Connacht come to grief once again at their bogey venue

Date Published: {J}

Ulster 22

Connacht 3

Rob Murphy in Ravenhill

LET’S not dance around the edges. This was expected. Connacht’s chances of breaking a truly awful run of nine years without a win on this island beyond the Shannon were almost non existent on Saturday night. Injuries, poor form, and sheer size, strength and experience meant Ulster were nailed on for a Ravenhill romp.

A total of 15 basic errors probably explains to a large degree why such a landslide win didn’t materialise, but tenacious Connacht defending in the second-half played a key part too.

History has told us that when Connacht sides concede tries within a minute of the half-time whistle and two minutes afterwards, they usually collapse and take a good shellacking. Under Eric Elwood, that has changed and this was another example in that regard.

Ulster were fairly patchy overall. However in defence and at the breakdown, they were exceptional. Connacht were blown away time and again thanks to the likes of Rory Best, Stephen Ferris and Dan Tuohy.

Every Ulster forward played like a rampaging openside at the tackle area and that old World Cup chestnut, the choke tackle, came to the fore with Connacht losing the turnover count by 10-3 thanks mainly to backs getting caught and being held up in the tackle. By the end of the contest, their susceptibility to the tactic was bordering on the naive.

Considering the penalty count was 7-6 in favour of Ulster, line-outs were relatively solid for both sides and with the error count almost 2-1 in favour of the home team, it’s fairly clear where this game was won and lost.

Oh, and another thing, if anyone wants a clear illustration of the importance of Michael Swift’s monstrous presence in the Connacht pack each week, simply compare and contrast the first 20 minutes before his enforced departure (suspected knee injury ) with the last 60.

Look, after all these years on the road following Connacht in the Challenge Cup and the Celtic competitions and sitting on the sidelines watching the Heineken Cup enviously, nothing can take away from the feeling of anticipation as our province prepares to walk out at the Stoop and kick off Europe’s biggest competition.

There is no hiding the dread and sickening feeling that this team are not showing anything like the form needed to be competitive against Harlequins and Toulouse. However, we can’t hide the hope either. The hope that somehow, from somewhere, they’ll find the ignition, find the spark and the belief and conjure up something special over the next 14 days.

Special, could be a couple of tries and a heroic 10-15 point loss at Quins and possibly a losing bonus point in an epic battle with Toulouse, similar to that memorable battle with Toulon two years ago in the Challenge Cup semi final. That’s all we can really ask for, anything else would be frankly ridiculous on current from.

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