Bundee Aki and Finlay Bealham return for Connacht's clash with Bristol

CONNACHT ARE BOOSTED by the return of World Cup players Bundee Aki and Finlay Bealham for their final Champions Cup pool game when Pat Lam brings his Bristol Bears side to the Sportsground on Friday night.

Connacht still have an outside chance of making it into the knockout stages of the Challenge Cup — indeed, a bizarre series of results could still see them snatch a place in the last 16 of the Champions Cup — but for the most part Friday’s game will be trying to end an eight-match losing run in Europe’s premier competition.

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Scrum-half Caolin Blade is also available after completing the return to play protocol, while experienced full-back Tiernan O’Halloran is also back after recovering from a foot injury picked up against Leinster in December.

Promising centre Cathal Forde is recovering from a shoulder issue and might be available, while tighthead Jack Aungier and hooker Dylan Tierney-Martin, both of whom were late withdrawals before Saturday’s loss in Lyon, are also being assessed and may be available.

However, full-back John Porch and former Galway All-Ireland minor winner Shane Jennings, who suffered an ankle injury after coming on in Lyon, are both ruled out.

Head coach Pete Wilkins said they want to end their Champions Cup campaign on a high and secure a place in the knockout stages of the Challenge Cup in a game at the Sportsground which looks set to be sold out as Lam and some former Connacht players such as Kieran Marmion, AJ MacGinty and Jake Heenan return to Galway.

“We are ambitious, we want to progress in Europe. We had hoped it would be in the Champions Cup, now it’s up for grabs with the Challenge. We still want to achieve and we would much rather be fighting on two fronts than just the once, but we need to make sure we put that into place this Friday night.

“We are looking forward to seeing Pat (Lam), he’s a good man and he’s associated with success here. So we look forward to seeing him but there is so much at stake in the game in terms of competitiveness. We will shake hands before and hopefully have a beer afterwards but we will be focussing on trying to get a win,” said Wilkins.