Connacht’s blushes saved by a thunder and lighning storm

CONNACHT’S dismal start to their defence to the Pro12 title was all set to continue, but for a much needed reprieve from Mother Nature in Italy last Friday night.

Zebre were leading the game 22-10 when a thunder and lightning storm hit the Parma area at half-time and after a 20 minute delay to proceedings, Welsh referee Ian Davies decided in the interest of player safety to abandon the game.

Connacht have previously never been defeated by their Italian counterparts but the signs were ominous for Pat Lam’s men with Zebre landing three first half tries to the defending champion’s one.

They opened the scoring with a try from Tommaso Boni but Connacht quickly responded when Tiernan O’Halloran went over after good work from Jack Carty who converted the try, which should have been the platform base for Connacht to build upon.

However, this score was followed by inexplicably poor handling errors and an inability to build any phases of play which meant they were constantly turning over the ball. Communication also appeared to be a big issue for Connacht with huge gaps appearing numerous times throughout their defence.

The Italian underdogs scored two more tries either side of a Jack Carty penalty, courtesy of flanker Maxime Mbanda and Jacopo Sarto with Carlo Canna converting the second try. Zebre full-back Edorado Padovani landed a mammoth penalty from just inside the halfway line to leave the gap at 12 points at the interval.

While some may point to Connacht’s injury problems at present, it’s hardly sufficient excuse for a side that are defending champions having to be let off the hook by weather conditions against the Italian minnows. Zebre were well on their way for a historic bonus point win and will be bitterly disappointed at their misfortune.

Speaking after the game Connacht coach Lam was appreciative of the official’s decision: “It was the correct decision, safety is the first priority. Nobody expected the lightning and the rain and the hail and then once it went past 20 minutes, it was out of the control of both teams.”

“But safety has to be the first call, we all know that. So it’s a matter of refixing the game and going from there. Sometimes these things are out of your control.”

For the result to stand the game would have needed to have been played for more than 60 minutes. Given this criteria wasn’t met it is now up to the Pro12 officials to reschedule the game in due course.

Up next for Connacht is the away trip to Scarlets this Saturday (7.35pm) at the Parc y Scarlets Stadium. The Welsh outfit have also had a disappointing opening to their campaign with three straight loses, but will certainly fancy their chances against a below par Connacht who they defeated in the same fixture last year.