Connacht coach Pete Wilkins targets big performance against Ulster

Angry and at home this week Connacht have, if anything, put out a stronger side for Ulster than they did against Leinster last week.

Argentina star Santi Cordero, recent Ireland squad member Caolin Blade and RWC 2019 out-half Jack Carty all come into the starting line-up

Ulster are similarly hurting, stung by a home defeat against Munster last week, and there is a feeling there is a little more at stake then just league points at Dexcom Park, Galway, tonight (7.35pm).

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"We’ll need to be at the level we were at in that second half against Leinster," says Connacht Head Coach Pete Wilkins

"Things might not have clicked for them against Munster but the intensity around their physicality and collisions was as good as I have seen them for some time."

Josh Ioane, who along with Bundee Aki, was the subject of Mack Hansen's tirade regarding unpoliced head injuries misses out, as Carty - Man of the Match the week before against Perpignan returns.

Continues Wilkins: "It was incredibly difficult for me to leave Jack out last week because of the performance that he put in in Perpignan.

"The fact that it was at a level that showed that he is getting back to his best and incredibly difficult because I have so much respect for him as a human being in terms of what the club means to him and how hard he works on it.

"So very difficult for me and at the same time easy in the sense that whilst he was gutted to be out, he only ever responds respectfully in terms of asking what he can do to keep getting better."

There is a touch of youth about the Ulster side having selected two Academy players in the starting line-up and one on the bench.

Out-half Jack Murphy, who made his Senior Men’s debut against Munster, makes his first start for the province while winger Rory Telfer is also in for his first start after two appearances from the bench against Bordeaux and Munster.

Academy centre, Wilhelm De Klerk, is also in line for a senior debut should he be called on from the replacements bench.

“It’s always difficult against Connacht, it is a tough place to go," says Ulster coach Richie Murphy.

"They are playing good rugby, have good experience in their squad and no matter who they play – they are a handful.”

Connacht: Piers O’Conor; Mack Hansen, Cathal Forde, Bundee Aki, Santiago Cordero; Jack Carty, Caolin Blade; Denis Buckley, Dave Heffernan, Finlay Bealham, Josh Murphy, Darragh Murray, Cian Prendergast (capt), Shamus Hurley-Langton, Paul Boyle

Replacements: Dylan Tierney-Martin, Peter Dooley, Jack Aungier, Oisín Dowling, Sean Jansen, Ben Murphy, Shane Jennings, Conor Oliver

Ulster: Michael Lowry; Werner Kok, Ben Carson, Jude Postlethwaite, Rory Telfer; Jack Murphy, Nathan Doak; Eric O’Sullivan, Rob Herring, Scott Wilson, Alan O’Connor (capt), Cormac Izuchukwu, Matty Rea, Nick Timoney, James McNabney

Replacements: John Andrew, Andrew Warwick, Corrie Barrett, Kieran Treadwell, David McCann, John Cooney, Aidan Morgan, Wilhelm De Klerk

Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)

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