Connacht seek to end bad run against Scots

Date Published: {J}

Dara Bradley

IT’S like settling down to a starter when all you really want to do is tuck straight into the main course, with one eye on the prize of desert.The mouth-watering European Challenge Cup tie with Bourgoin in eight days must be Connacht’s priority – a chance of qualifying for the last four of the competition the ‘sweet treat’ dangling in front of them – but Michael Bradley’s men must ‘go through the motions’ nd munch through the starter that is Edinburgh tonight.

It may be a distraction but it’s a tasty one all the same and Connacht is expecting a large home crowd at the Sportsground this Good Friday (6pm) as the province seeks to keep the momentum going ahead of their season defining home quarter-final cup decider Saturday week (1pm).

Plans to open the bars at the Sportsground, meaning it would have been one of the only places in the city where alcohol could be legally purchased on Good Friday, have been scuppered by a ‘higher power’ than the Connacht Branch, but the spirits of the supporters should be high if Connacht can match the levels of intensity shown against Leinster last weekend.

The spirits of the players on the field should be soaring, too, given Connacht’s decent recent run of top class performances against Irish, Welsh and Scottish heavyweights in the completion.

The two sides also met on Good Friday two seasons ago with Edinburgh securing a 38-8 home victory and that result is unlikely to be reversed this weekend given that the Scots are pushing for top spot in the Magners League and travel with a strong squad.

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.