai and are expected at their base at Umhlanga, north of Durban around 5pm on Tuesday.
“We will have a recovery session on Wednesday and won’t be on grass until Thursday and then the captain’s run on Friday and the match on Saturday,” added Wilkins.
“When you add in the Edinburgh trip, it adds a little bit to the mix, but we will be ready.
“We are going there looking for two wins, we know what’s involved and that they will be two very challenging games in terms of the physicality and the conditions.
“But the way our rugby is progressing, we’d be confident that we can give them both a really good game, and if we can get everything right, I think we can assert our game on them,” added Wilkins.
He is boosted by the availability of winger John Porch who was stretchered off in the 25-22 loss in Edinburgh. Other than a nasty gash which required stitching, the Australian suffered no further injury in an aerial clash with full-back Blair Kinghorn, while hooker Dave Heffernan is available for his first action of the season.
Tighthead Jack Aungier has been ruled out as he needs to undergo a HIA following the game in Edinburgh when Connacht’s three-match winning start to the URC campaign was brought to a halt by a late drop goal from Ben Healy.
The Sharks, with former Irish forwards coach John Plumtree in charge, have lost all four games they have played on an European tour since the start of the season and Wilkins knows they are under serious pressure to deliver a performance and result in Durban on Saturday.
“A four-game tour is really tough and I know South African teams have been through that in the URC and before in Super Rugby and they don’t always get the results on the road, but they are still there at the knockout stage of the competition as they are so difficult to beat at home,” added Wilkins.
Connacht squad for Sharks and Bulls:
Forwards:
- Finlay Bealham
- Denis Buckley
- Peter Dooley
- Oisín Dowling
- Dave Heffernan
- Shamus Hurley-Langton
- Sam Illo
- Sean Jansen
- Joe Joyce
- Tadgh McElroy
- Darragh Murray
- Niall Murray
- Conor Oliver
- Sean O’Brien
- Dominic Robertson-McCoy
- Cian Prendergast
- Dylan Tierney-Martin
Backs:
- Caolin Blade
- Jack Carty
- Tom Farrell
- Cathal Forde
- JJ Hanrahan
- David Hawkshaw
- Diarmuid Kilgallen
- Tiernan O’Halloran
- John Porch
- Byron Ralston
- Colm Reilly
- Andrew Smith
