Connacht draw another blank

Date Published: 28-Dec-2007

ALL hail King Paul. Australian out-half Paul Warwick wore a wry smile of satisfaction at Musgrave Park on Thursday evening as his ‘man of the match’ display — at the helm of an under strength Munster — helped steer his new comrades to a resounding victory over his old team-mates.

Connacht have now gone 160 minutes without a single point on their travels, they haven’t won on the road in 19 attempts and their last victory over Munster was in 1986.

Tough statistics that tell a frustrating tale. Festive Spirits? ‘Bah Humbug’ a Connacht man might say.

It certainly hasn’t been a joyful few weeks for followers of the men in green. High
hopes from those two victories earlier in the month have been dashed with two comprehensive defeats. Big budget opposition, dreadful refereeing and a string of injuries have been major factors in these results, but there are still reasons to suggest other factors are also at play.

Munster could afford the luxury of leaving out ten first team regulars for this contest and still managed to keep their opponents scoreless in the wind and rain. A clear sign of the strength in depth our neighbours have at their disposal, but a worrying situation from a Connacht perspective.

Connacht played into the horrendous elements in the first half and after 35 minutes, thanks to gutsy never-say-die attitude in defence, they trailed by just six points. That was until David Gannon harshly saw yellow with five minutes remaining in the half which was followed by two further Warwick penalties just before the break to round off an impressive display with the boot.

Even then, a 12 point gap was by no means insurmountable and with an unbreakable defensive line and some encouraging chinks of light in attack, Connacht had genuine hope and plenty to play for in the second half.

In fact, had Ulster referee Colin Stanley and his colleagues held their nerve and kept their common sense in check in those closing first half minutes, the contest could have had a very different shape.

In particular, Stanley’s…..