Improved Connacht give hint of promise

Date Published: 03-Nov-2009

A HINT of promise surrounds Connacht as they head into their mid season break. No one is getting carried away but Friday’s fully deserved home win has at least kept the wheels on the tracks in the Magners League which might give them the platform to make a real push on the European front.

Let’s take stock. Connacht are bottom of the Magners League, but they are just one point behind Cardiff and two behind Llanelli so they are still in touch. The westerners top their admittedly weak Challenge Cup pool, so job done there, and all in all they have some sort of a foundation for the next batch of action which starts away to Cardiff on the first Sunday in December. As mercies go, it’s small but we’ll take it.

Friday offered more than simply just a lifeline, though, it offered a brief glimpse of the possibility of better days ahead. The all round commanding display from the Connacht pack, the poise and creativity of the half back pairing – Frank Murphy and Ian Keatley were at their very best – suggests that there has been a shift in fortunes and there is potential for more although back to back displays are needed.

From a very early point on Friday, one thing was clear. Connacht were the better side and were more than capable of winning. However, three specific home games were lost last year in identical circumstances, one of them to the Scarlets when a 14 point lead had been built up – so the home fans in the 1,756 crowd were not about to get carried away.

The signs were clear however. The Scarlets broke in midfield early on and Keith Matthews scrambled back to make a key tackle having missed his man initially. That was it for nervy moments as Connacht dug in and slowly began to assert themselves. From that point forward there really seemed to be just one team in it.

The 16-10 scoreline doesn’t do the performance justice. Connacht were 13-0 up after 50 minutes and cruising and it is likely that the Scarlets wouldn’t have even registered a score had referee Graham Knox not intervened to bizarrely sin bin Brett Wilkinson for a scrum infringement despite Connacht’s complete dominance in the set piece.

The best way to sum up Connacht’s superiority is to go down through the 15 starters and four replacements and think who delivered top drawer performances. There isn’t a player who fell short of 100% and it all told in the end. People can talk about budgets until the cows come home but the reality is that the current crop are capable of a mid-table finish in this league and games like this are the proof.

For more see page 28 of this week’s Sentinel