CONNACHT’S FOUR IRISH internationals may be held back for the Christmas derby games and not feature over the next two weekends in Europe.

Mack Hansen, Bundee Aki, Finlay Bealham and Cian Prendergast have been given this week off after the Autumn internationals and will not feature against Zebre at Dexcom Stadium when Connacht open their Challenge Cup campaign.

Connacht are in Europe’s second tier competition after failing to finish in the top half of last season’s URC and with a home league clash against Leinster coming five days after their second Challenge Cup game in France, the Irish players may not play away to Perpignan on Sunday week.

“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,” said Connacht head coach Pete Wilkins.

“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.”

Lock Joe Joyce and winger Shayne Bolton are set to miss Saturday’s clash after picking up foot injuries in the URC home loss to the Bulls last weekend, while out-half Josh Ioane is not expected back from injury until the festive derbies.

Wilkins said they were taking the Challenge Cup seriously this season but that it was also an opportunity to give fringe players an opportunity to impress.

“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.

“It is 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,” he added.