Wretched second-half display sees Connacht leave RDS empty-handed

Date Published: {J}

Leinster 30

Connacht 20

Rob Murphy

For five and half games this season, Eric Elwood’s Connacht delivered everything that could have been asked of them but for 40 minutes on Saturday evening, they simply stunk.

Leinster ran up a total of 22 unanswered points in the second half as Connacht were guilty of poor discipline and no direction. Whether that has undone a lot of the positives from wins over Treviso, Scarlets and Dragons along with bonus points from trips to Edinburgh and the Ospreys is for time to tell.

With the Wold Cup winding up, this league will have a totally different landscape. If you’re squeamish it might be best to stop reading now, because what comes next is not pretty.

What is clear is that this Connacht side won’t have it as easy as they have done in the past six weeks where only three wins have been secured. A full strength Cardiff at home on October 29 is followed by a trip to Ulster before the Heineken Cup kicks into gear.

In all, Connacht will face 13 straight weeks of action, including six European pool games against the cream of the crop. A paper-thin squad will be tested to the limit and key players remaining injury free is imperative. The likes of George Naoupu at 8 and Miah Nikora at 10 are badly missed at the moment.

At half time at a half full RDS on Saturday all seemed well. Ray Ofisa and Brian Tuohy had scored twice in a brilliant second quarter response to Devon Toner’s early try, which was inspired by some excellent back play from Isa Nacewa and Eoin O’Malley.

One moment towards the end of the half brilliantly encapsulated everything that was positive about Connacht’s attitude. It came in a three minute spell of relentless defence from Elwood’s charges, every ruck was contested and as Leinster scrambled clear, the next receiver was enveloped.

The ferociously driven Johnny O’Connor led the charge making tackle after tackle; John Muldoon burst through rucks; Ray Ofisa’s influence was huge as well as he forced some massive turnovers; and in this late cameo they, along with Brett Wilkinson, Adrian Flavin et al, demonstrated their intense focus on securing the victory.

Saturday’s mitigating factors were injuries. Elwood didn’t champion the excuses but he couldn’t but refer to the fact that key personnel were missing and even within the game players who were having significant impacts on proceedings like Ofisa and Flavin were all forced off.

So what can Connacht achieve in the forthcoming mammoth run of 13 games? Four wins even? Well there is little point of suggesting goals without first giving what we might call ‘a state of the province address’. More simply than that, maybe we should just outline what Elwood’s likely starting 15 at the Stoop for their opening Heineken Cup game might be if there were no injuries.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.