Connacht have already qualified for the knockout stage of the competition – while Falcons are rooted to the foot of the pool, with no win yet this campaign, losing to Cardiff Rugby 42-10 last weekend.

The Irish province enjoyed a comfortable home win in Round 3, beating CA Brive 61-5, and will be gunning for top seeding for the knockout stage, while a victory for Newcastle would see them progress if results elsewhere go their way.

The Pool A match kicks off at Kingston Park at 5.30pm local time on Saturday, and can be watched on epcrugby.tv.

Key quote:

Connacht Rugby director of rugby Andy Friend: “Newcastle will be different again, they put a very big score on Leicester Tigers a few weeks ago. Let’s hope the momentum keeps going.”

Round Three ✅

1️⃣ qualification spot left in Pool A, with 5️⃣ teams still in with a shot 👀

Bring on next weekend 🔥#ChallengeCupRugby pic.twitter.com/TzDklEv4HD

— EPCR Challenge Cup (@ChallengeCup_) January 15, 2023

Newcastle Falcons

• Josh Thomas has kicked a competition-high four restarts which have been retained. His restart retention rate of 57 per cent is exceeded only by team-mate Brett Connon (67 per cent).
• Tom Marshall has made the most ‘low’ tackles (below the waist) in the competition, amounting to 71 per cent of his tackles. He has also entered the most rucks in the competition, with 80.
• Newcastle have made a tournament-low five clean breaks.

Connacht Rugby

• Jack Carty scored the most points in Round 3 (16), missing just one of his nine goal attempts.
• Mack Hansen made the joint-most carries at the weekend (19, equal with Bath’s Matt Gallagher). He also made the most metres (198), offloads (four), and clean breaks (three).
• Both Josh Murphy and Niall Murray made three lineout steals in Round 3. No player has made more in a single match so far this season.