Cian Prendergast boost for Connacht with trio ruled out

Cian Prendergast has recovered from illness and looks set to feature for Connacht against Benetton in Saturday's URC clash.

The back row was a late withdrawal from the Ireland squad to play Wales on Saturday morning, and missed out on a fifth international cap, and the chance to play alongside brother Sam in a Guinness Six Nations game.

However, the 25-year-old trained with Connacht this week and comes in to bolster the side, who lost number 8 Sean Jansen to an ankle injury picked up on Ireland A duty against England A on Sunday.

"Cian's back with us currently, he’s trained with us," Wilkins told RTÉ Sport.

"He was back in with us yesterday and trained fully this morning so he’s available for selection, which is good news for us.

"On the back of his disappointment with the illness and missing out on his bench spot at the weekend, he’s champing at the bit.

"He’s determined at the best of times, but I think channelling that disappointment hopefully into a big performance for us."

Connacht also confirmed that scrum-half Ben Murphy (above) underwent finger surgery this morning after suffering a "nasty" injury in Ireland A training.

"His little finger got caught in contact and it was a nasty break," he said.

"He’s had surgery on it this morning and the update is that was successful but I think it was a bit of a complicated one to fix up, so I imagine we won’t see him for the next five or six weeks."

Centre Byron Ralston suffered a knee injury in the friendly defeat to Harlequins last weekend.

"Byron could be longer term, we’re waiting for the scan in the next 48 hours, he’s hobbling around on crutches and definitely won’t be involved for a period," added Wilkins.

Prop Jack Aungier is also back with the province and is to likely feature