The resurgent capital region have beaten Ulster, Edinburgh and the Scarlets in their last three games, and are hoping to continue that progress in Galway.
Just one place and three points separate the sides in eighth and ninth in the table but the Blues will be gunning for seventh placed Edinburgh at the Sportsground at 3pm tomorrow afternoon. Edinburgh take on play-off certainties Munster at home in the penultimate round of PRO12 action and they will be looking over their shoulder given that the Blues’ Judgement Day win over the Scarlets saw them draw level with the Scots on 37 points.
Fly-half Gareth Davies will play his 50th game for the Blues when he lines up in a side containing three changes from that Millennium Stadium encounter with Simon Easterby’s troops a fortnight ago.
Harry Robinson comes in for Chris Czekaj on the wing as the latter is struggling with an Achilles problem, while Lloyd Williams is named ahead of Lewis Jones at scrum half and Ellis Jenkins starts in place of the suspended Robin Copeland.
“We would love to make it four on the bounce but that is easier said than done,” said Blues caretaker coach Dale McIntosh. “Connacht have a strong team and are difficult to face in Galway so we will need to play well.
“We took a week off after the Scarlets game to regroup and re-energise our batteries. The boys are in a good place – they are enjoying their rugby and training very well.
“Looking at the last game, Scarlets are a very good side and we felt we performed very well for 55 minutes and perhaps could have had a better lead. In all fairness to Scarlets, they came back to us, but we felt we were deserving of the win and it holds us in good stead for the game against Connacht.”
Connacht’s fine mid-season form has dropped off after defeats in their last three games against Munster, Ulster and Scarlets but head coach Pat Lam has only made one change to his side as Andrew Browne makes way for Aly Muldowney in the second row.
