McLaughlin has culled 12 of the starting XV which knocked Munster out of the Heineken Cup last weekend, the only survivors being fly-half Ian Humphreys, full-back Stefan Terblanche and prop Tom Court.

If things go to plan for Ulster, 2011/12 could be the longest season in the club's history but they must prevail in Galway if they are to keep alive hopes of reaching the PRO12 play-offs.

Yet McLaughlin is still confident enough to potentially hand a senior debut to 20-year-old lock Iain Henderson, who he has named on the bench.

"Iain had a tremendous Six Nations campaign with Ireland U20s and he's been training with us in recent weeks and has done very well," said McLaughlin

"He is a big talent and it is important to give him experience at this level.

"The Munster match was very physical and a lot of players are still carrying bumps and bruises, so we decided it was best to give some of them a break.

"It is crucial to look after the players with so many important games coming up before the end of the season.

"There are opportunities for us to test the water a bit with some of our squad players and it will be exciting to see how they perform."

There are novelties elsewhere as Lewis Stevenson and Neil McComb start alongside each other in the second row for the first time.

While a slap change takes place in the back row with the trio of Mike McComish, Willie Faloon and Robbie Diack systematically replacing Stephen Ferris, Chris Henry and Pedrie Wannenburg.

Connacht have lost their last ten encounters against fellow Irish provinces since drawing with Ulster in September 2010.

But the side is far more settled than Ulster's, with just one change to the starting line-up that beat the Dragons two weeks ago at Rodney Parade.

George Naoupu will pull on the No.8 jersey instead of John Muldoon who moves back to his traditional position of blindside flanker with Mick Kearney dropping to the bench.

"It's great to welcome George back for such an important game," said head coach Eric Elwood.

"He's been a big player for us all year so that's a big boost for us.

"Looking back on our last two performances we had a very good effort against Munster, just not the result we wanted, we had the same team out against the Dragons and to be fair to the boys they were excellent.

"So there are not too many changes."

At Sportsground, 5.15pm
Referee: Dudley Phillips (IRFU, 24th competition game)
Assistant Referees: TBC
Citing Commissioner : John Cole (IRFU)
TMO: TBC

Live on TG4 and BBC NI