No end of season joy for Connacht as Munster prove too strong again

Date Published: 09-May-2011

Munster 22

Connacht 6

Rob Murphy

AT full time in this Magners League encounter on Friday evening, Connacht seemed as far away from beating Munster in their sacred home as ever.

Yet while the basic errors in possession, struggles at the breakdown and losses in the lineouts in this final game are crucial to answering why the visitors were brushed aside, they are a little too game specific to be relevant at this point. This is more of a where are we now situation.

Connacht have made progress this season, lots of it. In terms of points on the board, position in the table, tries score, tries conceded, young indigenous players blooded and even attendances at the still hopelessly outdated Sportsground. That should have the Connacht rugby folk beaming and bouncing on their toes. Yet, they’re not, for some reason everyone feels a bit flat.

It might be because of this mass exodus of key players. Eric Elwood’s first season is coming to a close, progress has been made and now he has to rebuild, but if Connacht can find the two key signings at tighthead and 12 then it will be hard to argue that next year’s squad would not at least have the potential to bring things forward.

The missing sense of triumph might simply be down to the fact that after a run of six wins on the bounce, four of the last five games were lost. It might also be because the gap between Connacht and the other provinces continues to grow or maybe simply because there is a clear reality that something more dramatic than a long term commitment from HQ is needed for the next step to be made.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.