Connacht aiming to avoid Christmas whitewash

CONNACHT will look to avoid a Christmas inter-provincial whitewash when they host Munster at the Sportsground on Thursday, New Year’s Day, at 5pm.

The College Road venue will be packed to the rafters with an expectant home crowd hoping Pat Lam’s men can start 2015 on a high note. The match was sold-out prompting the club to add additional capacity to cater for the huge demand.

Defeats to Leinster the weekend before Christmas and to Ulster on St Stephen’s Day puts more pressure on Connacht to get a result against Munster this week as they look to shore up sixth place in the Guinness PRO 12 league.

With Scarlets in seventh place snapping at their heels, Connacht are in desperate need of a win to keep their Champions Cup qualification on track. Connacht have six wins and one draw from 11 league games, and last week’s hard earned losing bonus point against Ulster at Ravenhill can be chalked down as one point gained rather than three forgone.

It is the province’s first bonus point up North. It was looking ominous for Connacht when Ulster stretched their lead to 13-3 with just over an hour gone in Belfast but the Westerners dug deep and a try from Aly Muldowney, converted by Jack Carty, put them bang back in contention.

They were lucky in many ways not to be further behind at that stage but Connacht can be frustrated, too, that a few calls went against them late on when they were pushing for a winning score. “I have found in my time here that, in the inter-pros, we always get the toughest calls (against us),” said Lam to reporters afterwards when asked about refereeing decisions.

He was also unhappy that the St Stephen’s Day fixtures were changed this year, meaning an arduous travel schedule in order to avoid travelling on Christmas Day. “It took us three and a half hours to drive to Shannon and then get on a plane,” he said. Connacht were bussed home to Galway later that night.

In previous years Connacht square up to Munster the day after Christmas, which is more manageable for travel. Quinn Roux, who was a late withdrawal against Ulster was missed, particularly his ball carrying skills, and aggression; while front-row Ronan Loughney (back) also did not start.

But despite the injury setbacks and travel hardship, Lam hailed the battling qualities of his charges against Ulster, which will be needed in abundance to overcome the Munster men.

Full preview in this week’s Connacht Tribune.