Horwitz was ring rusty; Mitchell was grand but came off and out an iceberg on his leg which was already heavily strapped. Eagles were overpowered by an experienced Ulster team and not helped with Matthew Burke having to got to No8. However, they had no luck whatsoever with three tries coming from just bizarre bounces of the ball and one dumbass intercept try

Thought pairing Mitchell and Horwitz today was a sign that they might feature next week but heavy defeat might change that. Sean O’Brien3.0 was mentioned on Twitter in the lead up to one of the Eagles tries so maybe there is some prospect of reinforcements from the academy at center. I’m puzzled by how many backs have seemingly fallen out of favor this early in the season. Can’t argue with Godwin’s 2 tries from the wing but others should have been able to make a convincing case to play that position yesterday. Sale look like the team to beat in this pool but Munster overcame their limitations to frustrate Exeter. Now we’re not a negative team but hopefully we’ll keep playing, keep the right side of the referee and still be within 7 after an hour. Anything’s possible at that point

I agree I think Connacht need more power in the backline, above all wthout Aki. But in this case why hasn't he played with Eagles for a few weeks, including today? Just to preseve him for this specific game? would be weird to do so when we have not exactly an injury crisis there....

minor point, you say Robb has disappeared but I'm 90% sure I saw him in footage of the dressing room after the Ulster game. If that was the case then he's knocking on the door of selection, just maybe has some work ons that need to improve before Friend wants to start him. A big centre against an English team would make a lot of sense imo.

So by order of rotation likelihood :

- Carty is 100% not starting, probably not traveling, assuming Horwitz is fit after the Eagles game

- With C.McKeon injury, James Mitchell starting vs his ex-teammates is a sure bet IMO (Blade or Kerrins on the bench?)

- Connolly will come in the main 15 for Butler

- Roux will be rested, Maksymiw to start

- Leader will replace one of Kelleher or Niyi in the main XV

- Healy may well go, was rested this week

- Aki won't be risked, Robb seems to have disappeared, so Godwin/Griffin is the most likely pairing

- In this case, without Farrell on the teamsheet, it would mean De Buitlear will start.

- Farrell did light-training this week though, so Healy 11 Farrell 12 Griffin 13 and Godwin/De Buitlear respectively 14 and 23 again is not totally unlikely

- Gallagher will play either 5 or 6, depends on who of Dillane or Fainga'a is considered to stay home

- O'Donnell to start with Buckley on the bench (hope we won't sacrifice this game as far as looking for the Academy LH)

- Copeland IMO should start again, he hasn't had that much gametime, and Boyle is good to go in case of injury

- For hooker, we might test Murphy on the bench, but all in all, McCartney and Delahunt could still both benefit from gametime, and Heffernan is only 3 weeks to recovery after this game...

- Carey or Bealham to start? I'd Keep Bealham on the bench for this one, we need him fresh later on

- And the main uncertainty : Will we see one of McKeon/SOB/Masterson as n°20? they're all supposed to be due sooner rather than later

Well it's been made clear by Andy, the priority is the league, more than last season when we've sent 90% of our main in Worcester

“We needed to rest a few blokes after six pretty solid games at the front end of the Pro14, so I feel like the squad is in a healthy spot at the moment,” said Friend. “We’ll rotate a few boys and give a few blokes an opportunity in Sale next week.

But it’s important that we can’t be saying because we don’t have perceived front-liners there that we’re not in with a good shout of winning. It’s for the other blokes coming in to step up, we shouldn’t regress or stay stagnant."