ÔMission impossibleÕ but in-form Connacht men prepared to give it a go

CONNACHT’S ‘mission impossible’ of leapfrogging their Munster rivals over the next few weeks begins with a must-win clash on Saturday (5.45pm) at Musgrave Park, Cork.

Statistically, with five games each remaining, Connacht, who are 11 points behind Munster in the league table, can still catch them to take the third Irish Heineken Cup place on offer.

That’s fanciful thinking, however, and the reality is, Munster would need to implode altogether in the final furlong of the season if the Westerners are to capitalise. Still, there is much to play for. And you can see the logic behind Connacht players in national media this week talking up their chances of overtaking Munster – there’s no point going South with a defeatist attitude.

Connacht Coach Eric Elwood is departing at the end of this season, (as is backs coach Billy Millard, second row Mike McCarthy and others) and the players and management will want to finish on a high.

His replacement, Pat Lam, will ‘shadow’ Elwood from next month – God knows how that’s going to work – and players will be eager to impress the new boss as much as the departing one.

But they’re professionals as well, so anything less than professionalism in the remaining games will be frowned upon by the Connacht faithful, who part with good money to support the team all year and who expect and hope for year-on-year progression.

Connacht has won four of their last five games in the Rabo, (against Dragons, Zebre, Ospreys and Cardiff), including three-in-a-row, which is a fine statistic and they ‘ll want to keep that momentum going.

Incredibly, Elwood has never steered a Connacht side to success away against Munster – in fact, they’ve had a couple of nightmares at Thomond Park in the past few seasons – and so he would enjoy departing on a high; tick another box.

Ireland international Mike McCarthy, who earned his 10th cap against Italy last weekend, is expected to be named in the starting XV that will be announced later today (Friday), as is centre Dave McSharry, who returned to training this week after an injury lay-off.

Michael Swift is definitely out with an knee injury, and Johnny O’Connor and Kyle Tonetti are both struggling with ankle injuries. Paul O’Connell is likely to make his return from injury for Munster.

According to the statisticians, Connacht have only once before won four in a row in the tournament – in September 2002, the year in which Connacht’s only away win in the competition against a fellow Irish province when they defeated Leinster in Donnybrook. Who knows, Connacht might just emulate that feat and keep the heat on in the push for Heineken Cup qualification in their own right.