Andy Friend, who has served as head coach of the Irish province since 2018, has moved to a new position of director of rugby with overall responsibility for the rugby programme across the team’s professional set-up.

Peter Wilkins will assume the role of head coach, which Connacht say “more closely” reflects his responsibilities in leading on-field preparation of the team and being in charge of defence.

The rest of the coaching team will comprise Colm Tucker, who moves to a new role of scrum and contact coach, Mossy Lawler, who takes over as attack and skills coach, and forwards coach Dewald Senekal, who will be responsible for the lineout and maul.

Connacht have been drawn in Pool A with Newcastle Falcons and CA Brive. The furthest they have got in the Challenge Cup so far is the semi-finals, which they have reached three times.

Connacht Rugby will bid for their first EPCR honours in the 2022/23 Challenge Cup with a restructured coaching team.