Friend in bullish mood ahead of big battle with Munster

TWO teams which have made wretched starts to the season will hope to kick-start their campaigns this Friday as Connacht host Munster when they meet in the Sportsground (7.35pm).

The visitors have at least got a win under their belt, flattering to deceive against perennial basement side Zebre in a 21-5 win in Cork last weekend, but Connacht head into the game propping up the table with nothing to show for their three games to date.

All three of those games have been on the road, as work continued on replacing the grass pitch at the Sportsground with a synthetic surface, and that is now ready to be unveiled on Friday for a game which Connacht simply have to win if their league season is not to be declared a write-off before the kids have even gone trick-or-treating.

“We want to be a team that plays fast and this [new synthetic pitch] allows us to be fast. This is a massive investment by Connacht Rugby, and I think a brilliant investment, and let’s hope Friday night is the first of many wins on it,” a bullish Andy Friend, Director of Rugby at Connacht, said in his pre-match press conference this week.

It has been a tough start to the season for Connacht: they were trounced 36-10 in Belfast by Ulster on the opening weekend of the season, and followed that with two defeats in South Africa, losing 38-15 to defending champions, the Stormers, and then going down to a 28-14 defeat to last year’s runners-up, the Bulls.

That has left Connacht as the only side in the table without a point, with all three of their opponents to date picking up the maximum five points on offer. Friend knows that has to change, and fast, and he feels there is no better game than the visit of their southern neighbours to get the season off to a belated start.

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

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