Injury rocks Connacht squad ahead of season’s biggest game

Connacht have lost Denis Buckley for the season while fellow prop Nathan White has the slimmest hope of making a potential Guinness PRO12 final.

The westerners' 14-7 win over Glasgow Warriors came at a mammoth cost. Connacht lost three props to injury during the space of an hour and had hooker J.P Cooney filling in at loose-head for the final 20 minutes. This afternoon, the province released a disheartening injury update. It's one that will see them stretched to their limits against Glasgow in Saturday's semi-final. Buckley's ankle injury means he will miss the remainder of the season and will not tour with Ireland to South Africa. The loose-head was set for an international call-up due to an outstanding season and the ongoing injury niggles of Cian Healy. https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/715184045936754688 White's calf continues to hamper his return to play. He is out of Saturday's semi-final but could, all things going well, make a May 28 final. There is a ray of light for Connacht as props Finlay Bealham and Rodney Ah You have both passed all their return-to-play after sustaining concussion against Glasgow. Danie Poolman will not be fit in time for the match but Craig Ronaldson and versatile prop Ronan Loughney have been cleared for returns. On Monday, Glasgow had prop Sila Puafisi banned for three weeks - for his red card offence in Galway - and centre Alex Dunbar was ruled out for the season.