Connacht are preparing to return to the Champions Cup when Saracens visit the Dexcom Stadium on Saturday, but head coach Stuart Lancaster has yet to settle on his starting XV.
Shayne Bolton has passed HIA protocols, experienced hooker Dave Heffernan is back training, while talented youngster Harry West may be available, as may David O’Connor. But Lancaster has yet to decide whether Irish internationals Finlay Bealham and Mack Hansen will be in action after playing in the first three fixtures this season.
Lancaster could look to the likes of Finn Treacy, Shane Jennings and “standout” under-20s player Daniel Ryan, while new signing Will Connors is also a possible starter.
“We signed him for a reason because he’s an international-quality player. So getting him back available to train and be available to play is huge,” said Lancaster of the former Leinster backrow.
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Connacht have been “rewarded with an amazing pool” that includes Toulouse, La Rochelle and Exeter as well as Saracens, whom he encountered when coaching Leinster.
“It’s a serious challenge. Obviously we watched the game from the weekend. They had a very good win against Bristol ... it’s going to be a hell of a game.”
“To kick off the Champions Cup with a home game, and if you can get a win, it sets you up well, and then obviously you lead into Exeter away, and then there is the excitement of the two French teams in January.”
Lancaster insists Connacht need to put their “best foot forward in Europe” and that last season’s results provided real hope.
“You just want to be in the fight, don’t you? I thought last year, if you saw our Montpellier games and then Montpellier losing in the Top 14 final, how well we competed, it would not be beyond the realms of possibility that we can qualify. So we fight for that.”
Connacht, he insists, are not there just to make up the numbers.
“I’ve seen other teams pay lip service to it. I’m too respectful of the competition to ever do that. I’ve had amazing times in the Champions Cup. You know, I’ve been involved in huge playoff games, in finals, in semi-finals, in amazing pool games.
“So I love the competition personally ... it worries me when there is talk about reducing it to 16 teams in the next couple of years.
“Where does that leave a club like Connacht to have ambition? Why would you rule out a club like Connacht – to have their day in the sun, to play against the teams that won the Champions Cup in the past, and why can’t a club like Connacht ever potentially win it? I’m not saying it’s doable every year, but there’s no reason why a club like Connacht couldn’t come through.”
