Connacht bid to end away woes against Scarlets as Carty and Heffernan return

THE last place you want to be going to when you are trying to end a four-game losing run is a ground where you have never managed to win, but that is what is facing Connacht on Saturday as they head to Parc Y Scarlets to take on the two-time league champions in their own back yard (7.35pm).

Andy Friend takes the western province to a ground where they have lost on every one of their 10 previous visits, a run stretching back to a 58-10 hammering at the hands of the Scarlets back in the 2009/10 season in what was their first visit to the ground.

That wretched run of results looked set to end in the last meeting between the sides, as tries from John Porch, Abraham Papali’i, Sean O’Brien, Dominic Robertson-McCoy, and Kieran Marmion had them 33-13 up at half-time in their league game last March and seemingly cruising to victory.

However, the second-half saw a collapse of monumental proportions by Connacht, as the home side ran in four tries of their own, leaving Jack Carty with having to kick a 79th minute penalty for his side’s only score of the second half jut to rescue a losing bonus point.

“It has not always been a happy hunting ground for us but we have played well in parts,” Connacht’s senior coach and number 2 to Andy Friend, Pete Wilkins, said this week.

“Scarlets are the type of team where if you give them access to the game, they will hurt you, whether that is in terms of discipline or turnovers or field position. We had a 20-points plus lead [in the last game] but were ineffective in getting out of our own half.

“We have shown enough that we can do it against the Scarlets, but it is about us delivering that 80 minutes of applied pressure to make sure we can do well. We need to win this week, it is really important to bounce back from the run of games we had before the break; it is important as regards this little block of games; and it is important as regards our URC and Champions Cup ambitions,” Wilkins said.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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