Dec 04,2024
Connacht head coach Pete Wilkins says it's an exciting prospect to bring his side to Mayo for their URC Interpro against Munster in March of next year, but discussions about the switch are still in an early stage.
The province are hoping to move their meeting with Munster on 29 March to Hastings Insurance MacHale Park in Castlebar.
The GAA's Central Council approved the proposed fixture over the weekend, which will be a significant step towards making the fixture happen.
"I think that announcement from the GAA was really to give the green light for the conversations to go ahead from their perspective."
Munster, Leinster and Ulster have all held games at GAA grounds in their province in the last two years, with Connacht looking to expand their reach further into their province.
With a redevelopment ongoing at Dexcom Stadium, they are limited to a capacity of just over 4,200 at the Sportsground this season, and are keen to generate a big crowd at McHale Park, which can hold 25,369 supporters.
"I'm not sure on a timeline for it, but certainly from our end, as I said previously, I think it's a really exciting prospect.
"Firstly, to play in a venue like that, but also secondly, to take the game to a different bit of the province and potentially get even more fans in there.
"So, we're really in favour of it, and we'll listen along with everyone else to see how those discussions pan out."
Connacht will be without their Ireland international contingent for this week’s EPCR Challenge Cup meeting with Zebre Parma in Galway on Saturday (8pm).
Bundee Aki, Mack Hansen, Finlay Bealham and captain Cian Prendergast have all been given the weekend off after their involvements for Ireland in the Autumn Nations series.
And while Wilkins is hoping to rotate his squad against Zebre and Perpignan in the Challenge Cup, the head coach says he’s keen to give many of last week’s side a chance to right the wrongs of their 28-14 defeat to the Bulls.
"They'll have this week as a down week to recover from that international window, and we expect them back to train with us the following week. And, we'll ramp them back up to playing, whether that's Perpignan or whether that's for Leinster the following week. We'll treat each one individually.
"Certainly, it is a good time to get some minutes into players that have been banging on the door, but through consistency of selection haven’t had an opportunity in the URC.
"Also a good opportunity to reward a couple of the younger guys who really impressed us so far through pre-season, the early part of the season.
"That said, I don't think there'll be too much change, certainly not this week. And the reason I say that is, for players not to participate in either of these challenge cup games, it becomes a long time between drinks from the Bulls game through to our our Leinster game in the URC. So I don't want to leave them up on bricks too long," he added.
The Connacht coach is expecting to be without out-half Josh Ioane during the Challenge Cup window, although the province remain hopeful the New Zealander’s ankle injury will heal in time for the Christmas Interpros in the URC, where Connacht travel to Leinster on 21 December, before hosting Ulster a week later.
Second row Joe Joyce and wing Shayne Bolton are both expected to miss this weekend’s meeting with Zebre, with both players suffering foot injuries in the defeat to the Bulls.
