Connacht meet Southern Kings at the Sportsground on Saturday evening with both sides still searching for their first win of the new Guinness PRO14 season. The hosts sit fourth in Conference A after gaining a losing bonus point in their narrow defeat to Glasgow Warriors in the season opener while the Kings are bottom of Conference B after their heavy loss to the Scarlets in their tournament debut.

What’s at stake? Connacht have now slipped to five successive Guinness PRO14 defeats since their 22-19 victory in Edinburgh in April. The post-Pat Lam era began with a narrow loss to the Warriors last time out in Galway and new boss Kieran Keane will be desperate to get up and running against their South African opponents. The Kings meanwhile went down to a 57-10 loss in Llanelli on their Guinness PRO14 bow and would love nothing more than to take a maiden victory home with them to South Africa for rounds three and four.

Team news (Connacht): Tiernan O’Halloran returns to action and is named at full-back in a side that sees three changes from the XV that started the opening round. Inside centre Tom Farrell and flanker Sean O’Brien are also included in the starting fifteen with Eoin Griffin and Eoghan Masterson taking their places among the replacements. In a positional switch Darragh Leader moves from full back to the wing as O’Halloran returns.

Team news (Southern Kings): The Southern Kings have made just one change to their team. After the opening-round loss to champions Scarlets, head coach Deon Davids has promoted scrum-half Godlen Masimla to the starting XV with Rudi van Rooyen named on the bench.

Talking points: This will be the Kings first-ever trip to Ireland and after a week preparing in Galway, head coach Deon Davids will be confident of an improvement from round 1. The team will be again captained by Michael Willemse while out-half Kurt Coleman, winger Yaw Penxe and No 8 Andisa Ntsila were all prominent in the Round 1 fixture and will look to build on that in their second outing. Connacht – 2016 champions in the old Guinness PRO12 – know that a victory this weekend will build confidence and momentum ahead of a trip to the Dragons in round three before welcoming the Cardiff Blues in round four.

Key Battle: Kings winger Yaw Penxe wrote his name in the history books last weekend as the Kings first-ever try scorer in the Guinness PRO14 and was only denied a second by a superb covering tackle by Steff Evans in the South African side’s loss to Scarlets. His exploits will not have gone unnoticed in Galway ahead of this weekend’s clash but his opposite man Matt Healy is no stranger to the try-line. Top scorer in the 2015/16 season, the Ireland international will look to open his account this weekend for a Connacht side still waiting for their first try of the campaign.

Key stat: Southern Kings make their first ever visit to Ireland having lost their last two matches, at home to Cheetahs in Super Rugby on 14 July and in Llanelli last Saturday.

Did you know? Connacht have lost their last three fixtures at the Sportsground but have not lost four in succession in the venue in the Championship since November 2013.

Connacht: T O’Halloran, D Leader, T Farrell, B Aki, M Healy, J Carty, K Marmion, D Buckley, T McCartney, F Bealham, U Dillane, J Cannon, S O’Brien, J Butler, J Muldoon
Replacements: D Heffernan, D Coulson, C Carey, Q Roux, E Masterson, C Blade, S Crosbie, E Griffin

Southern Kings: M Banda, Y Penxe, B Klaasen, L Vulindlu, S Sithole, K Coleman, G Masimla, S Ferreira, M Willemse, R de Klerk, J van Vuuren, D van Schalkwyk, K Majola, V Sekekete, A Ntsila
Replacements: S Coetzee, L Pupuma, E Swanepoel, B de Wee, S Mdaka, R van Rooyen, O Zono, J Nel

TV: TG4/Supersport (KO 7:35pm)

Match officials – Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU). Assistant Referee 1: Keith Allen (SRU). AR2: Joy Neville (IRFU). TMO: Neil Paterson (SRU).

Guinness PRO14 Final 2018 Ticket Information: Fans can save up to 20% on selected tickets, and prices start at just €30 for adults and €5 for children, and be booked via www.ticketmaster.ie