Patience Needed as Connacht Stumble Again
Connacht 14
Cardiff 19
By Rob Murphy at the Sportsground
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Patience is a virtue and a precious commodity out west when it comes to rugby followers. Four years at the bottom of the Magners League will have such an affect yet there might be a valid call for them to go back to the well once more in the next few weeks. There is plenty of reason to feel disgruntled after this latest collapse but the evidence of progress is too strong to ignore.
If this season was a war, Connacht casualties would be predominately suffering from gunshot wounds to the feet. Time and time again they have squandered wining positions during this campaign and in the long run they will probably suffer for that. In the most recent rounds three winnable games have fallen by the wayside all but ending the faint Heineken Cup aspirations.
Frank Murphy finds the gap. Pic: Jonathan Curran Sporting Occasions.
On Friday they had the Blues by the pin of their collar. Leading by 14 points at the break with an extra man for ten minutes, a dominant lineout and all conquering scrum. Yet they let lost their grip and allowed a Blues fight back, the result of which culminated with a try from Robin Snowden Taylor three minutes from the end. Another one bites the dust.
However there are clear positive aspects that might warrant a patient approach and these must be highlighted before the matter’s crux is dealt with. Connacht are generating some consistent form in recent weeks and have drastically reduced the average margin of defeat while the development of young talent is clear for all to see.
The Management are making inroads in those areas but crowds are dwindling as the team is cast further adrift and a sense of urgency is creeping in which brings us to the criticism. This was the second time in succession a 14-point advantage has been squandered on home turf in this competition and from a total of 14 replacements available in both those games there have been just four tactical switches, all in the forwards.
Ian Keatley in particular is being made learn the hard way and time and again is left out there to the bitter end, even when situations aren’t going his way. The 21 year old stand off is a supreme talent and for forty minutes on Friday he was exceptional.
As you would expect for a young head, he sometimes finds it hard to close out contests like that leaving the management with two options. One, leave him out there and let him learn at the high risk of losing the contest or two, take him off, get the win and let him develop. The latter is how Ireland nurtured a young Ronan O’Gara when David Humphries was there to back him up.
Andy Dunne is a completely underused Connacht resource, so are the back up scrum halves. Against Leinster, Llanelli and Cardiff, Dunne was left on the bench to the bitter end while the team struggled in the final quarter. It seems pointless even having a squad of the current size when most players don’t have any significant role to play unless the injuries mount up.
But lets get back to the positives, this was the third game in a row Connacht should have won but lost. That simply was not happening last season, in fact it is hard to remember a period of five Magners League games – including the pre Christmas victory over Munster – where Connacht offered so much in terms of overall play.
That is progress and it is being done with young talent blossoming. Andrew Browne was the story of the night from a home point of view. The 22 year old Galwegian has come of age and really is being allowed to flourish in the first team. Sean Cronin is also repaying the faith in his abilities as is Ronan Loughney.
The coaches can also take solace from the way Ian Keatley is coming on as a player. His tactical awareness is improving immensely and his kicking game on Friday was near flawless. The first half performance here was clinical in open play and from kicks at goal as he struck three vital penalties.
Connacht’s try had come from a lineout five metres out the home side attacked wide, Ian Keatley beat his man only to be stopped short. However a quick-tap penalty paved the way for Connacht to exploit the wayward Blues defence and Andrew Browne’s superb final pass released Ray Ofisa for the unconverted try.
Keatley’s two kicks just before the break meant Connacht led 14-0 at half time and the sin binning of Rhys Thomas just before the interval only added to the visitors woes yet even with one man less Ben Blair managed an early second half penalty and notched another on 50 minutes to commence the fight back.
Blair’s third penalty on 66 minute left an ominous feeling about the scoreboard at 14-9. However, In a frantic finale Connacht found themselves deep in Blues territory but a crucial turnover under the Cardiff posts relieved the pressure and paved the way for Sowden-Tylor’s try which came like a jolt from the blue just when the Connacht defence appeared to be handling everything that had been thrown at them.
Blair slotted a conversion and a penalty with the last kick of the game to round off the fight back and condemn Connacht to another defeat which leaves them eleven adrift at the bottom of the Magners League table. While patience could help this side make the breakthrough all this progress in terms of performances just won’t cut it at the turnstiles as proven by the paltry 1373 who turned up. That’s the nub of the matter.
Cardiff captain Robin Sowden-Taylor broke Connacht hearts and Connacht: T Nathan; L Bibo, G Duffy, K Matthews, F Carr; I Keatley, F Murphy; B Wilkinson, S Cronin, R Morris; A Browne, A Farley; D Gannon, R Ofisa, J Muldoon (capt).
Replacements: R Loughney for Morris 66 mins; M Swift for Gannon 61 mins, J O’Connor for 72 mins; M Deane for Nathan 66 mins.
