It’s not perfect but Connacht men still hitting their targets

Southern Kings 12

Rob Murphy at the Sportsground

IN the cold light of a Monday morning, this performance won’t have looked so bad. The result was perfect, four tries and a win securing the maximum of five points from a home fixture against the weaker of South Africa’s two teams in this competition. The outcome was a jump in places within the conference from fourth to second where they sit one point behind the next PRO14 visitors to the Sportsground . . . Munster.

So it is steady as she goes for Connacht in two competitions. The ship remains relatively unscathed after three months of full-on action, the objectives still very much within range. A home play-off game requires a second place finish in the PRO14, a quarter final place in the Champions Cup required one win from the opening two rounds, and both of those targets remain very possible. The clouds are gathering, however, and no one is quite sure what these next seven weeks might bring.

This was an odd fixture, one weekend of PRO14 action squeezed into a run of four Champions Cup games. The mindset was always going to be difficult, injured and rested players were returning and only the most steely minded could have avoided thinking a bit about this weekend’s trip to Gloucester, once the fourth try was scored early in the second half. The job was all but done at that point, focus suffered a little.

Perhaps, that’s why there was a sense of frustration afterwards but it was more a case of the errors. Connacht lost four lineouts from 17 at key points, turned over the ball 14 times and were just unable to produce anything more than flashes of what they are capable of producing. One stat sums it up, this was a bonus point home win where they had to make more tackles over the course of the game than their opponents. That doesn’t happen often.

Yet back to the cold light of day, this was a well negotiated challenge. No injuries were picked up, the crowd arrived happy with the news that Bundee Aki had signed his new record-breaking, and era defining, contract to stay in the West of Ireland and they left the ground happy in the knowledge that their team are right on the coattails of Munster in this competition with plenty of points in the bank.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

Get the Connacht Tribune Live app

The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.