Connacht unable to find way through brick-wall

Connacht 3

Leinster 20

As wake up calls go, this one was bone crunching. The journey from the bottom four in the PRO14 back to Champions Cup rugby is a daunting one that will take some time for this group but they got a taste of what they have to do to get there on Saturday afternoon at the Sportsground.

Leinster chose this game to put their full side out and without ever setting the world alight from an attacking standpoint, the boys in blue laid down a serious marker defensively in a smothering display.

Leinster’s rise back to the top in Europe has been a spectacular story. Just a few short years ago, Saracens and Toulon were spending millions and swatting away the competition; the English and French leagues had taken control over European rugby and reshaped the competitions; and the Celtic League nations looked to be out in the cold. However, it is now clear that Leinster were not in anyway overawed by that scenario.

Compared to the other three provinces, Leinster have the structures, the playing numbers and – let’s be honest – the money to really compete among the best of Europe but that money isn’t in the same realm of what some clubs in France and England can get their hands on so the final piece of the jigsaw is the development programmes. That’s why Irish rugby fans should be in awe and appreciation of the side from the RDS.

Jordan Larmour, Gary Ringrose, Josh Van Der Flier and Jack Conan were stand-out players here – all young stars that have emerged from the Leinster academy and established themselves as first team regulars in a team that has a balance of experience and youth.

Their front row is the best in club rugby and while Connacht stood firm in that department, it still provided them with enough of a platform to dominate this contest in the first-half.

This 17-point defeat is no major set-back to Connacht: if anything, it was a step forward as they will have a much better sense of where they stand in the coming weeks.

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

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