It’s knockout time in the European Challenge Cup, and Connacht are the side looking to keep the Guinness PRO14 flame alight with a Friday night clash against Sale Sharks to navigate for a place in the final four. After Cardiff Blues lifted the trophy last year, the Irish outfit will be desperate to keep up their bid for European honours as the Guinness PRO14’s sole representatives in the last eight. FRIDAY Sale Sharks v Connacht 19:45 AJ Bell Stadium A familiar opponent for the Andy Friend’s side, Connacht qualified for the quarter-finals from the same pool as the Sharks, finishing behind them by virtue only of an inferior points difference. The sides split the two matches they played in the groups, each winning on home soil, with the Sharks running out 34-13 winners at the AJ Bell Stadium – Connacht’s only defeat so far in the competition. And while it’s a result they’ll look to forget heading to Manchester for the second time in six months, the province will be buoyed not only by their performance in the return fixture – where they won 20-18 in January – but by some stellar recent form domestically. Connacht are up to third in Conference A of the Guinness PRO14 after three wins from their last four – a streak that includes an eight-try bonus point victory over Ospreys and a triumph that put an end to Benetton Rugby’s eight-game unbeaten run. Added to that is the boost provided by the return of a trio of Irish internationals, with Jack Carty, Bundee Aki and Kieran Marmion all back in the starting XV for Connacht. And they will need to be at their best to beat a Sharks side containing the likes of Faf de Klerk, Tom Curry and AJ MacGinty, especially considering the absence of Quinn Roux, Tom Farrell and Jarrad Butler from their ranks. Sale themselves have struggled for domestic form of late, winning only two of their last five games in the Premiership, but Connacht No.8 Paul Boyle insists that the Irish side are concentrating purely on themselves as they attempt to reach a third Challenge Cup semi-final in their history. “With Sale there isn’t one thing where we say that if we get this one thing, we win the game,” he explained. “They have a really big, strong pack, but they also have a really strong back-line, with some big names in the back three. We’re just focusing on getting ourselves right, and if we do that we fancy ourselves on Friday. “It sounds cliched, but we really are just taking it week-by-week. Every game we have we’re focusing on that game on Monday and really going hammer and tongs, just giving it 100% for every game we have.”
