Connacht’s wretched home form continues to the end

Connacht 14

 Edinburgh 15

On paper, Connacht have had a great PRO14 season . . . well, going by the league standings anyways: second spot and a top four overall finish for only the second time in 20 years. Yet along the way, there have been more than a few moments that would make you scratch your head and Saturday evening’s last-gasp loss to Edinburgh is a prime example of this.

In the wind and the rain, Connacht conjured up a mix of brilliant rugby and inexplicable errors for a fifth home defeat in eight outings this season. That’s bottom of the table type form, record-breaking bad in fact, but thankfully their away form has been record-breakingly good for Connacht with five wins from seven outings. That has saved the season for Andy Friend’s side.

In this latest defeat, a Nathan Chamberlain try under the posts and conversion with the last play of the game gave Edinburgh a win that they probably didn’t deserve, especially considering the fact that Connacht had kept them at arms’ length for a final quarter despite being down to 14 men after captain Jarrad Buttler had received a red card for a high tackle.

Edinburgh’s always forthright head coach Richard Cokerell admitted afterwards that this was a steal, but he wasn’t about to downplay the heart and endeavour his squad had shown in the closing stages when all seemed to be lost. For a Connacht side that had mixed youth with experience in terms of selection, this was a chastening experience. They had only themselves to blame.

“We had three opportunities to really shut that game out and we messed them all up, we somehow survived the first two and then the last one proved to be the difference. It’s disappointing because it’s something we’ve improved on recently but tonight it wasn’t good enough and we paid for it,”  noted Friend afterwards.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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