Six players on International squad leaves Connacht without top men for Cardiff

FOR too long, the very idea that a Connacht player would get a call-up to the Ireland squad was a novelty. Now, it’s almost become commonplace.

When five Connacht men (Bundee Aki, Ultan Dillane and uncapped Caolin Blade, Jack Carty and Tom Farrell) were included in Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt’s Six Nations’ training squad in Portugal, the response was almost one of disappointment at others having been left out.

A sixth, Quinn Roux, subsequently got a call-up, but there were a handful of other Westerners who must have just been pipped for selection.

They now face this Saturday’s away match with Cardiff (5.15pm) – a massive game in the context of league position in Conference A – without their top men. Connacht are victims of their own success; a scenario the other provinces became accustomed to long ago.

It wasn’t like that in Nigel Carolan’s playing days but he says it’s a good complaint to have. And the attack coach reckons the province now has the strength in depth to cope with big-name absentees.

“We’ve found ourselves in that funny state of flux where we’ve been successful on the pitch. What we want is as many guys getting international recognition as we can – that’s part of our own grassroots to green shirts vision – and when those guys get that recognition, they’re taken from us for a period of time, where they need to be managed.

“One of the factors that’s contributed to the success that we’ve had is very much the competition that we’ve had in the squad and our ability to rotate the squad. Young guys are getting the opportunity. We feel that when someone is away, we’ve built up good depth across a number of positions and we feel very comfortable that whoever plays they can slot into the game plan quite seamlessly,” said Carolan.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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