Seib Calls For Strong Start From Connacht In Newport

Connacht captain Cian Prendergast and Josh Ioane have recovered from their respective hamstring and groin injuries, and are available for selection for this weekend’s return to BKT United Rugby Championship action.

Connacht have won two of their last three matches in all competitions, and sit just a point outside of the URC’s top eight ahead of Saturday night’s clash with the Dragons at Rodney Parade (kick-off 7.45pm).

Stuart Lancaster’s side will be striving for back-to-back victories after opening their EPCR Challenge Cup win account against Georgia’s Black Lion last week. Paul Boyle’s first-half hat-trick of tries set them on their way to a 52-0 triumph.

Prendergast is set to resume as skipper and play for Connacht for the first time since October. He made three appearances off the bench during Ireland’s Quilter Nations Series campaign, including the November finale against South Africa.

New Zealander Ioane is back to full fitness after missing the opening two Challenge Cup rounds, while a decision on Finlay Bealham’s availability will be made later in the week as he continues his return-to-play protocols.

Connacht will return to Wales just a fortnight on from their disappointing European defeat to the Ospreys. They also lost in Cardiff in October, and although the second-from-bottom Dragons may be winless in the URC, they did beat Lyon 23-21 at home in the Challenge Cup last Sunday.

“We know travelling to Wales is tough, like it’s shown how tough it’s been for us this year. So we’re not underestimating this trip at all,” said Connacht’s senior assistant coach Rod Seib.

“We know within the context of the season this is really important for us to move our game forward. We know it’s going to be a hostile crowd down there, and one again they’re the games you want to really go and succeed at.

“You don’t want to go there with a passive crowd with nothing to play for. We do expect that they’ll come in on a high after the good win last weekend. They’ll be sort of riding a bit of a crest of a wave.

“It’s important for us to really start well, to set the foundations of our game up early and then to grind out 80 minutes, because the reality is here that they may not have had the wins that they would have liked in the URC, but we know, particularly at home, they can be quite a treat.”

Countering those recent losses in Wales, Connacht have won on their last four visits to Rodney Parade, their most recent three successes coming by 10, two, and seven points respectively.

However, they have won only once away from home in the league in 2025, finishing as 22-12 winners over Zebre Parma in May. Improving their away form remains a work in progress, which will be further tested over the festive period when they visit Leinster.

Seib, the Australian attack specialist, wants the westerners to build on the good parts of their eight-try performance against Black Lion. They scored 5.2 points per 22-metre entry, opening up a 38-point lead by half-time, and had an 89% tackle success rate, 13 dominant hits, and five turnovers won.

“It was pleasing. It’s really pleasing when you keep a team to nil as well. That’s one thing that I was incredibly impressed with. We really stuck to the game plan, stayed focused.

“Didn’t get sick of doing what was working, and as you know, when you’ve got a fair lead in a game, you can sometimes go away from your game plan.

“At half-time, very much the message to decision makers was to make sure we stuck to our game plan. If you’re being hypercritical, you could say there’s potentially some points that we could have chased.

“Maybe we could have been a little bit more aggressive in that second half, but the reality is we kept them to zero on the basis of us staying to our game plan.”

An ill Sean Jansen was withdrawn ahead of the Black Lion game and is continuing to be monitored, but further evaluation of their injuries has ruled out Jack Aungier (elbow), Sean Naughton (ankle), Shane Jennings (quad), and Oisin McCormack (hamstring) until mid-to-late January.

Peter Dooley, who is working his way back towards full fitness, and Colm Reilly are both currently unavailable for selection due to hamstring injuries.

There are no updates on Mack Hansen, whose recent surgery on a troublesome foot injury reportedly ‘went well’, and knee injury victims Oisin Dowling, Byron Ralston, and Temi Lasisi.

With this being the fourth game of a rigorous 10-week block for Connacht, squad depth is vital at this time of the year. It can be a balancing act with players needing to be rewarded for form and others pressing to return to the team after missing out through injury or non-selection.

“The reality is we’ve got a squad of players there who are hungry for game-time, so it’s important that players do get opportunity to show what they can do,” commented Seib.

“But of course with players coming back from injury, there’s always going to be a litte bit of movement there. So I wouldn’t read too much into a week-to-week how many changes there are.

“The reality is we’ve got a squad who train together, who meet together, who are on the same page, who are incredibly devoted towards good performances each week.

“So, the 23 (players) who are lucky enough to put on the jersey, they’ve got to make sure they put their hand up and show the coaches and the supporters that they deserve to wear it the following week.”

Although they have played one match less than most of their URC rivals, ninth-placed Connacht have some players positioned high up in the league’s rankings so far this season.

Jansen (74) and Cathal Forde (64) are among the four ball carriers in the 2025/26 Championship, Chay Mullins has made five line breaks, and the 17 tries Connacht have scored to date in five outings have originated from six lineouts, four scrums, four tap penalties, and four turnovers.

Delving more into what caught his eye in attack against Black Lion and what he wants to see more of, the former ACT Brumbies assistant coach admitted: “Certainly the ability to break the line is something that impressed me.

“The game plan that we had initially was around really making sure that particularly as a back-line, they worked really hard and found opportunity on a long edge.

“They were able to do that throughout the game. For us, one of our points of difference really needs to be the fact that we outwork our oppositon. If we’re relying on perfect conditions to play each week, then we know playing in Connacht that’s not going to be the case.

“So we need to make sure that our game is built around a work ethic, one in which you’re getting yourself out of a wide breakdown and you’re looking for opportunity.

“I was particularly pleased with seeing blokes work back hard on kick return, a couple of unstructured tries there on the back of guys actually working hard off the ball to provide opportunities for a ball carry.

“Whether it be finding a soft shoulder, whether it be supporting a breakdown, whether it be like ‘Fordey’ (Cathal Forde) running around an edge and working hard to put ‘Bolts’ (Shayne Bolton) over in the corner.

“It’s just that work ethic to provide opportunity for line break is something that I was pleased with, and it’s something that we want to make sure is part of our brand as a back-line.”