Connacht will be almost at full strength for Friday night's Champions Cup showdown with Leinster at the Sportsground.
The venue is expected to sell out for the round of 16 first leg clash by Thursday and Andy Friend has some selection headaches to make as the outsiders look for a rousing home performance in Galway.
On the preparations and build-up, Friend said: "It is a special week. It’s the first time that Connacht has ever been in the knockout stages.
"It’s Leinster, we know them well and they know us well. It’s the Sportsground with a packed house, a sell-out crowd.
"These are the weeks that you live for and the games that players and coaches want to be involved.
“Yeah, there is a good buzz but at the same time it’s not a giddy buzz.
"People know there is a job to be done. We had two very good days of training and we’re training again now.
"We have a day off tomorrow with preparation on Thursday so there is a good feel without it being too happy, too loose, or too tense. It feels just right at the moment.”
Only prop Denis Buckley and hooker Shane Delahunt are absent through injury for the tie, leaving Friend with 42 of his 44-strong squad available.
Buckley suffered a calf injury in 14-man Connacht's recent heavy loss to Leinster in the URC and is hopeful of returning for next week's second leg at the Aviva Stadium.
Delahunt is dealing with a long term hamstring issue that he sustained against Edinburgh.
The good news for Friend is that his Ireland contingent are available, including Bundee Aki, Mack Hansen and Finlay Bealham.
Sammy Arnold is OK for selection after coming through his HIA return to play process, while skipper Jarrad Butler had a minor foot injury that ruled him out of last weekend's URC victory over Benetton, but he has recovered available.
Winger Alex Wooton is back in full training as well, having trained with the squad this morning.
"It is definitely going to be a team effort," Hansen said. "It’s not going to come down to me at all.
"To beat Leinster you can’t go off on one on your own, you’ve got to gel as a team so we have been working really hard on it this week.
“No-one really thinks we can do it, which we love, so from Leinster’s point of view there is a lot more pressure on them than there is on us.
"We are stoked to be here but we are not here to participate, we are here to win these games as well and test Leinster as much as we can.”
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