![\"Connacht](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/002397a5-614.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\nWhether by accident or design, it feels appropriate for the ribbon to be cut on Connacht’s new and improved home this weekend.<\/p>\n
Twenty-three years and one day ago, a group of more than 1,000 Connacht and Irish rugby supporters marched on Lansdowne Road to try save rugby in their province.<\/p>\n
Their protest at the IRFU\u2019s plans to cull the number of professional teams in the country from four to three \u2013 with Connacht being the odd one out \u2013 worked.<\/p>\n
This evening, 12,000 supporters will cram into the Sportsground.<\/p>\n
The full \u20ac40m redevelopment of Dexcom Stadium is finally complete, more than seven-and-a-half years on from when they unveiled their original plans, and close to four years since the initial phase of the Sportsgrounds overhaul.<\/p>\n
It started with a new artificial pitch and floodlights in 2022, before construction began on the province\u2019s new high-performance centre and offices behind the old Clan Terrace in March 2024.<\/p>\n
By the summer of 2024, the diggers rolled in to begin the final phase; the new Clan Stand, a 6,555 capacity mix of seats and terracing, which officially opens its doors today, as the province welcome Leinster in the BKT United Rugby Championship (5.30pm).<\/p>\n
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Having secured planning permission in 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic caused both a delay in starting the project, and in cost, with the initial projection of \u20ac30m eventually rising above \u20ac40m.<\/p>\n
Ahead of the grand opening this weekend, head coach Stuart Lancaster believes it\u2019s the start of an exciting time in the province.<\/p>\n
“You’ve got teams in England who, during Covid, have struggled and haven’t survived,” he said this week.<\/p>\n
“And Connacht have managed to survive, thrive, build a high-performance centre and a new stand.<\/p>\n
“During the week you can create commercial revenue because there’s not much in the west of Ireland that can match it really, which then can be reinvested into the club, into the province, into the grassroots, into the professional team.<\/p>\n
“So it’s a game-changer, as I said last week. And I’ll stand by that comment.”<\/p>\n
While the long-term future appears to be healthy, they\u2019re currently dealing with some short-term growing pains under Lancaster.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Two wins from eight in the URC have them 13th in the table, and while they are only three off the play-off spots, they\u2019ve endured some chastening defeats, particularly in this December and January block.<\/p>\n
It hasn\u2019t helped that their only two wins across the last eight games have been facile.<\/p>\n
Their 52-0 win against Black Lion in the Challenge Cup appeared to be a morale-booster in early December, before they took a 48-28 hammering against the Dragons a week later, which began a run of four defeats in a row.<\/p>\n
They got back to winning ways last week, but the 75-14 victory over a spineless Montauban will have come with a health warning, particular the first half where they score 56 points.<\/p>\n
What Lancaster is pinning his hopes on are the flashes they have shown in games.<\/p>\n
They were dominant against the Sharks in November and appeared to be continuing that form against the Ospreys a week later before a second-half collapse.<\/p>\n
A fortnight ago they played some of their best rugby of the season away to Montpellier and were 31-14 in front, before an inexperienced bench learned a tough lesson, going down 33-31.<\/p>\n
![\"3](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0023b11c-614.jpg\"\/)
\nLeinster scored eight tries in a 52-17 win when these sides met earlier this month<\/p>\n
It\u2019s only three weeks since Connacht and Leinster last faced off, with the western province falling to a 52-17 defeat at Aviva Stadium, a game the visitors led 17-14 shortly before half time.<\/p>\n
But the Connacht coach insists his side can turn the tables this weekend.<\/p>\n
“I don’t think anyone knows Leinster better than me,” added Lancaster, who served as senior coach at the province between 20116 and 2023.<\/p>\n
“I got beaten plenty of times when I was at Leinster.<\/p>\n
“And we have got to believe that we can do that this weekend, and create one of those occasions whereby the crowd, the environment and the quality of our play leads to a victory.<\/p>\n
“We felt we prepared well going into the game at the Aviva and I was at pains to stress the width of the Aviva, the variety of threats that Leinster have in terms of ball-carrying threats, passing threats and kicking threats. And obviously in the second half that paid dividends for them.<\/p>\n
“So that’s been a big focus of our preparation this week, about the quality of the opposition that we face, but also the lessons learned from the Aviva in terms of how things happen at top end level.”<\/p>\n
With eight bonus-points from their eight games, a defeat wouldn’t necessarily be terminal for their chances of a top-half finish, which would likely bring with it Champions Cup qualification.<\/p>\n
But with the size of the occasion, and Leinster resting their frontline Ireland internationals, Bernard Jackman believes anything short of a Connacht victory would represent a missed chance.<\/p>\n
![\"29](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/00238dc2-614.jpg\"\/)
\nThe new Clan Stand holds 6,555 people<\/p>\n
“I think they need to win,” the former Connacht and Leinster hooker said on the RT\u00c9 Rugby podcast.<\/a><\/p>\n “The emotional side of this, this is a genuine sell-out.<\/p>\n “I’ve never had as many [ticket requests]. England-Ireland tickets aren’t as scarce as Connacht-Leinster tickets on Saturday.”<\/p>\n And if Lancaster\u2019s side do end their 11-game run of Interpro defeats, Jackman believes it could be the spark they need under their new head coach.<\/p>\n “If there’s a kick in this Connacht team, it’ll be Saturday,” he added.<\/p>\n “Some of the stuff they\u2019ve played, against Montpellier they played some brilliant stuff. Against Montauban they looked great, but that’s chalk and cheese to what they’re going to face with Leinster.<\/p>\n “Beat Leinster in your first game in the new stadium in Dexcom and you are then on a different level.<\/p>\n “I think this is a must-win, honestly.<\/p>\n “I think the place, if it’s a good performance, people will leave maybe not totally disappointed, but the difference between winning this game and the effect that can have on this new start to Connacht will be huge.”<\/p>\n Listen to the RT\u00c9 Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts<\/a>, Spotify<\/a> or wherever you get your podcasts<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n Follow every Ireland game in the Guinness Six Nations on RT\u00c9.ie\/Sport and the RT\u00c9 News app, or listen to live commentary on RT\u00c9 Radio 1.<\/p>\n Watch live coverage of England v Ireland (21 February) and Ireland v Wales (6 March) on RT\u00c92 and RT\u00c9 Player.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whether by accident or design, it feels appropriate for the ribbon to be cut on Connacht’s new and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-261387","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}