Connacht will hardly have time to clean their boots after their great win over Leinster as they head to France today for a Friday evening joust with Dax in the European Challenge Cup.

This will be the 14th different French club which Connacht have faced since the competition began and Michael Bradley's men will be hoping for a winning start.

Connacht will then play London Irish at the Sportsground before having back-to-back games with Italian side Rovigo in December with the final two rounds to come in January.

Connacht have not made the quarter-finals in the past two years having reached two semi-finals and a couple of quarter-finals in the previous four seasons and Connacht know that the outcome of next Friday's Stade Maurice Boyau will go a long way towards deciding the pool.

It has not helped Connacht's cause that Dax have hit some good early season form which has seen them defeat Bayonne 27-17 at the weekend to go with the wins over Biarritz (30-18) and Castres (19-11 away). Nevertheless they have also shipped a few heavy defeats to Brive (41-9) and Stade Francais (31-9 at home).

Former Connacht centre Gavin Williams will be lining out for Dax against his former club on Friday evening.

Williams, who joined Connacht in 2005 and played for two seasons, is now in his second season with the French Top 14 outfit and having scored a try as his side overcome Bayonne on Saturday evening, is looking forward to renewing some old acquaintances.

"I'm excited about playing Connacht," the 28 year old said. "I still know a lot of people at the club and am looking forward to welcoming my old team to Dax and having a good hard game and meeting up with some old friends."