Weakened Connacht take a pounding

Date Published: 30-Dec-2009

THIS was some wake up call. Munster pounded the heretofore high-flying Connacht into submission on St Stephen’s Day at Thomond Park and, in truth, based on stats in the areas of territory, possession, discipline and the basic errors, the scoreline could and probably should have broken 60.

The Connacht squad will look to put this behind them as quickly as possible ahead of Saturday’s tussle with Leinster at the Sportsground, but the performance can’t be simply swept under the carpet either.

Both sides may have made nine changes and Connacht were always going to be at bigger disadvantage in that regard but key players, big name players, produced dreadful performances on Saturday and that is a major concern.

This was the first time all season that the Connacht management decided to rest key players in one big swoop for a big game.

It is by now universally acknowledged that last season’s ‘targeting games’ policy failed miserably and played a direct role in turning a promising campaign into an abject failure. Half century drubbings by Cardiff and Ulster plus an unforgettably miserable 75 point pelting by London Irish had a detrimental affect on squad morale and momentum during the campaign.

This season Michael Bradley and his team have abandoned that approach but with an eight game run in as many weeks there was always going to be a need for changes in one game during this stretch and Thomond was the obvious choice.

Still though, Connacht came in with a strong side, none of the replacements seemed risky and all were capable of making a case for regular starts ,yet what is now abundantly clear is that the westerners really can’t veer too far away from their first choice 15 without suffering a dramatic drop in performance.

That, however, is only half the tale as what will be more worrying for the brains trust in the Connacht camp is the hugely disappointing displays from the likes of George Naoupu, Niva Ta’Auso, Adrian Flavin, Conor O’Loughlin, Miah Nikora, Bernie Upton and Mike McComish.

Others like Johnny O’Connor and Keith Matthews were well short of their best but are only back from injury while bar Brett Wilkinson, Jamie Hagen and replacements Ronan Loughney, the debuting Dermot Murphy and, of course, Ian Keatley, no one played close to their best.

There was a collective failure made worse by some hopeless individual efforts.

Munster were ruthless in the first half hour and built up a 20 point lead with little fuss. Ronan O’Gara’s boot was laser-like, while Ian Dowling and the impressive Damian Varley scored tries.

Both tries, however, came from basic errors from Niva Ta’auso and Geroge Naoupu. Two of Connacht’s marquee stars who had been on top form in the previous two outings. Ta’auso’s attempted tackle on Tom Gleeson 16 minutes into the contest was not far off embarrassing and minutes later his fumble when a simple pick off the ground would have led to a try for Connacht was calamitous.

That mistake led to Dowling’s try, but Naoupu was on an even worse run. The former Highlanders number 8 gave away three sloppy penalties in the opening quarter, including one daft transgression at a ruck on Peter Stringer.

To compound matters, his lazy attempt at a shovel pass from the base of a scrum led to Varley’s try in the corner on 25 minutes which all but finished of the game as a contest. Munster won a penalty, kicked to the corner and drove over.

This was a Munster side with nine rested front liners. Young Billy Holland is just 24 and in the blindside flanker role, he completely dominated Naoupu and overshadowed the struggling Mike McComish throughout the contest.

To make matters worse, big kiwi number 8 Nick Williams was made to look class by the Connacht back row throughout.

Munster eased off either side of half time and Connacht did defend well in that period. There cause was helped considerably by the fact that Ian Keatley was brought into the fray much earlier than would have been planned as a result of Miah Nikora’s injury.

Nikora is young and learning but can Connacht really afford the time and patience in developing an expensive young talent from the Southern Hemisphere? His goal kicking has been horrible to date and he was anonymous on Saturday. One cameo in the 16 minute saw him hiding in a ruck when he was needed in the stand off role.

The middle period of the contest was encouraging. The management gave runs to local up and coming players Ronan Loughney and Dermot Murphy and they both grasped their chance well. Murphy in particular on his debut, looked comfortable and confident.

Yet in the end, Munster were given all the time and space they needed to get further tries from Paul Warwick and Jean De Villers to secure the bonus point. They would love to be playing sides like this Connacht XV every week in their new home with bonus points being handed out so easily.

The good news for Connacht is twofold. First of all, last year they would have capitulated and lost by 60 plus points. They didn’t and that is a small sign of progress.

Secondly the next three games are at home to Leinster, Dragons and Montpellier. All are winnable and after this display, it’s going to take a clean sweep to really get the belief train back on track.

The return of seven frontliners should hopefully help the men in green get back on track, but some key players need to make amends for this poor display for that to happen.