Below par Connnacht routed on home turf

Connacht 5

Glasgow 41

A truly unmerciful wake up call is the only way to look at this six-try opening day hammering for Connacht at a packed Sportsground on Saturday night.

There was no surprise that Connacht smashed their record opening day attendance in the Pro12 after their glorious conclusion to the previous campaign. New jerseys and increased optimism were prevalent, but after less than an hour the mood was sober and sombre.

Pat Lam, John Muldoon and everyone else in the Connacht camp will have spent the week convincing themselves and others that this was very much a blip. They’ll say this was an anomaly, a freak and harsh example of what can go wrong when you drop off your game by just a little bit. Deep down though, they’ll all be a little worried that it is a sign of something more than that.

First things first, there is solace to take from the reality that this result is highly unusual in Connacht’s history. It was the third highest defeat in the province’s history at the College Road venue, only a bizarre display in a European defeat to Pontypridd and the loss to to the All Blacks in 1989 were more severe. Even in the worst days of the mid part of the last decade, Connacht teams didn’t capitulate at home like this. This really does feel like a freak result.

Yet the performance bares some reflecting on as it went from patchy and error strewn in a first half where they trailed 13-5 by the conclusion to truly horrible after half time. While Glasgow were brilliant, back to their very best and laying down a serious opening day marker for every team in the league, Connacht looked undercooked after a one game pre-season and certainly off the kind of sharpness that has underpinned the Lam era.

The blame for the lack of games in August is hard to pinpoint but Glasgow came in having played three games in three weeks, Harlequins, Gloucester and Canada A had all tested the metal of Gregor Townsend’s side. They arrived in Galway in full battle mode, determined to make amends for two of the most painful defeats in their club’s Pro12 history. The back-to-back losses in Galway in May.

Just remember, Glasgow were reigning champions and expecting a return to the final where it would be held in their home country for the very first time. Many of their fans had already bought tickets for Murrayfield, expectations were understandably high, the wake up call hurt and the evidence was there for all to see on Saturday evening as they tore into the team that broke their dreams with little pause for thought.

Full coverage in this week’s Connacht Tribune.