Referee leaves Connacht feeling the blues in league clash against Cardiff
Date Published: {J}
Rob Murphy
THE losing bonus point garnered in the dying seconds on Friday night pushed Connacht up a place in the Rabo Direct Pro 12 and, at least, meant the scoreline more accurately reflected the balance of play, but few in the Connacht camp looked content with such an outcome. This was another game that got away.
Cardiff came in without six frontline Welsh internationals as well as Dan Parks from Scotland, but had a side packed with form players and were warm favourites. Yet on the night, they were outscored two tries to one and were beneficiaries of some fortuitous calls from Scottish referee Andrew McMenemy.
The game was moved from the home side’s modern new Cardiff City Stadium back to the traditional home of Cardiff rugby, namely the Arms Park which nestles underneath the Millennium stadium and oozes history and character. Welsh regional rugby is struggling to attract crowds and all avenues are being explored to arrest the slide.
Whether it worked is open for debate, but they’ll need to test it more than once as this was a game where the home side were not allowed to find their attacking rhythm. Connacht’s stern defence and strong set piece play was the main reason for that and helped keep the home crowd subdued for long periods.
The positives for Connacht were plentiful as the try count emphasised their competitive edge. Their dominance in the scrum underlined the continued good form of Brett Wilkinson and Ronan Loughney and an outstanding display by the back three of Fetu Vainikolo, Tiernan O’Halloran and Gavin Duffy was another highlight.
Yet assistant coach Dan McFarland correctly pointed out afterwards that his side wasted key try scoring opportunities in the game and lost as a result. His frustrations with the first-half penalty count of 7-1 were clear, but also felt his side didn’t adapt to the officiating as well as the blues and he had a point.
McMenemy is a referee who has little or not time for the art of communication, his focus is very much on letting the whistle do the talking. Where some referees ask the fringe defenders to take a step back ensuring they are forewarned on a penalty, he prefers to punish early and set the tone.
Connacht suffered severely as a result. They trailed 12-10 at half time, with the Blues creating just the one try scoring chance. Connacht had two clear-cut opportunities and finished the second. A five metre lineout was taken by Mike McCarthy and the ensuing maul moved infield.
Then a quick recycle and long pass from Niall O’Connor found Duffy who flicked the ball to O’Halloran on the overlap and the Clifden man got his fifth try of the season. Niall O’Connor’s touchline conversion put Connacht 10-6 ahead on 16 minutes.
For more, read this week's Connacht Sentinel.