Connacht coach Michael Bradley has left the fly-half position vacant in the hope that Eric Elwood will recover from injury in time to play Llanelli in the Celtic Cup quarter-final on Friday night.
Elwood missed last week's victory over Glasgow at Hughenden, and if unavailable once again, David Hewitt will step in with Shane Moore being called up to the replacements bench.
Connacht will be without winger Wayne Munn and flanker Michael Swift, both of whom retired injured against Glasgow, as the province face their fourth away match on the trot.
Matt Mostyn, who scored a superb try after being introduced against Glasgow, will start on the right-wing with Conor McPhillips, joint top try scorer in the Celtic League, moving to the other wing.
Prop Adrian Clarke has recovered from injury and starts on the bench with Ray Hogan and Fabian Boiroux, who were thrown in at the deep end against Glasgow, starting in the front row.
Tom Carter comes into the side in Swift¹s absence, with Paul Neville moving to blindside flanker in the back row. Matt Lacey is called up to the bench along with winger Ted Robinson.
Connacht will be hoping to finally get past a quarter-final at the fifth attempt. They have twice reached the last eight of the European Shield and Parker Pen Challenge Cup, while they have also made the knockout stages of the Celtic League in its two year existence.
However, a quarter-final victory has so far eluded Connacht and victory in Stradey Park would be a huge step forward for Bradley¹s men who have opened the season with three wins from four games.
Connacht(v Llanelli): M. McHugh; M. Mostyn, D. Yapp, T. Allnutt, C. McPhillips; AN Other, M. Walls; R. Hogan, B. Jackman, F. Boiroux; D. Browne, A. Farley; P. Neville, T. Carter, J. O¹Sullivan.
Replacements:J. Fogarty, A. Clarke, M. McCarthy, M. Lacey, C. Keane, AN Other, T. Robinson