Connacht make a dozen changes for St Stephen’s Day clash with Ulster

Just the 12 changes made by Pat Lam as he continues to juggle his depleted Connacht resources.

It's second versus fifth at the Sportsground on Saturday as the Westerners welcome their northern neighbours Ulster to Galway for a hotly-anticipated derby. Last weekend's Challenge Cup defeat to Newcastle was only Connacht's third loss of a phenomenal season, as their strength and depth was tested so severely by injuries that they could name only 22 in their squad in the north east of England. Lam is welcoming back some frontliners this week, including influential backs Tiernan O'Halloran and Bundee Aki. Up front only Eoghan Masterson remains from last week as captain John Muldoon leads a strong-looking forward pack. Ulster, unsurprisingly, limit the changes after their historic back-to-back triumphs over Toulouse in the Champions Cup. Les Kiss rests captain Rory Best, while the departing Nick Williams comes in for Roger Wilson at the back of the scrum. Rory Scholes replaces the injured Craig Gilroy on the left wing. Connacht: T O'Halloran; N Adeolokun,  B Aki, C Ronaldson, M Healy; J Carty,  K Marmion; F Bealham,  D Heffernan, N White; U Dillane, A Muldowney; J Muldoon (captain), J Connolly, E Masterson Replacements: S Delahunt, R Loughney, R Ah You, A Browne, S O'Brien, I Porter, AJ MacGinty, R Parata Ulster: L Ludik; A Trimble, L Marshall, S McCloskey, R Scholes; P Jackson, R Pienaar; A Warwick, R Herring (captain); W Herbst, A O'Connor; F van der Merwe, R Diack, S Reidy, N Williams Replacements: J Andrew, C Black, R Lutton, S Mulholland, R Wilson, P Marshall, I Humphreys, S Arnold