Connacht host La Rochelle in Sportsground on opening weekend of new Challenge Cup
It is safe to say it, phase one of Connacht’s season has been a success and there are still three games to go before the international break. However, even a setback or two during the next few games won’t take away from the fact that this young side have given themselves a platform to make some significant progress through the Winter.
Pat Lam called it a “launchpad” and he can’t be far wrong. After the scrappy but gutsy 9-6 win in Treviso, Connacht sit fifth in the Guinness Pro 12 standings with total of 18 points garnered and just one defeat in six heading into two rounds of European Challenge Cup action including Saturday’s home tie with La Rochelle at the Sportsground (5pm).
The mission from the outset of the season has been a top six finish in the Pro 12 but the pathway to that target was always going to be a treacherous, especially in these opening months while the squad was not fully complete.
They knew that all three of the big Summer signings would not be available until the November 21 home tie with Zebre, and the squad’s young guns had to fill the void and deliver the results in the interim while we waited for Mills Muliaina (due to injury), Bundee Aki and Tom McCartney (both due to provincial rugby commitments in New Zealand) to arrive.
They’ve done that, and so much more. Names such as Darragh Leader, Jack Carty, Shane Delahunt, Dave Heffernan and Eoin McKeon were key in game six last Friday, holding their nerve when a momentum stopping defeat to an improving but much changed Treviso side appeared imminent.
Now they’re over round six, it’s safe to say that this Connacht squad have achieved everything anyone could have hoped for in the first two months of the season even before the final three games of that period.
The trips to Exeter and then the unbeaten Ospreys will be the bonus territory, a defeat to La Rochelle will of course be a setback but they are in position to ensure that come that game with Zebre, they’ll be very much in the mix for the start of the ‘middle period’ of this exciting campaign.
“We’re pleased,” said Lam after the win in Treviso, “when you consider what’s still to come, when you consider the youth of the team and the lack of experience in the team. To be in fifth place is a magnificent achievement but we’re not satisfied, we have just given ourselves a launchpad to pick it up once we get over these next couple of European games.”
He used the phrase “getting over” in relation to the forthcoming weekend which prompted a pertinent question: “what is the mindset in the Connacht camp ahead of these Challenge Cup game in terms of performance and results?”. Lam didn’t miss a beat with his confident answer.
“We have got a simple outcome, we want to be in the final in London. So just like in the Pro 12 where we want to be in the top six, we’ve set our benchmark, we’ve set our goal and we believe now that we focus on one game at a time.”
The wheel keeps turning then but it is easy to wonder just how the Westerners don’t switch off to some degree and make some alterations for a competition such as this after a good start with a small squad. Connacht assistant coach Dan McFarland, also speaking after the win in Treviso, was adamant that this wouldn’t be a problem.
For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.