With both Ulster and Leinster through to this year's Heineken Cup final on May 19, an Irish winner is guaranteed leaving the door open for Connacht to qualify as the fourth team from Ireland.

This comes as a huge boost to Connacht who finished off their first ever Heineken Cup campaign this year with a memorable pool victory over Harlequins at the Sportsground.

The advent of top flight European rugby in the west of Ireland has seen major changes both within the Sportsground and throughout Galway and the province.

Thousands of supporters flocked to Galway city to see Connacht take on Aviva Premiership giants Harlequins and Gloucester as well as French powerhouses Toulouse this season.

Next season promises to be an equally thrilling journey for Connacht as they prepare to enter what has been described as the best club tournament in the world, the Heineken Cup, as well as competing in the RaboDirect PRO12 which supplied three out of the four semi-finalists in this season's Heineken Cup.

Due to the exceptional demand to see some of Europe's greatest teams at the Sportsground, Connacht Season Tickets remain the only way to guarantee entry to the three home pool matches, as well as all 11 of Connacht's home RaboDirect PRO12 games.

With limited availability and some sections nearly sold out already, supporters are urged to purchase their Season Tickets early to ensure they can be part of the next step in Connacht Rugby's history.

Season Tickets are available for purchase online at www.connachtrugby.ie or from the Connacht Rugby ticket office at the Sportsground, College Road, Galway.

Cronin: In Ireland squad

IRELAND coach Declan Kidney was handed some good news ahead of tomorrow's preliminary Six Nations squad announcement as Ulster and Leinster allayed injury fears regarding Rory Best and Gordon D'Arcy.

D'Arcy was due to start Leinster's win over Saracens in the RDS but was withdrawn late on due to a calf injury.

However, the centre has not been ruled out of this weekend's trip to Paris to face Racing Metro and a decision on his availability, and that of No 8 Jamie Heaslip, will be made when the team is named on Thursday.

Best was forced from the field in Ulster's narrow win over Biarritz with a rib injury, but Ulster yesterday refused to rule the hooker out of this weekend's trip to Italy to face Aironi in a match that could see the province secure a spot in the last eight of the Heineken Cup for the first time since they won the competition in 1999.

Best's fitness is particularly crucial to Kidney as the luckless Jerry Flannery continues to struggle with injury, though Sean Cronin and Damien Varley provide cover while Ulster's Nigel Brady would be most likely to come into the squad should they suffer any further injuries at hooker.

Full-back is the major area of concern. Geordan Murphy ruled himself out of the Six Nations campaign with an ankle injury while Connacht's Gavin Duffy is in a race to recover in time for the opening match of the tournament in Italy on February 5.

Rob Kearney is still recovering from a knee injury picked up in the Autumn International defeat to the All Blacks.

However, Luke Fitzgerald, who picked up a similar injury to Kearney in the same match, is an option and he completed 80 minutes on the wing for Leinster on Saturday.

Elsewhere, Munster's Donnacha Ryan is a worry as he was on crutches on Sunday night in the wake of the defeat to Toulon.

Kidney will name at least 30 players in his squad tomorrow while an 'A' squad for the clash against Scotland on January 28 will also be announced.

- Donnchadh Boyle

Irish Independent

Connacht have secured the signature of former New Zealand age-grade international prop Rodney Ah You as a replacement for the retired Robbie Morris.

Significantly, the Irish province have given the ex-Canterbury prospect an 18-month deal which is a break from the Irish Rugby Football Union policy of limiting the westerners to one year deals.

A member of New Zealand's winning Junior World Cup sides in both 2007 and 2008, Ah You is expected in Galway in the next 10 days.

Ah You comes to Connacht after two seasons with New Zealand provincial side Canterbury while the province also have three props on three-month trials, South African Dylan Rogers, Australian Barry Fa'amausili, and St Mary's Rob Sweeney.

via espnscrum.com

The Scarlets made hard work of it on a sunny Saturday afternoon but deep into injury-time, they managed to turn what looked like a second successive defeat into a bonus point victory courtesy of a Sean Lamount try.

The move came at the end of a exhaustive period of home pressure and would have been heartbreaking for Connacht who had come from 20-13 behind at half-time to lead 33-30 in injury-time.

A memorable hat-trick of tries from winger Fionn Carr had put them in position for a rare away win, their first in Wales since April 2008.

In the end, the Scarlets had the answers and a game littered with handling errors but augmented by a some truly superb rugby ended in joyous scenes for the 6,433 home crowd.

Connacht burst out of the blocks and led 6-0 after 20 minutes thanks to a brace of penalties from out-half Ian Keatley. The confidence gained from last weekend's bonus point home win over Dragons was clearly telling.

However, once the Scarlets found their feet they started to make an impact on the contest. The returning Stephen Jones opened his side's account with a 22nd minute penalty and within 90 seconds they had the game's first try from inspirational young centre Jon Davies.

That score was followed up on 26 minutes with a well-taken long range penalty from Jones and the home supporters were sensing a return to form for their side with the score now 13-6.

The revival was put on hold from the restart as the Scarlets targeted full-back Gavin Duffy who delivered, rising high to win the ball and setting a storming attack in motion.

Prop Jamie Hagan burst clear and, on the recycle, Keatley's footwork made the space for Carr to eventually score Connacht's first try.

The Scarlets restored their advantage in first half injury-time with Regan King's try after a well-weighted kick through from Jones and a brilliant take and pass from Jon Davies.

The score came seconds after an avoidable sin-bin for Connacht's stand-in skipper Frank Murphy, who high-tackled Scarlets full-back Andy Fenby. That left it 20-13 for the break.

