Connacht weather all kinds of storms to make it five home wins on bounce

Connacht 11Aironi 6

Rob Murphy

This clash will probably live long in the memory of those who turned up. Not for good reasons though. It’ll be one of those ‘I was there when it was snowing in March, we couldn’t feel our toes and we stood through a dour 80 minutes against Aironi’.

It should be noted that even the most grumpy Connacht fans would have been content with this result, it wasn’t a night for bonus points and the expected challenge from Aironi was always going to be dogged and strong so four points, a sixth win in seven games and another jump in the league standings to seventh will have kept them happy.

Connacht’s highest ever Magners League finish since the beginning of the league format in 2003 was 9th. Their target this season is to beat that. After six years in the bottom two, holding seventh at this stage of the campaign is a fine achievement for Eric Elwood and his crew but there is still plenty of work to be done yet.

The pressure was on his young side going into this encounter. Aironi have made great strides of late under their new coach, picking up a losing bonus in Leinster and pushing Ulster close in Ravenhill last week. They stayed in Ballinasloe for the week and were targeting a first away win on Friday. They came close fighting back late on and keeping everyone on their frozen toes.

The first half was scrappy, Ian Keatley was electric in open play but he had left the kicking boots in the dressing room missing three from four kicks at goal. His 16th minute penalty looked like being the sole score of the first half until late on. The out half orchestrated a superb score linking with Troy Nathan and looping to take the pass again before throwing a dummy and sliding over.

That gave Connacht a two score lead and when Keatley notched a penalty from half way early in the second half, the men in green looked ready to push on. However the tired legs and limbs which has been flagged in the build up, took their toll in the final 20 minutes as a hectic recent schedule told.

Connacht struggled as Aironi rang the changes and looked fresher to produce a storming finish. In that scenario the decision to use just two replacements was surprising but luckily it didn’t prove costly. 

For more, read this week's Connacht Sentinel.