CONNACHT SKIPPER JACK Carty is available for the first inter-pro derby of the season when his side and Ulster both put their winning starts to the URC season on the line at the Sportsground on Saturday evening (KO: 7.35pm).

Carty suffered a facial injury after coming on in the opening round win over Ospreys and was not available when they put Glasgow Warriors to the sword last weekend.

Head coach Pete Wilkins confirmed that Carty is available for selection while they are monitoring a knee injury picked up by JJ Hanrahan in the 34-26 win over Glasgow at the weekend.

The Kerry native, who has made an impressive start to his Connacht career, landing nine out of ten kicks in the two opening wins, continued to play on after suffering the knock when landing awkwardly on Saturday but Cathal Forde took over the kicking duties after that.

“It’s nothing serious but we’ll assess him in the early part of the week but we won’t take any risks,” said Wilkins. “Jack has been cleared to play, his face injury has cleared up really well and is available for selection

“We’re pretty good overall, Tom Farrell came off at half time with a wrist issue but he’s absolutely fine, has bounced back well this week.”

Full-back John Porch, out with a groin strain in the past few weeks, has also resumed training and is available for selection but Connacht may again ago with their longest serving player Tiernan O’Halloran at full-back.

Lock Gavin Thornbury, who has endured several injury set-backs since moving to the Sportsground, has resumed playing for Blackrock in the AIL after undergoing knee surgery last December and Connacht are hopeful that he will soon be available for selection after building up more game-time.

Connacht have not lost at the Sportsground since going down 22-20 to Ulster last December, a result which saw Ulster coach Dan McFarland complete the double over a side he played and coached for over a decade and a half, having also won 36-10 in Belfast on the opening day of last season.

But Connacht triumphed when it mattered most last May, edging out Ulster 15-10 at Kingspan Stadium in the URC quarter-finals and Wilkins knows this add further spice to next Saturday’s clash.

“You add in the results at the end of last season, that’ll add fuel to their fire, so we’re expecting them to come at us strong.

“It’ll be a really good challenge for us, because we stepped up from Ospreys to Glasgow who are a quality team and I thought we did a good job on the weekend, but to have a big Interpro rivals and all of the emotion that comes with that from both sides, it’s a really cool challenge,” added Wilkins.