Connacht must overcome Gloucester or European dream bites the dust

LUNCHTIME kick offs are becoming the norm for Connacht in Champions Cup rugby. Saturday is no different with their tussle with Gloucester at the Sportsground getting under way at 12:45pm. Despite last weekend’s disappointing effort, a full house is on the cards for the home side and the fact that a win will put the Westerners back in the hunt for a quarter final place is sure to add to the atmosphere.

The race for second place in the pool is likely to be a close one but whether or not either Connacht or Gloucester or Montpellier can accumulate enough points to be among the three best runners up from the five pools is a whole other story. In the last five years, the cut off point for a place in the quarter finals has ranged between 19 points (on two occasions), 18 points (once) and 17 points (on two occasions). Connacht currently have just four points with 15 still to play for in the coming rounds at home to Gloucester and Toulouse and away to Montpellier.

Gloucester still have to take on Montpellier at home and Toulouse away so a win in Galway is a must for them, as winning away to the runaway group leaders seems unlikely. Montpellier aren’t gone yet either, but if they lose either of their two away games at Toulouse this weekend or Gloucester in round five, they will be on the outside looking in. In short, Connacht have the more favourable run of fixtures and if they win on Saturday, they will be slight favourites to finish second.

So Saturday is a straight forward must win and losing bonus points for Gloucester are unlikely to matter if Connacht can edge this. The task, however, is a mammoth one for two reasons. Firstly, Andy Friend is going to have to mix and match on team selection due to injuries and workload management ahead of the busy Christmas period and, secondly, the visitors seem to have a strong edge on Connacht every time they play them.

This will be the seventh meeting between the two teams and Connacht are yet to beat Gloucester. The most recent Galway meeting was the 2018 Challenge Cup quarter final where the cherry and whites used their immense power to eventually overwhelm the then Kieran Keane coached outfit in a high scoring duel.

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

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