Connacht 11 - Edinburgh 7By Rob Murphy at the Sportsground
The Rabo Direct Pro 12 is a competition that is in dire need of a shake up, a rethink, a lifeline of some sort to take it out of its quagmire. Games like Saturday’s at the Sportsground are a perfect example as to why. Two poor teams, one trying desperately to overcome all sorts of on-field and off-field obstacles, the other with nothing to play for and not a care in the word. Edinburgh were absolutely diabolical here but no one cares back home. There wasn’t a single Scottish journalist present to cover this, it wasn’t on television and was reported in the corner of the Scotsman newspapers as a poor performance in a badly refereed game.
That’s it, wash your hands move on and sure Scottish sides are guaranteed a European spot each season, so they’ve no reason to worry. The English and the French clubs have a point when they say the Pro 12 sides have it easy. They sure do. No pressure, no recriminations and little criticism. It’s a cake walk to the end of the year and another 4 or 5 million sterling of Scottish Rugby Union money down the drain on players who might as well be playing for the Timbuktu Buccaneers for all they care.
The attitude of the visiting player at full time on a perfect evening for rugby at the Sportsground summed it all up. Having spent the last half an hour chasing a four point margin and failing to even get into the Connacht 22. They went into a huddle for a chat, came out of it and did a half hearted warm down, which amounted a jog or more accurately a walk around the pitch and a few stretches. This competition needs life, it needs a new structure for Heineken Cup (or whatever it will be called next year) qualification that would allow only the top six to go through, whatever the country leaving the bottom six play in the tournament below because on the evidence of this, neither of these sides are worth a place in any elite European tournament
At least the Connacht squad still seem to care, as they secured just their third win from 14 games in the first of three very winnable fixtures in as many weeks. The work rate at the end was clear for all to see, even if the execution of basic skills was poor on many occasions. A George Naoupu turnover with four minutes to go highlighted the problems in that area. Craig Ronaldson’s horrendous goal kicking exploits for a second week running was another bad memory from this one. The Naas born fly half moved to centre later in the game and in fairness, couldn’t be questioned for his body on the line commitment during the eight minutes yet he has kicked 2/9 now in the last two weeks and that will work against him.
Connacht were at their worst in the first half and went in having had the wind in their favour, trailing 7-3. A sloppy turnover at the breakdown after a great high take from Robbie Henshaw led to an attack from the visitors around halfway and a bad miss read in defence saw Nick De Luca carve through the gap and set them on their way to Roddy Grant’s try. Connacht’s response came from Ronaldson in front of the posts but he missed three more kicks during the first half, hitting the post from close range and missing two from around the ten metre line close to the touchline on his favoured side. By the half time break, the sense was not good all round. Edinburgh were probably worth their lead at that point (A sentence that isn’t often typed when talking about the side from the Scottish capital these days). By the end of the game though, they weren’t even worth their bonus point and had Connacht kicked on and been more accurate, they wouldn’t have got it either.
The Connacht try came early in the second half and was sparked by a great break on the outside from Eoin Griffin. The tempo in the home side’s play had increased, the heads up attacking endeavour was working in their favour. The try itself came from a lineout catch and some hard work around the fringes with veteran Michael Swift driving over for the score. Ronaldson hit the post with a straight forward conversion. At scrum time, Connacht were on top, they had a huge penalty count in their favour but it was fully justified, the easiest thing in the world for Alan Solomans and Edinburgh to say at this point is that the 13-2 penalty count signifies an imbalance in the decisions of referee Claudio Blessano but one suspects the video will vindicate the underfire Italian referee.
Without Craig Clarke, the Connacht lineout is vulnerable, his absence, due to concussion (it could be for the rest of the season), was the talk of the Clan Terrace and the Galway bars. Connacht’s blockbuster signing is a real long term concern and with IRFU sources undermining the province in national media at every opportunity, the positivity is seeping away. Yet on the they fight. Nathan White, Brett Wilkinson and Matt Healy were all out through injury but their replacements toiled well. Denis Buckley picked up the man of the match award, Mick Kearney was superb in the second row, Andrew Browne had a fine game as did Ah You.
The Italian sides are up next over the coming weeks and to a large degree, they’ve thrown in the towel. Treviso (who Connacht play at home in two weeks time) lost a second string Ospreys 75-6 at the weekend. Humiliation, just days after the club announced its intention to withdraw from the competition. Zebre might have a bit of fire for next Sunday’s clash with Connacht in Parma but they too are cashing out. As for the Pro 12, a new streamlined Heineken Cup would help, a much improved competition structure that doesn’t clash with the Six Nations and includes a more innovative play off system might also help but everybody in the Celtic Unions would prefer to keep their head in the sand on that one and games like this will be brushed under the carpet.
Connacht - R Henshaw, F Carr, E Griffin, D McSharry, T O'Halloran; C Ronaldson, K Marmion; D Buckley, J Harris-Wright, R Ah You (R Loughney 65, Ah You 73); M Kearney, M Swift; A Browne, J Heenan, J Muldoon.
Replacements: D Leader for Henshaw 67 mins; D Parks for McSharry 52 mins; D Heffernan for Harris Wright 51 mins; R Loughney for Ah You 65 mins; Ah You for Loughney 73 mins; A Muldowney for Swift 64 mins; G Nauoupu for Browne 72 mins.
Edinburgh - J Cuthbert; D Fife, N De Luca, A Strauss, T Brown; C Bezuidenhout, G Hart; W Blaauw, J Hilterbrand, W Nel; G Gilchrist, I van der Westhuizen; M Coman, R Grant, C Du Preez.
Replacements: R Ford for Hilterband 36 mins; H Leonard for Bezuidenhout 71 mins; O Atkins for Van der Westhuizen 64 mins; T Leonardi for Coman 72 mins.
Ref – C Blessano (Italy).
