Below-par Connacht fall to rare loss against Dragons

Newport Gwent Dragons 21

Connacht 16

YET another sub-standard display in what has been a sub-standard Pro 12 campaign so far. Two wins from seven games, two home wins on a run in October where Connacht brilliantly rediscovered last season’s form for a few short weeks and that’s it. In terms of the PRO12 title defence, it has been a dreadful three months. Heading into the break, the reigning champions are in the bottom three and cast well adrift.

On a perfect night for rugby in east Wales, Newport’s plucky Dragons – missing five Welsh internationals compared to Connacht’s three in the Irish squad – conjured up a victory borne from a collective determination in defence and an ability to turn a litany of Connacht errors into scores at the other end of the field. Sure, they were hanging on at the end as Pat Lam’s men finally came alive, but overall they deserved their win.

This is all about cause and effect now for Connacht. The cause of this poor start is clear even if the effect is still a little hard to fathom. We know Connacht lost key men last summer in the transfer market and in terms of replacing Aly Muldowney and Robbie Henshaw, they had to look within their squad. That seemed to be working in games against Ulster and Toulouse, but the real effects of the departures comes when the squad is banged up and in need of a dig out.

Depth in the squad, cover for key positions, that’s the problem now. Take Andrew Browne for example, the big Galwegian second row stood up and was counted during the four game win streak, but he picked up an ankle injury after five minutes here and new signing James Cannon had to come in. The big former English under 20 lock looks like he needs a lot more time with the squad to get up to speed.

It also meant an adjustment in the game plans, as Browne like Muldowney last year, is a key focal point in the attack in midfield during broken play. Quinn Roux stood in for Browne in that role during this game but that was asking a lot of the South African and it showed as the game wore on. In this simple example, the cause, player departures and a high injury toll, has a clear effect.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.