MACK HANSEN HAS been ruled out of Connacht’s vital URC clash with the Stormers but Argentine international Sanitago Cordero is set to finally make his debut after suffering an ACL injury in his first week training in Galway last summer.

Connacht head coach Pete Wilkins said Hansen’s recovery from the shoulder injury he suffered back in January which required surgery remained a week-to-week basis in terms of when he will be back.

“I’m not expecting him to be available for this weekend. He’s 90% there I suppose in terms of his return to fitness. His shoulder is not at the point yet where he can be confident, or we can be confident, about the live contact element of it.

“So each week he is doing contact testing on the shoulder in terms of tackling, breakdown work and ball-carrying. The physios are treating in between that and there is a lot of rehab work going on. But it really is week on week and seeing if he has the functionality in those contact areas but also that he doesn’t pull up afterwards because of any ill-effects.

“If we saw him for Leinster, I wouldn’t be surprised. But if I didn’t see him again for pre-season, I wouldn’t be surprised. I don’t think it’s something we can predict which is frustrating but the most important thing is to get him back.

“Our medics would liaise really closely with the Irish medics and their rehab staff. They would be really aligned with that. When I say I wouldn’t be surprised if I didn’t see him until pre-season, I mean in terms of him getting to go on the Irish tour but didn’t get a chance to link up with us.

“I wouldn’t want it to seem like we’re expecting anything bad. We’re totally aligned and there is no pressure from them. It’s really about getting him right for our sake, his sake and their sake.”

Connacht need to win their final home game of the season if they are to realistically have a chance of making it to the knockout stages and next season’s Champions Cup but the availability of Cordero is a timely boost.

“He trained fully today, trained fully last week but he will be available for selection which is good news for us and good news for him.

“It’s testament to all the hard work he has put in to get back in such good time. So that’s very positive,” added Wilkins, who also confirmed that Cian Prendergast’s thumb injury had also cleared up and he will be available.

Wilkins said the Stormers game falls into the category of ‘must-win’ if they are to stay in the hunt after suffering a heavy defeat away to Munster last weekend — they will wind up their regular season away to Leinster.

“The message to the players. If we get two wins, we’d be confident of where we need to be. If we get one, we are relying on results which to date haven’t done us too many favours. But this week is all about us. It’s all or nothing in that sense,” added Wilkins.