Connacht fall at home again in latest disappointing effort

Connacht 20

Ospreys 26

THERE’S no place like Galway for a weekend getaway. The Ospreys could leave a nice review about the Sportsground. A hospitable place where the hosts are, by and large, very accommodating.

That review would sit nicely alongside the thoughts of other happy travellers to Galway this season. The Scarlets squad had a fine time at the venue in November, Bristol had fun in December, so too did Ulster while Munster had a little bit of a wobble near the end of their visit a few weeks back, but left happy too.

The allure of the Sportsground is gone. While the fans certainly made one of world rugby’s more unusual looking professional rugby venues an atmospheric and electric place to watch a game, their absence has left it exposed as a venue that tends to hinder the home side and one which brings out the best in the travellers. Connacht have won just twice in seven games there this season and that kind of record isn’t good enough for a side with Champions Cup ambitions.

This Connacht team appear perplexed and unnerved by their current predicament, nothing is working properly for them, they see flashes of good stuff come to fruition in games, but then watch those foundations crumble once pressure is applied by the opposition. The lineout, the scrum, the maul defence are all problem areas. Bad decisions are creeping in, players are making selfish and incoherent calls at key points and no one seems to be able to take control of it all.

Connacht have some ability, we know that from the performances they produced against Ulster in the Aviva Stadium back in August, Glasgow in the Sportsground in October, Edinburgh away in November, Racing 92 away in January and the victory over Leinster a few weeks back.

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

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