URC, Round 18: Edinburgh v Connacht, Hive Stadium, Friday, 7.45pm – Live on TG4 & Premier Sports

Six wins in the last seven URC games justifies a bit of swagger, but Connacht are likely to be more understated as they head to the Scottish capital seeking a victory that could propel them into the knockout stage of the tournament and earn a place in next season’s Champions Cup.

Injuries for hooker Dylan Tierney-Martin and secondrow Darragh Murray are untimely but provide opportunity.

Eoin de Buitléar, the younger brother of former wing Colm, is named in the frontrow alongside Billy Bohan and fit-again tighthead prop Finlay Bealham. He takes over from Sam Illo, who falls to the bench.

Former Ireland under-20 hooker Mikey Yarr is set to make his Connacht debut off the bench, while Joe Joyce is promoted to the secondrow.

There backline is unchanged from last weekend’s 26-7 win over Munster, with Ben Murphy and Josh Ioane at halfback, Bundee Aki alongside Harry West in the centre, Shayne Bolton and Shane Jennings on the wings, with Sam Gilbert covering fullback.

Edinburgh have made several changes for Friday’s game. Captain Magnus Bradbury returns at number eight in place of Tom Currie, Marshall Sykes comes into the secondrow as Grant Gilchrist is ruled out with a finger injury. Tom Dodd also slots in at blindside flanker, with Glen Young moving into the secondrow alongside Sykes.

How Connacht are proving a stark contrast to reeling Munster

Piers O’Conor, a former Ireland under-19 who spent the 2024/25 season at Connacht, is named at centre, with Mosese Tuipulotu at outside centre. O’Conor has impressed at fullback in their last three games but switches to the midfield as Harry Paterson is restored at 15.

He forms a potent backline with a couple of Lions in Darcy Graham and Duhan van der Merwe, a try scorer on his return from injury last week, and a couple more in prop Pierre Schoeman and hooker Ewan Ashman.

“They have looked a lot more dangerous the last few weeks,” Connacht scrumhalf Murphy said of their Scottish opponents. “They are throwing the ball around a lot more. We know there is a serious threat and are taking it as seriously as it comes.

“There’s pressure on the game, there’s no getting away from that. You either shy away from it or you walk into it headfirst. That’s what we plan on doing. There is more of an embrace of pressure now in this group.

“We know it’s going to be there. We know it’s going to be the same again this week, but we now feel like we have got tools to combat that pressure and get into our flow. I think that’s been a big plus for us this year.”

His halfback partner Ioane added: “We had some painful games, some close losses, games we should have won. But then came the victory over Glasgow (in February) and we also won our first interpro against Ulster (in March).

“That sort of got into the boys’ heads. Those were two teams at the top of the table that we were competing with. From there, it just became a habit. The whole year we have been training really hard and it’s been cool to see the growth in the team. We have found some real confidence coming into the back end of the season.”

That will be tested rigorously at the Hive, especially if they allow Edinburgh to escape early on the scoreboard. The hosts have nothing tangible to play for and Connacht will want to challenge them with a hard-nosed and accurate performance. The visitors’ need is greater and they might just hold sway.

EDINBURGH: H Paterson; D Graham, P O’Conor, F Thomson, D van der Merwe; R Thompson, H Patterson; P Schoeman, E Ashman, O Blyth-Lafferty; M Sykes, G Young; T Dodd, F Douglas, M Bradbury (capt). Replacements: J Blyth-Lafferty, B Venter, P Hill, C Hunter-Hill, E McVie, T Currie, C Shiel, J Brown.

CONNACHT: S Gilbert; S Jennings, H West, B Aki, S Bolton; J Ioane, B Murphy; B Bohan, E de Buitléar, F Bealham; J Joyce, J Murphy, C Prendergast (capt), S Hurley-Langton, S Jansen. Replacements: M Yarr, P Dooley, S Illo, D O’Connor, P Boyle, M Devine, J Carty, S Naughton.

Referee: A Barrett-Theron (SA).