NO BUNDEE AKI, NO ULTAN DILLANE, no Tom Farrell and now no Mack Hansen. You might say no hope and if you were to study the respective team sheets, and certainly if you were to study the clubs’ balance sheets, you’d be perfectly entitled to your scepticism.

But strange things happen on rugby fields. Stranger things happen when the wind blows a gale and the rain comes horizontally into a Frenchman’s face.

Yes, it’s a cliché to say they aren’t good travellers, Stade. Many French teams aren’t, their passion for their home tournament often greater than their love for this one. In contrast, Ireland’s provinces think the other way round. The URC has only been called that name a matter of months whereas the Top14 has been contested since 1892, Stade winning the first of their 14 titles a year later.

It’ll be a while before they’ll win their 15^th though. Right now relegation is a bigger concern, just three teams and two points separating the Parisians from the bottom of the Top14.

The hope, from a Connacht perspective, is that their thoughts are on solving that domestic issue rather than to be overly concerned about a jaunt like this.

And yet you’d be wrong to think that the only way Connacht can win this game (kick-off 1pm, Live BT Sport) is by virtue of Stade losing it or being too mentally lazy to really contest it. For sure, there is no harm that Stade are coming here without seven decent operators – Castets, Chapuis, Delbouis, Macalou, Maestri, Naivalu, Panis – but the terms and conditions of this game won’t be dictated solely by them.

These days there is a genuine self-assurance about Connacht’s players.

“In previous years, I think we were pretty happy with being in the [Heineken] Champions Cup and participating,” Jarrad Butler, their back rower, said.

Jarrad Butler is a big leader for Connacht. Billy Stickland / INPHO Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO

“But I think now, having been in it for a while, there is a real hunger from the team and the coaching staff as well to really move forward with it, be competitive and put on a good showing.

“I think it speaks a lot about the team’s depth as well when you’re able to come into this competition now and you’re able to back it up and still compete in the middle of that URC season as well.”

It would help if Dillane was there to drive them, Aki to guide them, Hansen to provide a sprinkling of magic dust.

Yet anyone who has been to the Sportsground this season has become used to unlikely heroes popping up out of nowhere. Oran McNulty is one of those. The kid has only played four caps. In his third he scored a top-class try against the Ospreys. That game was Shayne Bolton’s first. He too got on the scoresheet.

Both men are back today. John Porch is also there, John Porch is the most underrated player in Ireland’s four provinces. Finlay Bealham may argue the toss on that one, the big tighthead flying under the radar the way so many Connacht players do.

Yet this season he has excelled, becoming a key component in Connacht’s maul defence. Last season it was a joke. This year it is one of their strengths. As for Stade, their heavy pack is complemented by Nicolas Sanchez’s excellent kicking game.

That’s all well and good if the wind is blowing at your back but Connacht have learned how to play the conditions in Galway on any given day. Their secret is to run rather than kick, the variety of their attacking shapes key to their strategy to break the big men down. “It’s going to be a great challenge,” said their coach, Andy Friend.

It’s one they can rise to.

CONNACHT RUGBY MATCHDAY 23 VS STADE FRANCAIS

Number/Name/Caps
15. Oran McNulty (4)
14. Alex Wootton (24)
13. Shayne Bolton (1)
12. Sammy Arnold (22)
11. John Porch (44)
10. Jack Carty (166) (C)
9. Caolin Blade (137)
1. Matthew Burke (30)
2. Shane Delahunt (107)
3. Finlay Bealham (166)
4. Oisín Dowling (12)
5. Niall Murray (22)
6. Cian Prendergast (15)
7. Conor Oliver (27)
8. Jarrad Butler (80)
 
Replacements
16. Dave Heffernan (151)
17. Jordan Duggan (19)
18. Dominic Robertson-McCoy (69)
19. Eoghan Masterson (115)
20. Seán Masterson (14)
21. Kieran Marmion (193)
22. Conor Fitzgerald (41)
23. Tom Farrell (66)

Stade Francais

🔙🏆 @ChampionsCup

📋 𝕃𝔼 𝕏𝕍 face au @connachtrugby dimanche au Galway Sportsground (14:00 heure française) !

Avec @Freshmile_fr ⚡️ #CONvSFP pic.twitter.com/QtGDy9SDzl

— Stade Français Paris (@SFParisRugby) December 10, 2021