Connacht Collapse….again
Ulster 53
Connacht 13
By Rob Murphy
One has to ask at this stage, is there any point ranting on about poor attitude, non-existent game plans, brittle defence and a lack of fight. There is always that fear that it is the equivalent of someone drawing up a cleaning rota on the titanic while the lifeboats were being lowered.
It’s becoming harder to care anymore as the tries roll in at these away games. A total of 22 have been conceded in just three league games this season for a grand total of 158 points and an average of 53 points per game.
Unfortunately for Connacht supporters there is no sign that anyone at Connacht rugby is under pressure as a result. There are no words of anger or frustration from those at the helm after these defeats and those on high remain happy with the overall progress. At least that appears to be the case and the press conference on Friday, attended solely by Ulster representatives, appeared to confirm this.
Ulster coach Matt Williams has seen good and bad days against Connacht, he was at the helm of Leinster when Steph Nel’s side lowered their colours in 2002 yet after the game on Friday, when asked if Connacht were slipping further away than ever, he adamantly disagreed adding that Michael Bradley is doing an ‘incredible’ job out west.
Connacht conceded seven tries in total on Friday night, two dreadful turnovers in the first half were wrapped up in a bow for Stephen Ferris and Timoci Nagusa to score tries. The men in green fought back determinedly before and after the break outscoring their opponents 13-3 with two Ian Keatley penalties either side of a wonderful try from Fionn Carr.
So, with 50 minutes on the clock, Connacht trailed 20-13 and were back in a game despite a recklessly aggressive first quarter game-plan that cost 14 points. All was not lost and hope remained. Ulster were having none of it however and switched to a methodical and structured game plan, kicking to the corners and attacking off first phase. Boy did that work a threat.
For just ten minutes Ulster shut down all attacking options and concentrated on the basics. Looking for the penalties at the breakdown, putting the pressure on in the scrum, turning the defence with dinked kicks and conjuring up a training ground move or two which allowed them to cut the Connacht defence to shreds.
Williams admitted afterwards that as a team, Ulster had spoken beforehand about being ahead in the final quarter and the likelihood of running up a big score as the game wore on. Opposition coaches watch the videos, they see the brittle defence and heads dropping from Connacht in game after game and almost expect to run up such a score.
Their third try came from a lineout on the 22, a simple take in the middle from Ryan Caldwell and a quick release from Cillian Willis to man of the match Ian Humphries who popped back inside to winger Simon Danielli on the angled run. So so easy and not for the first time this season Connacht were caught cold.
A scrum against the head five minutes later yielded try number four and as Ulster had predicted among themselves beforehand, heads dropped and the chances for more scores materialised. Ulster ran Connacht ragged, Danieli, Mark McCrea and Darren Cave all scored.
Is a little bit of boring rugby from Connacht once in a while too much to ask for? Just once, in one of these away games wouldn’t it be something to see this Connacht side come out and kick for the corners, slow the game down and play a patient forward orientated game.
Maybe then Connacht would get the odd bonus point and prevent one or two of these almighty hammerings that are happening all to regularly. Instead it is simply a case of one tanking after another on the road and little or no sign of improvement from one week to the next.
The lack of losing bonus points tells its own tale. In the last 30 games in all competitions Connacht have lost 20 while nearest rivals in the table, the Dragons, have lost 19. That is where the similarities end though as the Dragons have picked up 12 losing bonus points to a pathetic three from the men green.
Connacht beat the Dragons twice last year and therefore can make a fairly compelling argument to being a better side yet when push comes to shove the dogged and frankly boring Welsh men are much harder to beat. Four times harder to beat in fact.
While a disjointed Conancht side were being beaten with a re-arranged backline – that had both Mel Deane and Troy Nathan out of their natural positions – Daniel Riordan was preparing for Buccaneers AIB league game with Dungannon the following day where he scored two tries. It’s all academic, though. No one appears to be under any pressure.
Ulster: B Cunningham; T Nagusa D Cave, P Wallace, M McCrea; I Humphreys, C Willis; J Fitzpatrick, R Best (capt), B Botha, E O’Donoghue, R Caldwell, S Ferris, D Pollock, R Diack.
Replacements: P Steinmetz for Wallace 1 min; S Danielli for Nagusa 37 mins; K Dawson for Pollock 62 mins; M McCullough for Ferris 64 mins; I Boss for Willis 67 mins; N Brady for Best 67 mins; Fitzpatrick for Botha 71 mins.
