Connacht Rugby stun Leinster in Guinness PRO12

Whenever the complete history of Connacht Rugby is written, the 10-9 victory over Leinster on Friday night will rate highly in its annals.

Yes, Connacht have had wins over the reigning Pro12 holders in the past – and have enjoyed many wonderful occasions in both the Heineken and Amlin Challenge Cups over the years – but this was different because this was not simply a ‘one-off’. For 24 hours at least, Connacht were table toppers.

What was this? It was consistency at its best. Three wins on the trot, this latest 10-9 victory, compliments of a superb Kieran Marmion try, over a strong Leinster Rugby outfit was a statement of intent from a Connacht outfit that has refused to bend the knee in recent outings.

Speaking to the media afterwards, man of the match Marmion said wins like those, generally, was a question of belief.

“Yeah, we generally believe that if we can go out there and perform, we can win. We have done it before against Leinster and we certainly believed before the game we could win.

“It was great to get another win. To back up what we did the last two weeks was huge. It was just a great effort from the lads. We probably let ourselves down with the discipline early on but we never gave up and we showed our character throughout the game, especially towards the end.”

Having trailed 9-3 at the interval – Jack Carty responding to three Ian Madigan penalties – Marmion produced a moment of magic when slipping the Leinster cover to race over the whitewash for a 55th minute try.

“I don’t remember too much about it but it was great to get over the line. It was a complete team effort,” continued the scrum-half.

“Obviously, the conditions played into their hands in the first half but it was great defence from us just before half-time to keep them out and that really gave us a boost going into the second half. So, we just wanted to kick on from there.”

For Head Coach Pat Lam, he thought Connacht’s victory was representative of the culture and the character within his squad. “That is three weeks in a row where we really have had to dig deep and work hard,” he said afterwards.

“A lot of things didn’t quite go our way – we have talked about it; it wasn’t quite perfect – but at the end of the day if your culture is good and you are led by a lot of the senior players, everyone will fight for each other.

“As it happens, that is three weeks in a row we have had to dig deep. When you see that sort of emotion from the fans, all they want to see is the boys fighting. I am very proud of them,” beamed the New Zealander.

Connacht will look for their second Pro12 victory on the road in Scotland – and, more importantly, to maintain their unbeaten run – when they face Glasgow Warriors this Friday (7.35pm), who are currently lying second in the league table having also won their opening three games.