High flying Connacht men face toughest test of season so far against Munster

The season-proper starts now for Connacht. The first interprovincial of the year brings with it a first true measure of where this squad is ‘at’.

Is Connacht’s position at the summit of the Guinness Pro 12 a true reflection of their exploits since September, or is it an inflated standing, helped by their opponents’ weakened squads due to World Cup duties?

That latter point appears to be lost on some, in all the euphoric talk of a record start to the season. Judging by the vibes coming from the Sportsground ahead of this derby, at least the players and management aren’t getting carried away. Table positions now matter little come April if they’ve slipped back into mid-division. And Munster, particularly at Thomond Park, has a knack of dragging you back to earth.

This Saturday in Limerick (kick-off 5.15pm) is a real litmus test for Pat Lam’s men. In fairness, they jumped every hurdle so far, stumbling only at one: Connacht has won eight of the nine games (six league and two cup wins) they have played, and even in the loss to Glasgow away, they managed to scrape a losing bonus and a try bonus.

But this weekend is different. This is a top-of-the-table clash in a venue that Connacht hasn’t tasted success since 1986.

The aura that surrounded Munster teams over the past decade may be gone but they’re still a grisly outfit that pack a punch up-front and Connacht will have to win the ferocious forwards battle if they are to have any hope of an upset.

Munster look down their noses on Connacht and will garner enormous pleasure from beating the ‘other province’ and ‘putting them back in their box’.

As John Muldoon put it, Thomond has been a graveyard for Connacht. The vast majority of the current squad weren’t born when the westerners sprung a surprise down South almost 30 years ago and the handful that were, scarcely remember it: Fionn Carr and Ronan Loughney were still crawling, and the likes of Muldoon, Nathan White and George Naoupu were in nappies.

Connacht have made big strides in recent seasons but if they are to make the breakthrough this weekend they will need to seriously improve on the Brive display. Munster’s forwards will be licking their lips looking at the footage of the French team’s opening try Friday night.

Connacht’s scrambling defence just about recovered to bundle a Brive back into touch five metres short but Kieran Marion faffed about with the ball and failed to clear his lines from the lineout, which resulted in an attacking throw-in. From there, Brive’s pack steamrolled over with such consummate ease. It was like a 4×4 jeep driving over a card-board box. No contest.

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