Jack Carty is poised to become a record-breaker for his province when he returns to captain the side against Emirates Lions in the Sportsground tomorrow night (ko, 7.35pm).

The out-half could make history in the game – he needs six points to equal Eric Elwood’s all-time points scoring record of 1152 points for the province.
Scrum-half Caolin Blade is named alongside him while Cathal Forde and Tom Farrell are named at inside and outside-centre respectively in a side showing six changes from the European loss in Newcastle.

Tiernan O’Halloran lines out at full back for his 215th Connacht appearance with John Porch and Diarmuid Kilgallen on the wings.
The pack sees the Murray brothers Darragh and Niall paired together in the second row, while props Peter Dooley and Jack Aungier come in alongside hooker Shane Delahunt.

Josh Murphy moves from the second row to blindside flanker, while Conor Oliver and Jarrad Butler are retained.
"Tomorrow marks the end of a long block of games for us and one we want to finish on a high,” says Andy Friend.

“If we get the win we head into the next block well in the running for a playoff spot – while achieving our aim of reaching the Challenge Cup knockouts – so it’s not a bad spot to be in.
We’re fully aware however that we need a win tomorrow to put ourselves in that position. The Lions are a formidable outfit and have improved even more since their first season last year, so we know a difficult challenge awaits us."

Emirates Lions are just one point back from their hosts in the race for European qualification.

“Looking back at last week’s game, it’s important for us ahead of Connacht to put together two good halves and start playing positive rugby again,” says coach Jaque Fourie.

Fourie is familiar with Saturday’s venue having played at the Sportsground in Galway for the Springboks in 2007 ahead for the Rugby World Cup.

“Playing in Galway especially in these conditions will be tough- it’s going to take 23-man effort to achieve a positive result for us. We’ve had a look at the Connacht side, and we know they are tough side at home.

“The goal is to come out firing and as I said, put together two good halves of rugby and hopefully beat them on Saturday night.”

Fourie likens playing in these types of conditions to test match rugby where a different approach is required, and Saturday against Connacht will most likely be the case.

“It’s almost like playing test rugby, explains the former Bok centre. You have to take your chances; you need to grab your points and build scoreboard pressure. Of course, playing in the right areas of the field becomes important. At times, you’ll face winds of around 30km/h which makes kicking into the wind difficult meaning teams need to keep the ball for longer phases,” he concludes.

Notable changes sees flanker Sibusiso Sangweni slot into the six jumper with Stean Pienaar getting his opportunity on the right wing, with Quan Horn moving to fullback.

Connacht - T O’Halloran; D Kilgallen, T Farrell, C Forde, J Porch; J Carty capt, C Blade; P Dooley, S Delahunt, J Aungier, D Murray, N Murray, J Murphy, C Oliver, J Butler.

Reps – D Tierney-Martin, J Duggan, D Robertson-McCoy, L Fifita, S Hurley-Langton, K Marmion, t Daly, O McNulty.

Lions – Q Horn; S Pienaar, H van Wyk, M Low capt, E van der Merwe’ J Hendrikse, A Warner; JP Smith, PJ Botha, A Ntlabakanye, W Alberts, D Lanmdsberg, S Sangweni, E van Heerden, E Tshituka.

Reps – M van Vuuren, M Naude, R Smith, P Jansen van Euren, J Kriel, M van den Berg, M Rass, A Coetzee.