WHILE THE UNAVAILABILITY of the Arms Park for this weekend’s game against Cardiff Blues could aid Connacht’s cause, the province are bracing themselves for a keenly-contested first away game of the season nevertheless.

That’s according to Connacht attack coach Nigel Carolan ahead of Saturday evening’s Guinness Pro14 clash, which will take place at Rodney Parade.

Cardiff’s usual home ground is currently out of commission due to damage that was caused to the artificial surface while the stadium was being used as a field hospital complex in the fight against Covid-19.

It’s hoped that the Arms Park will be available again before Christmas, but until then the club will play 25 kilometres up the road at the home of the Dragons.

There’ll be no complaints from Connacht about the change of venue, but Carolan still anticipates a formidable challenge from a Cardiff side who defied the sending-off of Josh Turnbull early in the second half to open their season with a 16-6 win away to Zebre. 

“Maybe it is a bit of a leveller, the fact that [the Arms Park] is not the nicest artificial pitch to play on,” he said. “It’s tough, it’s extremely fast and it’s extremely compact.

“Maybe it’s a bit ironic coming from the west of Ireland, but there’s also always a fairly strong breeze that gets funnelled down through the Arms Park, so for that to be taken away is a small bit of a leveller.

“But I expect the same tenacity and the usual suspects are playing with Cardiff, so we can expect the same menaces at the breakdown.”

Connacht are also bidding to ensure their campaign begins with back-to-back victories, having produced an impressive second-half display to record a 28-24 win at the expense of Glasgow Warriors last Saturday at the Sportsground.

Amid the ongoing pandemic, this weekend’s trip to Wales won’t involve an overnight stay for Andy Friend’s side. A chartered flight will take the squad from Shannon to Cardiff on Saturday morning, before returning after the game.

Although Connacht were 29-0 winners against Cardiff in Galway back in February, their last meeting with the Blues on Welsh soil – in January 2019 – was a much tighter tussle, with the hosts winning 8-7. 

Carolan added: “It’ll be a massive challenge. We’ll take the positives out of last week and hopefully it’ll start some momentum for us.

“Traditionally these games against Cardiff are never simple. They’re a really tough team to play against, they go really hard at the breakdown and they’re always really close affairs over there. I don’t expect anything different this weekend.”