Connacht go into their 11th season of European Challenge Cup action when they host NEC Harlequins on Friday night with coach Michael Bradley warning his team they face a real scrap if they are to reach the knock-out stages for a fifth successive campaign...
The Irish side will be playing their 66th tournament match when 'Quins run out at the Galway Sportsground and no-one knows the European Challenge Cup better than Connacht.
"It is true that we know the competition pretty well but we are in an extremely tough Pool along with 'Quins, Bath Rugby - who have won the Heineken Cup - and Montpellier and, while qualifying for the quarter-finals is naturally our initial aim, it promises to be a bit of a dogfight," said Bradley.
"Everyone at Connacht has great memories of three years ago when we played 'Quins in the semi-finals in front of a crowd of 7,500 and beat them 23-18 only to miss out on qualifying for the final as they had a +4 better points difference over the two legs.
"But it was still a great day and we are looking forward to another great challenge and an occasion with plenty of atmosphere.
"Our supporters have been fantastic in getting behind the team this season and the move to playing our home matches on a Friday night has been a huge success, the place has been really buzzing on match days.
"And it is good that we will be going into the European Challenge Cup on the back of a sound Magners League win over Newport Gwent Dragons. It was a tight game and we did a lot of things well but there are still things for us to work on this week.
"We have won three-and-a-half of our seven Magners League fixtures and in two of those we lost, we got ourselves into positive positions but didn't finish the match off.
"Harlequins will be a huge challenge but we are looking forward to another season in the European Challenge Cup."
