Inconsistent Connacht men slip up badly on home turf

Connacht 14

Scarlets 20

Rob Murphy at the Sportsground

CONNACHT stormed to the top of the inconsistency table on Sunday with a performance so at odds with what they produced on their previous outing that it felt like a new team, a different world. Their propensity to go from magic to mediocre from one game to the next has supporters scratching their heads but more notably, it has the team themselves wholly perplexed.

The demeanour of Andy Friend and Paul Boyle in the post game press conference and the look on the face of Paddy McAllister as he trudged off the field told a tale of befuddlement. There was no hiding in the rain and the wind at the Sportsground on Saturday night, no excuses either, the visiting Scarlets had arrived in town without a dozen front liners and with no form to speak. Yet they left a stormy Galway with a valuable victory.

In one short and disrupted season, Connacht have managed to produce two headline grabbing victories over Glasgow and Edinburgh and two of their worst performances in years against Cardiff and now here against the Scarlets. Just when you think you have a handle on how they are shaping up for season ahead, they pull out the spanner and head straight for the works.

Afterwards, Friend candidly admitted that he had rarely seen his side “out enthused” in the way that they were before half-time. He was right to contrast that with a second half improvement. There is no doubting that had they shown even a tiny inkling of composure in attack during the wind assisted second half, they would have won this game.

However, in a second half of constant pressure, Connacht lost control of the ball going over the try line on three separate occasions on an evening of mishaps and calamity, so even the improved energy levels weren’t enough against a spirited and fired up Scarlets side that had notched two brilliant first half tries to lead by six at the break, and added a counter attacking third after half time that proved critical.

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

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