Growing mood of confidence at Connacht ahead of Saturday’s visit of Ospreys

By John Ivory

The mood around Connacht Rugby presently is one of positivity. Despite a growing injury list – Eoghan Masterson is ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury – the Sportsground is a happy place to be.

Head coach Pat Lam was relaxed as he spoke to the media on Tuesday after a six-try win away to Zebre, and he pointed to the confidence that is flowing through his side.

He’s also hopeful his charges can learn from the mistakes they made against the Italian side and continue their winning run against the Ospreys on Saturday (7pm).

“We’ve gone four games on the trot [in all competitions] winning with five bonus points and there’s a lot of belief in the way we play and there’s a confidence in the way we play.

“There’s a lot of rough edges which is what the training week is about, but certainly from a tactical point of view we took a lot from that game over the weekend that hopefully we can implement this week.

“Ospreys have won two from two since we’ve been back as well and they are desperate to catch up so it’s a massive, massive game this week.”

The “rough edges” Lam alluded to are mostly in defence and the four tries they conceded to Zebre were all avoidable in his opinion. The solution – more running.

By “ramping up the running volume”, Lam believes his side will be able to stand the heat as the ground hardens for their final seven Pro12 games.

“There’s no doubt you’re going to make mistakes because you get put under pressure, it’s about how we react and that’s where we were slow to get back into our defensive shape.

“Zebre didn’t do what they normally did. When they got the ball, they ran it back at us. It was a great learning for us and it just alters our training and our preparation for the next part of the season.”

The positives coming out of the bonus-point win in Parma were the six tries scored and a final tally of 51 points –the most Zebre have shipped at home this year.

Moreover, Lam couldn’t be happier for the five Connacht players who are involved with Joe Schmidt’s Ireland squad. Ultan Dillane could be in contention for his first involvement this weekend and Lam believes he is ready for the task.

“The most satisfying thing is when you sit and talk to the head coach, Joe, and you talk through what we see day in, day out, and where Ultan’s development can go.

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