Connacht let it slip in home tie with Glasgow

Connacht 26

Glasgow 27

GLASGOW were lucky here, very lucky. That’s not to say the outcome was illogical, in fact it made perfect sense once the final whistle sounded. The team with the stronger bench and the more impactful players proved to have an edge despite making more errors and looking a little short of their best throughout the contest.

The last ten minutes told a tale, when the game was in the balance, the visitors – driven on by the impeccable Stuart Hogg – clicked into gear and made all the right decisions, while the home side went from looking composed and relatively cohesive to making calamitous decisions and flat out panicking when the game was there to be won. It wasn’t pretty from a Connacht point of view but it wasn’t a total disaster either.

They’ll take the positives from the first hour of rugby where they built up a nine point lead, recovering from numerous defensive errors that played a part in Glasgow’s three first half tries (from Seymour on the kick and chase and George Turner and Ryan Wilson at the fringe of the tackle area) to steady the ship in the second half, but if behind the scenes they feel that this was anything other than a setback than one would be worrying.

The restarts throughout the game were a disaster and played a key role in the first half problems. While John Muldoon was a commanding presence in that area in recent seasons, it was like they hadn’t given it a second thought since. Their new style of forwards lifting backs to take the Glasgow kickoffs was completely nullified and bypassed and what’s most alarming is how they didn’t adjust at any point despite losing possession on four of six occasions.

A loose kick out from defence certainly didn’t help in the opening try scored by Tommy Seymour and made by Hogg on a sweeping move, that included a kick and chase, to counter from inside their own half. Defensive alignment around the tackle area in the 22 was also a big issue on tries two and three from their opponents as both scores came from soft defence and glaring errors.

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

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