Connacht suffer a mauling at hands of driven Leinster

Leinster 50

Rob Murphy at the Sportsground

A gut punch in a season full of them. Leinster came to Galway in no mood for nonsense and reacted to a messy start with the kind of controlled rage that has come to define this fixture in Galway over the last four years.

This was power and precision crushing pluck and passion and it was hard not to look away after Cian Kelleher cantered home for the Dublin based side’s fifth first half try to rub salt in the many wounds Connacht had suffered to that point.

Moan all you like about the budgets and the schools system and the sheer size of the Leinster squad, they made ten changes to the side that had lost comprehensively in La Rochelle a week previously, resting numerous front liners and yet could still field a side packed full of internationals and 2021 British and Irish Lions. That’s a fine excuse for the latest mess Connacht find themselves in, but it doesn’t really go to explain the manner of the first half implosion here.

Let’s work through some facts. They won’t make for happy reading so let’s at least reassure you that further down towards the end, there are some positives to be rescued from this outing, players who continue to make good progress and reasons to be hopeful. To get to that point though we need to face up to the harsh reality of this defeat.

Connacht actually led early in this game. In the opening 15 minutes they converted three penalties through the boot of Conor Fitzgerald and notched an opportune try from Caolin Blade. They were lively and aggressive and had Leinster at sixes and sevens for what in hindsight seems to have been only a few minutes, but at the time felt like the beginnings of another big effort akin to the previous outing when Andy Friend’s side beat Ulster in Ravenhill at the end of last month.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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