Red-letter night for Connacht rugby to live long in memory

Michael Glynn

IT’S been some journey for Connacht. Ninety eight games in the shadowlands of European rugby before finally emerging into the spotlight and the glamour of a David v Goliath confrontation that, if not quite enrapturing the nation, certainly attracted more spectators to a newly-resplendent Sportsground for one sitting than had passed through its turnstiles in many a full season.

One doesn’t need to be hoary and grey to remember the proverbial two men and a dog constituting the crowd at Connacht matches and, even until quite recently, an attendance that reached four figures was worthy of special note. If Connacht embraced professionalism and European rugby with enthusiasm from the outset in 1996, albeit in the secondary tier, the same could not be said of the potential fan base which remained largely indifferent to their impressive success ratio and occasional giant-killing feats, most memorably the home and away wins over a star-studded Northampton in 1997.

That’s what made Saturday night such a remarkable occasion; a venue that has traditionally had less life that the adjoining New Cemetery was transformed into a throbbing cacophony of noise, of chanting and song, of good humour and fun, all combining to generate an atmosphere the likes of which has never previously been remotely associated with the College Road venue, notwithstanding visits by the All-Blacks, the Australians and South Africa over the years. 

Warren Gatland, the coach who led Connacht on those first tentative steps into the great unknown at the start of the professional era, would not have recognised his old stomping ground.

Bleak and deserted for the majority of his time here, despite leading Connacht to a Challenge Cup Quarter Final in 1997 and the first competitive victory on French soil by an Irish province, the contrast could not have been greater on Saturday as the ground became a heaving sea of green in the presence of both the President and An Taoiseach.

Players of the highest calibre are week-in, week-out visitors to the Sportsground but never on this scale as the aristocrats of Toulouse came to town for Connacht’s home Heineken Cup debut replete with nineteen internationals of various hues and a handful who had graced the World Cup final only a matter of weeks ago. And among them was the IRB World Player of the Year, the majestic Thierry Dusautoir. In a era of celebrity, this was a dream fixture.

A dream fixture with the potential of becoming a nightmare, however, if Connacht wilted in the white heat of the moment and in the face of such rugby regality. Mercifully, that was not to be the case, for although always outclassed and doing themselves little justice in the opening stages, they were never pounded into submission and enjoyed some passages of defiant attacking themselves in a rewarding middle twenty minutes of the second half.

True, they were frequently left gasping for oxygen as Toulouse entered different stratospheres, but at the end of the day it was not an inconsiderable achievement to deny the four-time European champions a bonus point for a fourth try.

For more, read this week's Galway CityTribune.