Connacht let down by own errors and those of officials

Connacht 8

Leinster 16

Pat Lam’s search for a first derby win continues as Connacht slumped to another painful defeat in the RaboDirect PRO 12 against Leinster at the Sportsground on Saturday.

The Connacht manager was dignified in his post-match interviews but he was entitled to be incensed by some baffling officiating, which at the very least robbed the home side of a deserved losing bonus point.

Zebre recorded a rare win at home against Treviso over the weekend, and so leapfrogged Connacht, who are back at the basement of the league table after a dozen games. It’s hard not to grow weary of Connacht hard-luck stories, and unfairness.

But, despite the gloom that greeted the final whistle, and the prevailing sense of injustice among fans, there were many positives garnered from this 16-8 loss.

The set-pieces again were solid, as was Connacht’s doggish defence for the most part; and the young, all-Irish qualified backline, with an average age of just 22, showed ambition, courage and maturity against a Leinster outfit, who were jam-packed with seasoned internationals.

So while this season’s league is now effectively a write-off, Connacht is still in contention in Europe and a win this Saturday (3.40pm) against Zebre in the Heineken Cup, a third victory in the competition, would represent progress. 

Before dissecting the match-turning decisions, a word about the Connacht Academy young guns. Both out-half Jack Carty, in his first senior start, and Darragh Leader, in his first start at full-back, acquitted themselves admirably. Carty, having settled well with a tasty kick to the corner and a decent defensive aerial catch, grew in confidence.

The 21-years-old’s performance belied his inexperience at this level – he passed well, gave Connacht go-forward momentum and was brave in defence. Leader also had a decent shift – he missed a couple of long-distance penalty kicks, but the 20-years-old Galway man, a versatile utility back, proved a safe pair of hands under the Garryowen and with clearance kicking.

Centre Robbie Henshaw was quieter by his standards but did show class and a turn of pace to set winger Fionn Carr on his way to Connacht’s try; and his kick to the corner set Connacht up for a penalty that Carty converted to give the hosts an 8-3 half-time advantage.

That was as good as it got, however, as Lam’s men didn’t build on the opening half promise: Connacht kicked poorly in the second half, struggled to keep hold of possession and they failed miserably to secure meaningful territory and break out of their own half.

But for all that, they were suckered by poor officiating. Leinster took the lead, 9-8, in the 62nd minute when it took three players to haul Jamie Heaslip to the floor but there was more than a suspicion of a knock-on by the number eight at the base of the scrum in the lead-up to that penalty.

Heaslip, the Leinster captain, was involved again in the lead up Gordon Darcy’s try under the posts but he should have been in the sin-bin because his high and late shoulder charge challenge on replacement out-half, Dan Parks, was reckless.

If Connacht’s number eight, Eoin McKeon, had carried out a similar dangerous manoeuvre on Ian Madigan, he would have been binned no question; and Parks must have been still dazed as he missed the resulting penalty.  

Leaving aside that the officials bottled the yellow card decision, the final pass from Jimmy Gopperth to Darcy for the try looked forward. It just doesn’t seem fair.

“Obviously some of the calls were disappointing but our focus is what we can control and despite those calls we didn’t look after the ball and we couldn’t get out of our own half,” said Lam.

“We’re disappointed as a group. The thing we’re most disappointed with is the little mistakes, the little errors that are killing us. Whether it’s our kicking, whether it’s our goal-kicking or whether it’s not protecting the ball, those sorts of things continue to hurt us.

“I know they have so many internationals and we’ve got a lot of young players but for us, we’ve got our own standards, particularly in that last 20 or 30 minutes we didn’t have any sort of shape and it made it difficult for us . . . we were making too many errors at crucial times,” added Lam.