Strong finish puts Connacht in box seat for challenges ahead

Connacht 25

Cheetahs 17

THERE’S no hiding from it. Connacht have stuck their necks above the parapet after this Saturday night come-from-behind victory over the Cheetahs. The win, combined with some other favourable results, allowed the men in green to climb into the play-off places with a four point buffer and just six games to go. There are furlongs to cover and hurdles to jump but with the field as bunched as it is this season, there’s no better place to be sitting.

The PRO14 has one elite side, that’s Conference B leaders Leinster. No question about that thanks to their 13 wins from 15 outings and a whole host of bonus points. It has two other teams on the fringe of the elite, Munster and Glasgow. The stats don’t lie there either, Munster have won 11 game while Glasgow have ten. Below that trio, sit the pack, eight teams across the two conferences on a fairly equal footing when it comes to wins and losses. All around the seven or eight wins mark.

Yet when it comes to Conference A, it’s Connacht that seem to have that extra bit of power in the four way tussle that is now well underway to secure third place and all the riches it brings in terms of a guaranteed Champions Cup qualification spot and a chance to compete for the outright title. Beating one of their rivals and denying them even a losing bonus point was a very fruitful evening’s work, throw in the weekend home defeats for the Ospreys and Cardiff, and you can see why all is rosey right now.

And yet, it all could have been so different. At the 70 minute mark, this game was deadlocked at 17 points apiece and the visitors from Bloemfontein were in the Connacht 22 probing for their fourth try of the game. At that stage, they seemed to be on the verge of a huge result that could have given them five match points and turned the whole competition on its head.

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

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