Connacht need to stop the rot with defiant effort against Leinster

NOT much Christmas cheer surrounding Connacht this festive season.

Last weekend’s drubbing at the hands of Ulster in Belfast followed on from a bitterly disappointing loss at home to an understrength Munster the previous week.

And the likelihood of Connacht being lucky at the third time of asking in the Christmas inter-provincials is slim with a trip to in-form Leinster, home of the reigning Pro 14 champions, on the cards this coming Saturday (5.30pm).

With back-to-back Heineken Cup games to follow – at the Sportsground against Toulouse on Saturday, January 11 and away to Montpellier the following Sunday – this Christmas/New Year could be the defining period of the season, and not in a good way.

It was always going to be an uphill struggle at Ravenhill – Connacht have consistently underperformed up there – but the manner of the defeat was troubling.

Scoring just one penalty in 80 minutes was bad enough but to ship 35 points, in a five-try rout, was equally as worrying. They came close a couple of times. Connacht scrum-half Caolin Blade could have got the game’s first try but was held up by winger Robert Baloucoune; taking five or seven points inside 10 minutes could have settled them better.

Then conceding a sloppy try minutes later on their own lineout made matters worse. Ulster’s Alan O’Connor reacting quickest to Joe Maksymiw’s tap back underlined the difference in sharpness between the teams.

Had Stephen Fitzgerald not dropped Conor Fitzgerald’s cross-field kick before half-time, it would have cut Ulster’s 14-3 interval lead but the reality was that Connacht were outmuscled at the breakdown and generally outclassed after the break against Dan McFarland’s charges.

Connacht are just not clicking, defensively or offensively, like they did earlier in the season.

Securing just a losing bonus point at home to a weakened Munster outfit hasn’t helped the mood music at College Road and Connacht’s morale must be low as they face into another massive challenge at the RDS against Leinster, who are unbeaten in their nine league fixtures to date.

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

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