NEW SKIPPER JACK Carty has not recovered from wrist surgery sufficiently to travel to South Africa for their URC clash against champions Stormers in Cape Town on Saturday.
But Carty is expected to travel later this week and could play against the runners-up Bulls in Pretoria on Friday week.
The 30-year old underwent surgery on a wrist issue during the summer and had hoped to be available for the opening game against Ulster but it will now be at least the third round before he makes his seasonal bow.
Head coach Pete Wilkins said they are travelling to South Africa in a positive frame of mind despite the disappointment of the opening night loss and the tour gives them a great chance to get their house in order.
The squad will be away for over two weeks, having not returned to Galway after the loss in Belfast and will fly out of Dublin for Cape Town later on Monday, before moving to Pretoria next week, and Wilkins said the mood is good in the camp despite the manner of the Ulster loss.
“It’s really positive. I think there is an acknowledgement we didn’t play well and there is disappointment from that game but in many ways it is the perfect scenario for us,” said Wilkins.
“We go away to Ulster usually playing on a Friday night, getting on a bus immediately from the changing room and driving through the night back to Galway and not seeing each other, at least not getting in front of the players, for 48 hours until Monday morning.
So, for us to go back to the hotel in Belfast after the game, already start some of those conversations about the game, travel down to Dublin where we had a good team review yesterday in the hotel in Dublin, with players working in their smaller groups sharing ideas and challenging each other and now we are off to spend two weeks together in South Africa with two really exciting games.
“It couldn’t be better as a template for responding and reacting to a performance like that. It is now on us to grab that and we have got to make the most of it.”
Connacht are boosted with the return of Irish internationals Bundee Aki, Mack Hansen and Finlay Bealham as they try to recover from a 36-10 drubbing by Ulster at the weekend.
And there is a further boost with the four players who have been selected in the Emerging Ireland squad — scrum-half Caolin Blade, prop Sam Illo, flanker Cian Prendergast and hooker Dylan Tierney-Martin — being available for Saturday’s clash with the champions, while experienced former skipper Jarrad Butler has recovered from injury and makes the trip.
They will then fly out to Bloemfontein to link up with the Emerging Ireland squad for their three games under the direction of Simon Easterby.
Connacht will bring out a handful of players to replace them later this week and they hope that Gavin Thornbury, who captained them for the first time against Ulster, will recover from injury to join the squad in South Africa.
Connacht squad v Stormers:
Forwards: J Aungier, F Bealham, C Booth, P Boyle, D Buckley, J Butler, P Dooley, O Dowling, L Fifita, D Heffernan, S Hurley-Langton, S Illo, J Murphy, N Murray, C Prendergast, G Stewart, D Tierney-Martin.
Backs: B Aki, C Blade, T Daly, T Farrell, C Fitzgerald, M Hansen, D Hawkshaw, K Marmion, O McNulty, J Porch, B Ralston.
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