Connacht’s away nightmare shows no sign of ending

A NEW approach is needed for Connacht’s away games and the first step for the brains trust in charge of Connacht rugby would be to give Brian Kerr a call to see how he mentally prepares his squad of plucky minnows for away trips. Connacht are becoming the Faroe Islands of professional rugby in this part of the world. Hopelessly outclassed time and again on their travels but brave and fearless to the end at home, be it in defeat or the odd victory.Edinburgh ran riot against Connacht in the second half after an even opening 40 minutes where the men in green had plenty of possession but never looked like scoring a try. The home side had pounced twice to lead by 20-6. From the restart the Scots steamrolled their hapless opponents with six more tries in a display that Connacht coach Michael Bradley honestly called 'embarrassing’. It was, but we are getting used to it at this stage. It's time everyone just accepted that keeping the score down on these trips is the only realistic target. In the past year Northampton and Llanelli have put 40 points on them, Ulster and Cardiff have managed 50, Edinburgh broke 60 and London Irish managed 70 points. All in 12 months. A target of conceding less than 30 for their trip to Newport next month should be all this squad speaks of in the build up.Edinburgh are probably 20 points a better team than Connacht at the moment, they have class throughout their ranks and their starting line up includes the back bone of the Scottish national side. This was their ninth straight win and they are the league's in-form side, but they are no more than 20 points better and that is a huge difference on its own at any rate.