2016–17 Connacht Rugby season

The 2016–17 season was Irish provincial rugby union side Connacht Rugby's sixteenth season competing in the Pro12, and the team's twenty-first season as a professional side. It was Pat Lam's fourth and final season in charge of the side.

Connacht finished the season in eight place in the league. As well as playing in the Pro12, Connacht competed in the Champions Cup in Europe, finishing third in their pool, level on points with Toulouse, who advanced to the knockout stage as one of the best runners-up. The second-tier side the Connacht Eagles competed in the 2016–17 British and Irish Cup, finishing bottom of their pool.

Background
Connacht started the season with a new coaching team. Backs and kicking coach Andre Bell left his role to return to his family in New Zealand. Head performance analyst and assistant attack coach Conor McPhillips took over coaching of the backs, while the team's former head coach Eric Elwood took over coaching kicking. The close season also saw the departure of the side's all-time record try-scorer Fionn Carr who scored 42 tries over two spells with the province. During the off-season, the team's homeground, the Galway Sportsground underwent renovations with the addition of a seated stand increasing its capacity to 8,100.

Coaching and management team
Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Individuals may hold more than one non-WR nationality.

Senior playing squad

 * Players qualified to play for Ireland on dual nationality or residency grounds*
 * Senior 15's internationally capped players in bold
 * Irish Provinces were limited to four non-Irish eligible (NIE) players and one non-Irish qualified player (NIQ or "Project Player"). Connacht Rugby is exempted from this under a separate development arrangement

Academy squad
year 3 year 2 year 3 year 1 year 2 year 3 year 2 year 1 year 1 year 2 year 3 year 3

year 1 year 2 year 3 year 1 year 3 year 1 year 2 year 2

Players in

 * HK Shane Delahunt promoted from academy
 * PR John Andress from  Munster
 * PR Conor Carey from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Nottingham
 * PR Peter McCabe from  Munster (loan)
 * PR 🇳🇿 Dominic Robertson-McCoy from 🇳🇿 Northland
 * PR Ivan Soroka from  Clontarf
 * LK 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 James Cannon from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Wasps
 * LK Lewis Stevenson from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Exeter Chiefs
 * FL James Connolly promoted from academy
 * FL Naulia Dawai from 🇳🇿 Otago
 * FL Rory Moloney promoted from academy
 * FL Seán O'Brien promoted from academy
 * FH Marnitz Boshoff from  Lions
 * FH Steve Crosbie from  Munster
 * CE Tom Farrell from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bedford Blues
 * CE Eoin Griffin from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 London Irish
 * CE Rory Parata promoted from the academy
 * CE Peter Robb promoted from the academy
 * WG 🇳🇿 Stacey Ili from 🇳🇿 Auckland
 * WG Cian Kelleher from  Leinster
 * FB Josh Rowland from  Ireland Sevens

Players out

 * HK Jason Harris-Wright to 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 London Irish
 * PR Rodney Ah You to  Ulster
 * PR Nathan White retired
 * LK 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Aly Muldowney to 🇫🇷 Grenoble
 * N8 🇳🇿 George Naoupu to 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Harlequins
 * SH Ian Porter to  Banbridge
 * FH 🇺🇸 AJ MacGinty to 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Sale Sharks
 * CE Conor Finn to  Buccaneers
 * CE Robbie Henshaw to  Leinster
 * CE Dave McSharry retired
 * CE 🇳🇿 Api Pewhairangi to 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 London Broncos
 * WG Fionn Carr to  Naas

Pro12
After 40 minutes of play, the match was "abandoned due to adverse weather conditions causing considerable risk to both the players and spectators". Zebre were leading 22–10 (3 tries to 1) when the match was abandoned. A rescheduled fixture was played on 1 April 2017.


 * Game rescheduled from 17 September 2016.

Pool 1
Assistant referee Mathieu Raynal replaced the original referee Jérôme Garcès on the 73rd minute of the game after pulling a hamstring.