CONNACHT UP TO THE CHALLENGE; Connacht.

Byline: MICHAEL SCULLY

IT'S A CASE of the old versus the new at the Sportsground on Friday night when record Challenge Cup appearance holders Connacht face European newcomers Olympus Rugby XV Madrid.

While this will be match number 85 for Michael Bradley's outfit, the Spanish invitation side will be the 80th team to take part in Europe's second tier competition.

They are largely based around the CRC Madrid team, who won the 2009 Division de Honor title after losing just one of their 18 matches and finishing 11 points clear of 2008/09 European Challenge Cup side Cetransa El Salvador.

"CRC are the reigning Spanish champions but were not in a position to compete in the Amlin Challenge Cup so the Federacion Espanola de Rugby contacted ERC to see if we could enter an invitation side in the tournament," explained Keith Chapman, manager of both Olympus Rugby XV Madrid and the national Spanish team.

"They agreed and the IRB were also very much in favour of our taking part in the tournament as they see this as a real opportunity for our domestic game.

"There are players from CRC as well as those from other clubs and we believe this is the best way forward to help develop the game in Spain and give our home-based players the chance to compete at this higher level."

Olympus have former London Irish coach Ged Glynn on board and the stitched-together squad had a pre-season camp in central France in preparation for Challenge Cup.

"The strengths of Spanish rugby in general are good skills from fast and attacking players while the main weakness is a lack of the tall players you need for the line-out in particular," said Chapman.

"So we need to develop our forward play and beef up those players. We have around 18,000 registered players and, although some of the best of our internationals play their club rugby with French clubs, this is a real showcase for us.

"We are hoping to get some TV time as this would certainly help promote the game in Spain.

"Ideally we would love to get one or even two wins and we would be very disappointed if we don't get around 9,000 crowds for our home matches."

CAPTION(S):

STALWARTS Connacht HARD TASK Michael Bradley