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Connacht's recent winning form will be tested to the hilt when they face PRO14 in-conference leaders Edinburgh tomorrow evening in Murrayfield (7.35pm).

The disappointment was palpable and understandable. Connacht and supporters had high hopes of qualifying for the quarter-final of the Champions Cup this season, particularly on the back of a solid PRO14 start.

Munster are Connacht's first opponents in the trio of festive interprovincials which kick off in the Galway Sportsground on Saturday (5.15pm).

Connacht are facing the stark reality of their Champions Cup quarter-final hopes coming to an abrupt end unless they can pull off a victory over Gloucester at the Sportsground on Saturday (12.45pm).

Five previous meetings with Gloucester, and five heartbreaking defeats. If Connacht has a bogey team in Europe, it is this West Country English club.

Leinster will provide Connacht's improving maturity under pressure with a litmus test on Saturday when the Guinness PRO14 champions arrive in Galway for the first of this season's much-anticipated interprovincial clashes.

Connacht are back in the Galway Sportsground on Saturday looking to open their home account in this season's PRO14 campaign against an ever-improving Benetton Treviso.

Connacht's impressive development this season will be put to the test on Saturday (3pm) when play-off rivals Cardiff hit the Sportsground for the penultimate PRO14 conference fixture.

A timely focus shift to the Six Nations, and Connacht's hopes of having some representation on the Ireland team, will give Andy Friend's squad a short window to review, rest and reassess their PRO14 season, and in particular their latest 8-7 defeat to Cardiff.

There is no rest for Connacht Rugby in their bid to achieve Champions Cup rugby this season. Still in the hunt in two competitions, they now return to Bordeaux where they became the first Irish team to win on French soil.