Moment of truth has arrived for Connacht

Date Published: 28-Apr-2010

UP to a few days ago, Connacht were nearly looking banker material to finally clinch a coveted place in the Heineken Cup. They had three chances of making that giant leap forward, but after the weekend action in the Magners League, it’s arguable that the best opportunity of all has already slipped through their fingers.

True, Connacht’s largely second string outfit were always facing an uphill battle away to Scarlets last Sunday, but nobody envisaged that they would be beaten off the park in such demoralising fashion by their previously struggling Welsh hosts. There is no arguing with a 58-10 scoreline as they conceded a whopping nine tries in a poor display.

Naturally, the Connacht management had no option but to send over a weakened team to Wales after their heroic energy-sapping efforts against both Munster and Leinster at the Sportsground over the previous week, but Michael Bradley and Eric Elwood must still have been bitterly disappointed at the extent of the collapse against the Scarlets, who had two tries each from prop Ryhs Thomas and Regan king.

To make matters worse, Ulster produced a stunning effort away to Edinburgh on the same day. Inspired by second-half replacement, Ian Humphreys, they left their recent struggles far behind in recording a shock bonus point 37 to 25 victory. The net result is that Ulster are now safe and Connacht can’t now overhaul them in next week’s final round of the Magners League.

We has all assumed that this fixture in Ravenhill would be a ‘winner take all’ clash, but even were Connacht to achieve a bonus point victory now, it still wouldn’t be enough due to Ulster’s vastly superior scoring difference. Instead, that game has now become a dead rubber. The Northern men have managed to pull themselves together just in time after several abject efforts.

Of course, regardless of Connacht’s ultimate fortunes in the Amlin Cup, John Muldoon and his team-mates could still bridge the divide to big-time European rugby if either Leinster or Munster were to win the Heineken Cup. That prospect can’t be ruled out, of course, but both Irish provinces face difficult away semi-finals against French opposition this weekend.

This all brings us back to Friday’s Amlin Cup semi-final against a star-studded Toulon outfit at the Sportsground. Having reached this stage of the competition unbeaten, Connacht will be in mood to hand out any favours to Jonny Wilkinson and company, but this fixture – on paper, at least – represents a marked step up class for the home team compared to any opposition they have faced in the competition so far.

Though the result against Scarlets is hardly the ideal backdrop to the Amlin Cup semi-final, Connacht have shown many times in the past an admirable capacity to bounce back from heavy losses and I have no doubt that they will front up to Toulon in the most heroic manner possible. A capacity crowd of around 8,000 is expected to descend on College Road for what promises to be a great sporting occasion and their vocal encouragement could help to unnerve the French.

Since Connacht have gone professional, this season surely represents their greatest level of consistency. An extended run in Europe, some rollicking wins and being their most competitive ever in the Magners League is no bad final year legacy for Michael Bradley to leave behind him, but the players want more. They have Heineken Cup rugby in their sights and are no longer consoled by moral victories.

It’s probably going to take this Connacht squad’s best ever performance to floor Toulon on Friday, but it’s not hard to envisage the likes of Muldoon, Johnny O’Connor, Gavin Duffy and Fionn Carr stretching every sinew in their body in trying to achieve what would be the Westerners’ greatest ever victory. It’s not beyond them either. The best of luck to them all.