Review by Pat CarrPat Lam’s words probably painted the picture of this game with his quote “I have never been on a penalty county like that".
Whilst Connacht’s demise it has to be said had a lot to do with the referee’s penalty count, to scapegoat the referee camouflages the basic tenets of rugby which Connacht failed to execute.
Let’s get the issue of the referee out of the way first and a penalty count of a mammoth 18-44 in favour of the home side! Mr Blessano is an inexperienced Italian referee with only three previous games officiating in the Rabo. He appeared to be completely out of his depth at this level and too easily succumbed to home side favouritism. Whilst one abhors pointing the finger at the referee it wouldn’t have been so bad if the referee not been so disproportionately extreme in favour of the home side. For example, how frustrated must both Mr Faloon and Mr Harris Wright have been– twice in the first half both had got over the ball whilst supporting their own body weight and contesting the breakdown legitimately yet there was no sign of penalties coming for Cardiff holding on.
Other instances were Copeland’s blatant offside when Connacht were in a favourable attacking position. Mr Blessano must also have been counting the seconds at the speed of light when penalising Connacht for holding on – twice in the first half I might add when Connacht were in most favorable attacking positions. Again, he also penalised Tiernan O’Halloran for not coming back in through the channel when rejoining a ruck again another very harsh call. Even the scrums in the second half look liked guesswork, Wilko clearly binding correctly under the new rules but yet getting penalised for same which begs the question did Mr Blessano get the new updated rulebook?!
Of course it wasn’t entirely the referee’s fault. The brutal conditions were another factor if truth be said. Unforced and uncharacteristic errors played a part. The new BOD in the making (no pressure there Mr Henshaw) even dropped a ball and then some which detracted from his first proper outing at number 13 where he was unfortunate not to get on the end of a few expansive attacking moves. The wet conditions did not allow Connacht’s quick evasive backline to cut loose easily despite the significant territorial advantage they had secured. Also there was a little variety in the line-out with Mr Muldoon stepping up to take some responsibility off big George.
Cardiff it has to be send relied to much on young fly-half Rhys Patchell who kicked all of Cardiff's points and even added a tasty drop goal to boot. He looks one to watch for the future, a youngster with a big boot, solid tackler and quite a line breaker to boot.
After the narrow defeat the week before away to Glasgow they were anxious to get points on the board. With the conditions as they were the game was to be won in the trenches. The big units in the Cardiff back-row Copeland, Navidi and Pretorius duly delivered and has to be said outplayed their counterparts. Connacht had gotten off to a great side, Healy coming in off his wing taking an opportunistic try running straight through a ruck and in and under the posts with an easy conversion for Parks. Whilst Connacht dominated the opening exchanges, the seven point lead didn’t last long. Two penalties by Patchell kept the scoreboard ticking over before the drop goal put Cardiff 9-6 ahead before Cardiff themselves conceded a penalty which Parks coolly converted.
The Blues' dominance around the ruck area in the second half nullified Connacht’s scoring ability and they didn’t score at all in the second half. Cardiff managed a further three penalties but could not get over the whitewash, with Connacht’s defence comfortably resolute. The penalty machine of Mr Blessano continued culminating in Rodney Ah You’s sin-binning at scrum time in the last quarter which effectively killed the game off as a contest.
One feels that this is an away game that Connacht should have won, but Matt Healy’s second try in the first two games, Marmion’s continued excellence, Ronaldson’s second impressive cameo for Dan and Henshaw’s exposure to the number 13 slot are all reasons for optimism. Ulster who have lost the first two games are up next at home, and cue this is where the ‘Craig Clarke’ show begins.