Chance for Connacht to break new ground in big clash with Leicester Tigers
CONNACHT are on the verge of a little bit of history on Saturday in the European Champions Cup – but they have the not insignificant hurdle of Leicester Tigers to overcome at the Sportsground in order to take care of business (3.15pm).
Jack Carty’s last-minute drop goal at Welford Road in the first meeting between the sides before Christmas secured a losing bonus point which means that, should Connacht overcome the English Premiership leaders in the reverse fixture this weekend, they will almost certainly qualify for the knockout stages of Europe’s elite club competition for the first time in the province’s history.
The new-look Champions Cup is made up of two pools of 12 teams, with the top eight in each pool qualifying for the last 16 of the competition. Connacht sit in sixth place in Pool B on six points, four ahead of Wasps, Stade Francais, and Scarlets, in a pool propped-up by pointless Cardiff.
“I am not going to say it is season defining,” Connacht head coach, Andy Friend, said this week. “If we win, it will be a massive boost for what it is we want to achieve which is to get out of the pool stages and into knockout.
“If we are not to win, we will see how the game unfolds and what areas it did not happen in, but we are of the belief we can win this game, that is our intention, to go and win it, and if we do, we will deal with whatever comes after that.”
Connacht ran the Tigers close when they sides met in the English East Midlands on December 19, and for 50 minutes or so they looked set to inflict a first defeat of the season on Steve Borthwick’s side when a Carty penalty pushed them 20-12 ahead.
However, the home side changed their entire front row in the 50th minute, and they went on to bully and bash Connacht, running in two converted tries and adding a penalty, before Carty landed that late drop-goal to secure a losing bonus point which was the minimum that Connacht deserved from the game.
“We have worked really hard with the pack since that game, some really good learns, it is now up to us to deliver that on Saturday.
“We have got to meet fire with fire and I think we have the pack to do that, and if we can get parity in our set piece, I think we are going to have enough there that is going to make life difficult for them,” said Friend.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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