CONNACHT’S UNITED RUGBY Championship play-off hopes aren’t officially over just yet, but the province already have one eye on next season as they head into the first of two games in South Africa, Andy Friend’s side taking on the Emirates Lions in Johannesburg today [KO 3.05pm, RTÉ 2/Free Sports/URC TV], before going head-to-head with the Cell C Sharks next week.
The 28-man squad which made the trip to South Africa doesn’t include any players who will be departing in the summer, yet in stark contrast to league leaders Leinster – who have brought an experimental group over for their own two URC games in South Africa – Friend has brought all his key men with him, including Ireland internationals Bundee Aki, Jack Carty, Mack Hansen and Finlay Bealham as they look to end their season with some positive momentum.
With that in mind, Friend has named an intriguing team for today’s fixture.
Aki and Carty both start, while it will be fascinating to see how Hansen fares at fullback, the electric 24-year-old lining out in the 15 shirt for the first time since joining the province.
With Friend making seven changes from the side that lost to Leinster last week, Tom Daly comes back in at inside centre and Paul Boyle returns at number eight in a strong Connacht side.
As they look to pick themselves up from a bruising experience against Leinster in the Heineken Champions Cup round of 16, qualification for the URC play-offs looks highly unlikely.
The province sit 10th in the league, with the Bulls 11 points clear in the final playoff spot. The URC’s play-off predictor rates their chances of making the cut at just 2%, and a win today would only push that percentage up to 3%.
Connacht won’t throw in the towel just yet, but with the play-offs probably out of their reach, Friend has set the group new short-term goals to focus on.
The Australian wants his side to become to first to record a season clean sweep against the South African teams, having already beaten the Bulls and the Stormers at home. It’s a big ask. As Friend pointed out, the European clubs have so far recorded just one win from 16 games played in South Africa this season.
They certainly have the tools to win today, with the Lions also struggling for consistency this season. The Johannesburg-based outfit are two points behind Connacht in 10th, having won just six from 15 league outings.
Yet the Lions can still be tricky opposition, especially on home soil. They’ve won a league-high 112 turnovers this season (matching Edinburgh), and Connacht will need to keep their discipline in check. The province top the charts for penalties conceded (179), while the Lions return of 140 penalties is the third-lowest in the league.
But while Connacht boast a good record against South African opposition – winning their last eight – the Lions are in strong form at home, winning their last four matches at Emirates Airline Park.
Even taking the play-offs out of the equation, Friend will be interested to see how his squad react to their European exit.
Following that desperately one-sided loss to Leinster in the Aviva Stadium, Friend labelled Leo Cullen’s side as “better professionals” than his own group.
“Sometimes we’re really good in our prep and sometimes we’re really good in the way we review and we challenge each other in what we do,” Friend said. “And other times we’re not.”
Those comments will have sat uncomfortably in the dressing room. These next two fixtures offers the squad an ideal opportunity to show Friend that even when the chips are down, they can pull together and deliver.
EMIRATES LIONS: Quan Horn; Rabz Maxwane, Wandisile Simelane, Burger Odendaal (captain), Edwill van der Merwe; Jordan Hendrikse, Morne van den Berg; Sti Sithole, PJ Botha, Ruan Dreyer; Ruben Schoeman, Reinhard Nothnagel; Francke Horn, Vincent Tshituka, Emmanuel Tshituka.
Replacements: Jaco Visagie, JP Smith, Carlu Sadie, Ruan Venter, Sibusiso Sangweni, Andre Warner, Manuel Rass, Tiaan Swanepoel
CONNACHT: Mack Hansen; John Porch, Bundee Aki, Tom Daly, Alex Wootton; Jack Carty (captain), Caolin Blade; Denis Buckley, Dave Heffernan, Jack Aungier; Oisín Dowling, Niall Murray; Cian Prendergast, Jarrad Butler, Paul Boyle.
Replacements: Dylan Tierney-Martin, Jordan Duggan, Greg McGrath, Leva Fifita, Conor Oliver, Kieran Marmion, Conor Fitzgerald, Shayne Bolton.
Referee: Craig Evans (WRU)
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