Connacht may be finding their first season of Heineken Cup rugby a baptism of fire but they will relish the prospect of tackling west country giants, Gloucester, in Galway.
The Irish province has still to record their first victory in European rugby's premier competition after two Pool 6 defeats to reigning Challenge Cup winners Harlequins and four-times champions of Europe Toulouse.
Connacht, who have played 100 games in European rugby, have still to register a point in the Heineken Cup and will be looking to put that right against the Premiership outfit.
Gloucester will know they need back-to-back victories over Connacht, after their defeats to Harlequins and Toulouse, if they are to stand any chance of keeping their slim chances of a quarter-final place alive.
The Premiership side has lost its last four games but will hoping to take advantage of a Connacht side which has failed to register a win and lost they last eight games in all competitions.
The teams:
Connacht: 15 Gavin Duffy (captain), 14 Mark McCrea, 13 Kyle Tonetti, 12 Dave McSharry, 11 Tiernan O'Halloran, 10 Niall O'Connor, 9 Frank Murphy, 8 Ray Ofisa, 7 John Muldoon, 6 Dave Gannon, 5 George Naoupu, 4 Mike McCarthy, 3 Ronan Loughney, 2 Ethienne Reynecke, 1 Brett Wilkinson.
Replacements: 16 Adrian Flavin, 17 Denis Buckley, 18 Rodney Ah You, 19 Mick Kearney, 20 Eoin McKeon, 21 Paul O'Donohoe, 22 Matthew Jarvis, 23 Fetu'u Vainikolo.
Gloucester: 15 Olly Morgan, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Henry Trinder, 12 Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, 11 James Simpson-Daniel, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Rory Lawson, 8 Luke Narraway, 7 Andy Hazell, 6 Brett Deacon, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Peter Buxton, 3 Dario Chistolini, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Nick Wood.
Replacements: 16 Matias Cortese, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 Rupert Harden, 19 Will James, 20 Akapusi Qera, 21 Nick Runciman, 22 Tim Taylor, 23 Jonny May.
Date: Saturday, December 10
Kick-off: 13:30 GMT
Venue: The Sportsground
Referee: Neil Paterson (Scotland)
Assistant referees: David Changleng (Scotland), Bob Nevins (Scotland)
TMO: Iain Ramage (Scotland)
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