Connacht’s terrible run against the men in red continues

Munster 32

THERE’S something about Munster. Connacht's horrendous record against their southern brethren is worth considering at least once a season. The inferiority complex is long established and it plays out in different ways in each fixture.

To a large degree, the men from the west beat themselves on Saturday evening in the spring sunshine with basic errors crippling them before half time. Everything was laid out neatly for Munster and they were only briefly required to go through the gears in this contest. 

One win in this fixture in 28 years says it all. The record against Ulster is only marginally better of course and while wins against Leinster have come more often, they are still an exception rather than a rule. So it's hardly a feast against the other two provinces either, but figuring out Munster is becoming a complex maths problem for successive Connacht coaches.

Pat Lam is not going to get hung up on all that. It isn't a concern right now, nor will it ever be as far as he is concerned. This defeat was all about execution, skills and unforced errors as far as he was concerned in the post match media scrum. An outbreak of basic errors has cost them dearly in the last two weeks, after a run of four wins from five, they've shipped 12 tries in two inter-pro games.

The start here was reasonably encouraging with Miah Nikora kicking the home side in front, but immediately from the restart, a Willie Faloon knock on set the platform for Munster with a scrum on the 22 and they set up a simple move that at least two other teams have used against the Connacht first phase defence this season.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.