Connacht: G Duffy; F Carr, M Deane, K Matthews, T Nathan; I Keatley, F Murphy; B Wilkinson, S Cronin, R Morris, M McCarthy, A Farley, R Ofisa, J O’Connor, C Rigney
Replacements: R Loughney for Morris 39 mins; A Browne for Rigney 49 mins; T Donnelly for Keatley 59 mins; J Hearty for Deane 78 mins.
Ref: P Fitzgibbon (IRFU).
Why bother anymore?
Comment by Ballina 4 life — December 1, 2008 @ 4:29 pm
will someone tell michael bradly that troy nathan is shite, mel deane was good about 20 years ago when he was 25. wheres the young talent like danny riordan who was one of the countries brightest young talents a couple of seasons ago. sure he hasnt got alot of game time under his belt since he returned from injury but surely he has to be a better choice than troy’cant tackle’nathan. connacht needs a new coach who will stop signing has been’s and kiwi rejects and nurture the young talent coming through
Comment by michael bradleys an idiot — December 1, 2008 @ 5:07 pm
Im with Ballina 4 life. The Galway branch would want to have a reality check. Time to stop throwing money down the drain at Glenina in the guise of a provincial team (ha ha). Wake up and see that there is a province outside Glenina and generate some connacht pride.
Comment by Fairplaytaya — December 2, 2008 @ 8:05 am
Fairplaytaya what the hell are u on about…your comment makes no sence!!!u obviosly no nothing about connacht rugby or wegians if u think the connacht team is made up totaly of wegians players…u idiot!!
Comment by rugger — December 2, 2008 @ 4:43 pm
Well said Rob. It’s all a bit depressing really. No pride, little interest, why bother?
Interestingly though, if Connacht go belly up, those who report on Connacht will be out of a job also. LOL
(Ah, there’s always an upside!)
Comment by LDTT — December 2, 2008 @ 6:24 pm
Hey Rugger open your eyes. A blind man can see that wegians have been manipulating the Galway branch for years. (voting each other onto committes etc nobody outside glenina ever gets a look in)Young players being told that unless they play for wegians they wont get a look in at provincial level etc.(Thats a fact)
Interesting to see what clubs all these journeyman imports are affilated to. Ever wonder why nobody outside the Galway branch bothers their arses going to watch Wegians, Sorry i mean Connacht(same thing anyway)play.
Comment by Fairplaytaya — December 3, 2008 @ 1:51 pm
hey no doubt u r from some shit club in connacht!!!galwegians and bucs not included!yes connacht do select most players frm wegians simply becaus if they were to start selecting players from shitty j1 clubs!!! dey wud probly b even more of a joke, wait nOt prob,, DEFFINETLY!!
my advice If u play rugby in connacht either play for bucs r wegians STOP WASTEN UR RUGBY LIFE WIT SHIT BASTARDS!!!!!
Comment by conn — December 3, 2008 @ 8:39 pm
Good man conn. Your maturity knows no bounds. Its a pity you could not debate a point without having to stoop to such depths. I am sure you and your fellow under 14s are a great team.
Grow up and face reality, wegians are where they are because they have been using the Galway branch for their own gain for years.
Maybe when you open your eyes and can see the bigger picture you might understand what is going on.
Comment by Fairplaytaya — December 4, 2008 @ 9:12 am
what the f#@k are you on about ‘fairplaytya’. u said ur with ballina for life, so your trying to say that if you grow up in ballina u should stick with them even if you have aspirations to play a higher standard. so gavin duffy shouldnt have moved to galwegians before he started playing with connacht, he should have stayed playing with a joke of a club like ballina and never of developed into the player he is. the fact of the matter is there is not enough rugby players in connacht to make every team competitive at a high standard so the one or two players from shit clubs like ballina have to move to buccs or wegians to play at a higher level. but you dont want that you want to keep all good young players playing j1 instead of givving it a go at a higher level. so i think its you who needs to open thier eyes and stop being such a thick farmer from the shithole that is ballina
Comment by what the f#@k — December 4, 2008 @ 10:54 am
easy now ‘what the f’. why are u venting so much anger towards ballina? all ballina for life was suggesting was why should connacht bother anymore in a sarcastic manner and then u explode. ur an idiot with his head shoved so far up his own hole he cant see whats happening to connacht rugby. wake up fool
Comment by whos uno? — December 4, 2008 @ 12:24 pm
its nothing to do with ballina its just this fairplaytaya thinks that galwegians put out the connacht team each week in the ail and the talent that comes from the likes of balina or other j1 sides should stay with their j1 teams and will still be in with a good chance of playing for ireland or connacht…muppet
Comment by rugger — December 4, 2008 @ 1:49 pm
he was suggesting that the connacht branch make players play with wegians and bucs. obviously they do you idiot. the two of ye think the way forward is to pick a connacht side from the weakest junior leauge in the country, well done i suppose they should give the coaching job to you. i think there is a lot of things wrong with the connacht setup but would have to agree with getting young players to move to the better AIL clubs as it is best for them. i think that comment number2 touches on some more relevant points.
