Leaders Connacht target away day improvements

Connacht boss Pete Wilkins says improving on last season's away form is a priority for the BKT United Rugby Championship leaders.

The Westerners lead the way in the standings after winning their opening three matches, all at home, against Ospreys, Glasgow and Ulster.

But now they face a spell on the road with Edinburgh first on the itinerary before a long-haul flight to South Africa to take on the Sharks and the Bulls.

Connacht began last season with three consecutive defeats on their travels and picked up just three away wins from nine regular-season matches in total.

"It certainly is [an area we want to improve on]," Wilkins told RTÉ Sport.

"We've looked very closely at our away game form; we’ve looked really closely at how we manage those away games.

"Not just in the 80 minutes that we play in some of those games that we’ve probably underwhelmed but also in terms of how we prepare for those games, the lead-in, how the week looks like, the travel, the time in the hotel.

"I don’t think there’s a silver bullet in there but we are looking at that and it’s a unique challenge to have three away games in a row to try some of those things out and see what kind of progress we’re making."

The team, who staged a brilliant comeback win against Ulster on Saturday night, have accumulated 13 points so far and lead the table by one point from Munster.

Wilkins, who took over as boss at the end of last season, said: "Yeah, it is [a great buzz to be top].

"A lot of people said it’s a great opportunity having three home games to start the season and comparing to the run we had last year.

"At the same time it was only going to be a good opportunity if we took advantage of it.

"We’re really pleased to get the three wins. Momentum is really important