Tough week on Connacht fails to get any better in Coventry

Inside Track with John McIntyre

IT was always going to be a big ask for Connacht to get something from their away European Champions Cup clash against in-form Wasps last Sunday, but in a week where the camp must have been rocked to the core by Pat Lam’s revelation that he would be standing down as Head Coach at the end of the season, the Westerners’ prospects of upsetting the odds had to compromised even further.

Though the Connacht squad live and work in a professional environment, it can’t have been easy for John Muldoon and company to stay focused on the trip to Coventry given the massive fallout and publicity over Lam’s shock decision. At best, it was a challenging and emotional week, and it is to the players’ credit that they didn’t look a distracted outfit against Wasps in the Ricoh Arena.

In fact, with 60 minutes gone on the clock, Connacht had a great chance to equalise but, unfortunately, Jack Carty was narrowly wide from a relatively routine penalty and from there to the finish, Wasps put the squeeze on. Carty, whose overall conversion rate is below average this season, was also off-target with a similar effort in the opening half.

In a match of such tight margins over the first hour of action, those misses were real body blows. Connacht had enjoyed the lion’s share of possession and territory during that period, but simply didn’t make it count despite a terrific try from the outstanding Kieran Marmion – following a great off-load from Muldoon – and an opportunist effort from reserve Rory Parata after he intercepted a loose loose from Wasps out half Jimmy Gopperth.

Connacht were given their English Premiership hosts no shortage of grief in the scrums, but their line outs were a disaster area in the opening 20 minutes. It prevented them from exploiting some typically crisp handling as they carried the fight to Wasps. Overall, the visitors just weren’t clinical enough when they were in the opposition 22, but injuries in their back division was also a big mitigating factor.

Australian Kurtley Beale, on his debut for the club, may have given the Wasps the lead in the seventh minute when he managed to spin out of Stacey Ili’s tackle, but Connacht didn’t blink and they were still bang in the contest when only trailing 13-10 at the break. However, their hopes suffered a big blow when the influential Nathan Hughes crashed over for a try early in the second-half, with Gopperth’s conversion leaving ten points between the teams.

Wasps were upping the ante but were immediately knocked back on the heels with Parata’s intercept try. The game was back in the melting pot, but the closing 20 minutes proved tough on Connacht. With injuries forcing the retirements of Tiernan O’Halloran, Cian Kelleher and Ili, the resulting disruption did them no favours as the pressure mounted from the hosts. It resulted in tries from the Joe Launchbury, who had earlier forced a couple of vital turnovers, and winger Josh Bassett in securing a bonus point 32-17.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.