Connacht men must be more pragmatic when in command

Inside Track with John McIntyre

SOMETIMES, sport can be cruel as Connacht discovered to their cost at the Stade Des Alpes on Saturday night. Facing into a European Challenge Cup quarter against Grenoble of France, Pat Lam’s squad were 5/2 outsiders to carry the day despite a hugely progressive season which had earned the Westerners rave reviews.

It was a clash between two of Europe’s most exciting teams, but it was Connacht who twice appeared on the brink of a famous away victory only to reeled in by the resolute home team, whose Head Coach is former Connacht player Bernard Jackman. It was a high octane and thrilling collision, deserving its description as one of the rugby games of the season.

For all Connacht’s improvement in recent months, facing a rock solid French 14 outfit in their own fortress was always going to present a difficult challenge, particularly as they were down to their fourth choice out half in Shane O’Leary, while other key players such as Tiernan O’Halloran, Eoin McKeon, a late withdrawal, and Jake Heenan were also sidelined with injury.

But Connacht have never been intimidated by French opposition and they certainly hit the ground running against Grenoble. Matt Healy had to line out as an emergency full back, but he was simply inspired in this all-action quarter-final. It was from an audacious if high risk pass from Bundee Aki that sent Healy away and his electric turn of pace burst open the home defence before setting up Niyi Adeolokun for the game’s first try after just 12 minutes.

Grenoble were having most of the possession and territory, but Connacht were terrorising them on the break. Though the accurate Jonathan Wisniewski closed the gap with a penalty, the visitors were quickly on the offensive again. Healy and Kieran Marmion led another penetrating move before O’Leary’s brilliantly judged crossfield kick allowed Robbie Henshaw literally fall over the line for a 12-3 advantage.

Grenoble were flustered as they continued to struggle with Healy’s running angles and the speed in which he was hitting the line. It was the Connacht full back who again split the opposition cover before sending Adeolokun home for the second time after just 27 minutes. With O’Leary landing a great conversion from the right touchline for a 19-3 lead, Connacht’s tails were really up.

Frankly, however, it was a flattering scoreline. Grenoble had already come close to scoring a couple of tries only for the intervention of the TMO and they would finally make no mistake when Wisniewski – somewhat softly – beat the Connacht defence for a badly needed try seven minutes from the break. The accurate out half added the routine conversion and also knocked over a penalty to leave Grenoble only three points behind facing into the second half.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.