Connacht scored first on the resumption with a breakaway try from the electric Carr, converted brilliantly by Keatley, before they took the lead through their out-half. Jones levelled but the visitors were in no mood to let that knock them off their stride.

Carr's third try was made by a lovely inside pass from replacement Cillian Willis to Troy Nathan and finished again with conviction by the winger, but the Scarlets, who lost their opener in Treviso, did not panic this time - even with a seven-point deficit at 30-23.

After Connacht lost replacement prop Ronan Loughney to the sin-bin, Davies notched his second try which allowed Jones to level matters within four minutes.

The loss of Loughney for Connacht's second sin-binning was a crucial blow, yet Keatley put Eric Elwood's men back in front, with a penalty from the restart.

With the score at 33-30 and Connacht down to 14 men, the Scarlets spent the closing seven minutes on the attack and Connacht held on gamely right up until Lamount scored.

The Scottish winger's match winner came after a series of phases on the visitors' line and a quick release to the backs saw the hosts take advantage of a gaping overlap.

Star man: Ian Keatley

Connacht opened up their 2010/11 Magners League account with an emphatic four-try 40-17 victory over the Dragons at the Sportsground.

Fly-half Ian Keatley stole the show by running in from the halfway line for the bonus-point score, with his conversion topping off an impressive 25-point haul.

An excellent early try from man of the match Ray Ofisa and an equally slick second from hooker Sean Cronin, on the half-hour, showed Connacht's ability to break down the Dragons.

Paul Turner's men travelled with a lengthy injury list and never really looked like improving their record of just one win in their last 24 visits to Ireland. New number 10 Matthew Jones booted four penalties and winger Will Harries grabbed a late consolation try.

Full-backs Jason Tovey and Gavin Duffy saw plenty of early ball in the balmy conditions, and Connacht were able to crack the Dragons' defensive line after just three minutes.

Using quick line-out ball, Keatley invited bustling centre Niva Ta'auso through a midfield gap and he drew the cover before passing for the supporting Ofisa to round in behind the posts.

Keatley converted and the home side continued to make good strides, probing through the forwards and out wide.

The Dragons lived off scraps of possession and their indiscipline, particularly at the breakdown, saw them fall foul of referee James Jones.

Both Keatley and Tovey missed penalty attempts before the latter was the victim of a dangerous tackle from Connacht's new number eight Ezra Taylor, whose hand caught Tovey around the face.

Jones took on the place-kicking duties and he opened the Dragons' account with an effort that nicked in off the post. But Connacht dominated the next quarter-hour, getting the tricky Fionn Carr on the ball and pulling 13-3 clear through the boot of Keatley.

The Dragons lost their captain Luke Charteris to the sin-bin for coming in at the side of a maul after repeated warnings, and Jones was off target with a long-range penalty.

Connacht collected their second try when Jamie Hagan charged through at a ruck, off-loading one-handed for his front row colleague Cronin to skip past the despairing Tovey and in behind the posts.

But the Dragons managed to get back in touch before half-time as two meaty Jones kicks closed the gap to 20-9.

Upping the intensity, the visitors threatened further on the restart and Connacht lost Duffy to the sin-bin for not rolling away after tackling Charteris. Jones kicked the second of two penalty attempts to make it an eight-point game.

Connacht needed a response and they got it when Keatley made a slashing break through the middle. He kicked two penalties in quick succession, steadying the ship in a slow-burning second half.

Injuries to Rhodri Gomer-Davies and Taylor held up play, but hungry Connacht sensed more scores and a penalty try, following a series of scrum resets, was swiftly followed by Keatley's solo effort, which saw him brilliantly outpace both Tovey and Aled Brew for the line.

Space on the left allowed Harries have the final say for the Dragons, however a worrying neck injury for Brew, who had to be stretchered off, added to their woes.

The scorers:

For Connacht:
Tries: Ofisa, Cronin, Penalty, Keatley
Con: Keatley 4
Pen: Keatley 4

For the Dragons:
Try: Harris
Pens: Jones 4

Connacht: 15 Gavin Duffy, 14 Troy Nathan, 13 Niva Ta'auso, 12 Keith Matthews, 11 Fionn Carr, 10 Ian Keatley, 9 Frank Murphy (capt), 8 Ezra Taylor, 7 Ray Ofisa, 6 Michael McCarthy, 5 Bernie Upton, 4 Michael Swift, 3 Jamie Hagan, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Brett Wilkinson.
Replacements: 16 Adrian Flavin, 17 Ronan Loughney, 18 Rob Sweeney, 19 Dave Nolan, 20 Mike McComish, 21 Cillian Willis, 22 Miah Nikora, 23 Tiernan O'Halloran.

Dragons: 15 Jason Tovey, 14 Will Harries, 13 Rhodri Gomer-Davies, 12 Tom Riley, 11 Aled Brew, 10 Matthew Jones, 9 Danny Lee, 8 Hugo Ellis, 7 Robin Sowden-Taylor, 6 Joe Bearman, 5 Scott Morgan, 4 Luke Charteris (capt), 3 Ben Castle, 2 Steve Jones, 1 Hugh Gustafson.
Replacements: 16 Lloyd Burns, 17 Pat Palmer, 18 Ali Mckenzie, 19 Rob Sidoli, 20 Danny Lydiate, 21 Gavin Thomas, 22 Nicky Griffiths, 23 David Bishop.

Referee: James Jones (Wales)
Assistant referees: Alan Rogan (Ireland), Ollie Hodges (Ireland)
Television match official: Sean Flannery (Ireland)
Assessor: John Sheehan (Ireland)