Comment by what the f#@k — December 4, 2008 @ 1:52 pm
you are all a bunch of girls
Comment by Sean Ban Breachnach — December 4, 2008 @ 3:52 pm
At the end of the day ‘wat the f’ gavin duffy wouldn’t be playing for Connacht if he hadnt been a Ballina player, he would be playing gaelic for Mayo. And after all your giving out about j1 teams you might stop and take a look at the wegians or bucs senior teams. How many of the players on those teams have come from j1 teams? Without junior clubs rugby would never develop at all in Connacht and we would continue to have to sign ‘kiwi rejects’.Don’t talk about something you don’t understand. p.s. You can say that Ballina are shite as the only player on the Connacht team who has a chance of getting on an international team at the momment just happens to be a Ballina man!
Comment by Ballina 4 life — December 5, 2008 @ 10:51 am
Here here, well put ballina 4 life. Humble pie anyone? Perhaps you ‘what the f’, u look a bit hungry, starved of success in ur petty litte box?
Comment by whos uno? — December 5, 2008 @ 10:59 am
In reply to point 9 its a sad case when you have to resort to abuse about where someone comes from and their occupation. You are obviously a nice guy. Be proud of yourself (someone has to be)
The best houses are built on a solid foundation so does it not make more sense to develop our Junior league rather than looking out from glenina and talking about shit junior clubs.
There are players playing junior rugby for senior clubs who are there because they have been told by certain people that they will never get a provencial contract unless they play with these senior clubs. In actual fact some of these guys wont even play in the AIL but the grab-all glenina brigade are too small minded to see the big picture.
And by the way “what the F” slagging off the Junior league and Junior clubs is a cowrdly act on an anonymous website. Do you play the same way with your fellow under 16s ? I am sure they all look up to you.
By the way I am not a farmer ,am not from Ballina and am not a member of Ballina RFC
Comment by Fairplaytaya — December 5, 2008 @ 11:28 am
BALLINA, WUD U EVER GET OVER YOURSELFS GAVIN DUFFY ISNT EVEN DAT GUD!!YET ALL YEE FARMERS KEEP REFFERN TO HIM ….HES YER ONLY CLAIM TO FAME WHICH FURTHER MORE PROVES MY POINT!! STOP HIDEN BEHIND GAV DUFFY!!ID B HERE ALL DAY IF I WAS TO START NAMEN WEGIANS INTERNATIONALS!!!WHICH TO U HEART BRAKE INCLUDES DUFFY.
Comment by conn — December 5, 2008 @ 1:34 pm
fools
Comment by Sean Ban Breachnach — December 5, 2008 @ 4:02 pm
When was the last time he played for wegians can you tell me conn??? if he had the choice he would be playing for Ballina instead of wegians and i know that for a fact.
Comment by Ballina 4 life — December 5, 2008 @ 5:53 pm
And people wonder why Connacht rugby will never develop!!!!For me isn’t a rugby club in whatever town/village in Connacht positive.People are playing rugby,staying fit and healthy and you never know where good rugby players can spring from and they will become aware of a professional rugby team in Ireland.The more people that are involved in some capacity in rugby in connacht the better regardless of whether that is playing,coaching or supporting.
Comment by Borders no.2 — December 5, 2008 @ 7:51 pm
they will become aware of a professional rugby team in Ireland.That should have read Connacht.
Comment by Borders no.2 — December 5, 2008 @ 7:52 pm