WEEKS LIKE THIS were one of the driving factors behind Oisín Dowling’s move to Connacht.

The former Ireland U20s player made the move west from Leinster in the summer of 2020, but saw his debut season heavily disrupted by injury. A long-term back issue meant Dowling had to wait until February to make his first Connacht apperance, missing the province’s short stay in the Champions Cup but coming back into the squad for the Challenge Cup.

This weekend he’s hoping to finally make his Champions Cup bow, with the province welcoming Stade Francais to the Sportsground on Sunday.

“It’s obviously higher stakes in the Champions Cup, it’ll be a bit of a different experience,” Dowling says.

“At the same time I’ve played against and with some really high-level players, so it’s not something I’ve thought about too much. I’ll just probably try take it like any other game and prepare the same way.”

The 6’5″ lock has quickly settled into life at Connacht, making seven appearances across the second half of last season and four to date in this campaign.

And his coaches clearly like what they are seeing in the second row, with Dowling, 24, signing a new two-year contract with the province earlier this week.

“Really delighted I got the opportunity to come up here last year, and happy to be signed on. I’ve got to play a good bit more rugby this year and last year, so it was a pretty easy decision. 

“The big thing for me, I just wanted to stay injury free and get consistent performances. I had a good pre-season, and got through it fine, and then built on that from the pre-season games into this season. I’m just trying to put in consistent performances.

It’s really competitive, there are really good guys there in that position. I think it’s good for all of us because it doesn’t let anyone get comfortable, everyone’s pushing each other. Everyone wants to play and you have to push for your position and that only makes us better so it’s a real positive.”

And there should be plenty of opportunities ahead as Connacht head into a busy Christmas schedule.

Following this weekend’s game against Stade, they travel to take on Premiership leaders Leicester Tigers, followed by back-to-back URC derbies against Ulster and Munster either side of Christmas.

“It’s pretty taxing on the body obviously, so there’s going to be changes and you kind of have to turn the page pretty quickly each week,” Dowling continues.

“You can’t really dwell too much on any game, you have to be just focused on the next one and try keep everyone involved, even if they’re not playing that week, just keep everyone up to speed because there is going to be a lot of chopping and changing so everyone really has to know what’s going on.”