Connacht battle hard for bonus point at bogey ground

Ulster 13
Connacht 10

NOTHING ventured nothing gained is the appropriate phrase. In truth, the single point hauled back onto the Connacht bus that left Belfast on St Stephen’s night must have felt like something earned – hard earned – for Connacht in an error strewn encounter where Ulster were relieved to hold on at the death.

It was a first point to be garnered by the westerners from Ravenhill in the professional era and for that reason, Pat Lam can accentuate the positives this week in training ahead of an enormously important fixture with Munster on New Year’s Day.

It really has been some season for Connacht, nine wins, one draw and five defeats. Those losses all coming away from home to high ranked sides, Glasgow, Ospreys, Exeter, Leinster and Ulster. So no great concern in that then.

In many ways, one point from the combined away trips to Leinster and Ulster can be viewed as a fair return from a treacherous set of fixtures and should Lam’s men complete the Christmas period with victories at home to Munster and Edinburgh, that point will feel like gold, frankincense and myrrh all wrapped up.

It’s all on Munster now, new ground needs to be broken on New Year’s Day at what is almost guaranteed to be a sold out Sportsground (kick off 5pm) against Anthony Foley’s clued in and ever improving outfit.

The men in red make the one hour trip north from Limerick on a high after a powerful 28-13 win over Leinster at Thomond Park. They’ve also kept some front liners in reserve for this fixture, they’re targeting it, they know they almost always beat Connacht and they know it is because they have too much nous usually.

Yet this is a different Connacht, trying new approaches to old problems. The last two weeks haven’t seen them end their 12 year wait for an away win in an Inter-provincial fixture, but the statistics seem to indicate a determination to address the issue from a whole new perspective.

Against Leinster on December 19th and here again against Ulster, Connacht kicked less than their opponents. Carried more, gained more metres and passed more than their opponents. The stats on Friday were impressive, Connacht gained 325 metres to Ulsters 234. They passed 135 times to Ulster 86 and kicked less too.

Full report in this week’s Connacht Tribune.