Connacht will hope to get the New Year off to the best possible start by nailing down a win against Llanelli Scarlets at the Sportsground on Friday evening (6.30 pm).

IN FORM ... Connacht prop Brett Wilkinson who will be hoping to continue his superb form when they take on Llanelli Scarlets at the Sportsground on Friday. Photo: Oliver McVeigh/SPORTSFILE.

This game will be Connacht's final Magners League game at the Sportsground until Leinster come to town on February 28th.

Munster will visit the Sportsground on March 28 but a non-Irish team will not be here in the Magners League again until Cardiff Blues arrive in early May for what will be Connacht's second last game of the season.

They will wind up their Magners League campaign a week later when the Ospreys comes to Galway. Following this match against Llanelli Scarlets, it will be back to European Challenge Cup duty for Connacht with a trip next weekend to northern Spain for a clash with Cetransa El Salvador.

Five days later it should be a winner-takes-all showdown with Brive at the Sportsground. For that to happen, Connacht need Newcastle to get a result in Brive next weekend.

Such an outcome would see a packed Sportsground get the opportunity to get behind Michael Bradley's men as they bid to make the knockout stages for the fifth time in six years, having missed out last season.

Connacht and Llanelli have enjoyed some great battles in the past five or six years and while Connacht held the upperhand on Welsh soil for the first few seasons, the Scarlets enjoy a good record at the Sportsground.

Connacht coach Michael Bradley says they will present a big challenge but he is hopeful his men can show the sort of form which saw them beat Newcastle Falcons last time out at the Sportsground. "Games between ourselves and Llanelli have been very good in recent years and I look forward to another good clash with them.

"Their Heineken Cup campaign has not gone well for them but they were given a very tough pool. "They are out of contention there so they will be going all out to have a crack at the Magners League.

"But we have everything to play for and the type of display which saw us beat Newcastle at the Sportsground is what we will be looking for here," said Bradley.

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