Woeful Connacht thrashed in Heineken Cup

 Saracens 64

Connacht 6

HUMILIATING, mortifying and embarrassing. Take your pick. Connacht were obliterated in their final Heineken Cup game against Saracens at Allianz Park on Saturday. Over the course of 40 painful minutes in the second half, they looked for all the world like a side that don’t belong in competitions such as this.

The same team that just two weeks ago were matching it with the best of Leinster, looked like they were playing a different sport here. Of course, it wasn’t the same team, four changes in personnel in fact, three tactical and all experienced players replacing in-form young players.

The average age of those three players left out was 21, the average age of those replacing them was 13 years older at 34. The logic couldn’t be more basic. You can’t trust young lads away from home against a major force in Europe, the older guys will know what to do when the pressure is on, they’ll make the right decisions, they’ll calm everyone around them, they’ll lead.

Minute one, and Gavin Duffy at full back makes a searing break – a brief glimpse on this Saturday of the Ballina man at his very best – offloads to Henshaw who is taken down onto the artificial surface inside the 22. Ball back to Dan Parks. Decision time, you’re in behind the home defence, you’re away from home to the best of England, it’s the first minute, what do you do? Kick it away, apparently.

The crossfield kick from the 63 time capped, 34-year-old Scottish international was optimistic at best, poorly executed and bizarrely planned at worst. The tone was well and truly set there and then. Connacht had signified to the home side that they wouldn’t be able and/or interested in retaining possession through phases even if they did have the field position.

That was a snapshot of what the changes had brought. Over the first 40 minutes, Connacht toiled and battled and led twice and won penalties at scrum time and set up platforms by winning primary ball, but they didn’t have the composure, the belief, the leadership, to make any use of it.

They fell behind for a third time on 23 minutes and the multi-million sterling collection of superb talent from around the world never looked back, adding a try from David Strettle on 27 minutes – after Parks provided them with an opportunity of a quick lineout by not finding a deep clearance to touch – to lead 13-6.

Full report in this week’s Connacht Tribune