Blues: B Blair; R Mustoe, J Robinson, C Sweeney, T James; N Robinson, J Spice; R Gill, R Thomas, G Powell, D Jones, S Morgan, M Molitika, R Sowden-Taylor, X Rush (capt).
Replacements: T Filise for Gill 51 mins, G Williams for Sowden-Taylor 42 mins; Sowden-Taylor for Williams 47 mins; R Rees for Spice 75 mins; D Flannigan for Mustoe 78 mins, C Czekaj for Jamie Robinson 36 mins.
Referee Graham Knox
Attendance: 1373
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how many more times can this happen all hope is gone for heineken cup rugby yet again. its about time we stopped blaming or crying fowl of the irfu for not
helping us in our development enough is enough its 15 against 15 on the pitch and we have a team at the moment that match anyone it was not too long ago we beat munster with a side that had 10 players that battled against the all blacks .im a loyal fan who will follow connacht no matter what but these kind of on off performances will make it hard to attract a younger generation of supporters who all rave about munster and leinster because of their euopean exloits and tv coverage . i know most people might disagree and call me a fool but i dont care enough is enough.
Comment by how much more — March 7, 2009 @ 2:44 pm
yeah it was an accomplished first half performance. Surprised that you didn’t call up Frank Murphy for kicking away possession 2 minutes from full time. Patience and a cool head in defense is just as important as on the attack.
Comment by Dennis — March 9, 2009 @ 2:17 pm
Fairly balanced report but its a result based business.Ultimately no one wants to be associated with a losing team regardless of what progress is being made.
God ya that was an awful kick from Frank Murphy who otherwise I thought had a good game but its not the problem of 1 player or 2 its endemic in the squad that when the pressure comes on inevitably the composure that was evident in our play when the game was in its early stages leaves us as we start to mount the pressure on ourselves.The mistakes mount up to a lot at any time but especially against a wind like there was in the 2nd half the last day.
Like the bit about war and self inflicted wounds,sums up our season in one phrase.
Its a hard sell to supporters when the team are frustratingly showing signs of a breakthrough but not delivering in terms of results.The lack of composure is what has once again shone thorugh for me in recent games and at key moments it doesn’t look like that problem has been addressed.
We aren’t far away but is clear for all to see that while great work is being done with the team and the pack are becoming formidable opponents for almost anyone in the ml Bradley’s heart isn’t in the job.
A fresh approach with a new coach and some quality back up coming into the pack,a couple of new wingers and 1 or 2 really experienced players would make all the difference and a clearing out of the deadwood should push us to the next level.
Ultimately only a win over Northampton can now save our season.Time to run out the squad over the next 2 games see who can do a job for next season and who should be shown the door.
Comment by Borders no.2 — March 9, 2009 @ 5:59 pm
1 word, “pathetic”.
Comment by connacht junior player — March 9, 2009 @ 6:16 pm
no, it wasn’t pathetic. Against both Scarlets & Cardiff, Connacht played 2 of the best 40 minutes of rugby in the past number of years. Composure is what it’s all about. Unfortunately, I don’t have the required knoiwledge to see how this can be developed within the Connacht team, but I don’t think we are that far off. Having said that, it’s results that speak loudest, and if that’s the case Connacht are only whispering!
Comment by tohellorto — March 9, 2009 @ 8:37 pm
Composure is what is needed and that is something that Andy Dunne has in abundance – why was he not brought on for the last 15 minutes?? I think that Eddie O’Sullivan has proved already that modern professional rugby is not a 15 man game, surely that lesson has been learnt. I am not advocating emptying the bench for the sake of it but what is the point in having an experienced, proven match winner in Andy Dunne sitting on the bench when there is an obvious need for his skills and abilities required on the field. This is not hindsight taking, I was calling for the change with 15 minutes to go when it was obvious to me that Keats had run out of steam mentally and was becoming more hesitant as the game wore on. This had an affect on all the players round him. Look back at the Dax game where Andy Dunne made an immediate impact when he came off the bench, I believe Packie is a strong advocate of this policy and came up with it before anyone else. I happen to agree, what’s the point in having an experienced guy like Dunne on the bench if we are not going to use him. The team are definitely better then last year as the quality of play has improved immensely and we are putting ourselves in deservedly winning positions, especially at home.
Comment by Ga1wegian — March 10, 2009 @ 8:57 am
Winning becomes a habit, but so does losing
Comment by Chuck — March 10, 2009 @ 10:47 am
Is Andy Dunne the man to close out a game though?I have my doubts.He’s a player to turn a game alright.i do agree though that a change was necessary at out half and also at scrum half.Has Campbell or O’loughlin been brought on in any of our tight games this season?I Can’t recall any such instance anyway.i suppose in defence of management you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t but surely lessons should have been learned from past collapses.
If management don’t see a player adding something to the squad would we not be better off carrying a smaller squad and investing the money saved in putting a roof over the far side or something productive like that?
Comment by Borders no.2 — March 10, 2009 @ 5:56 pm
connacht played two of two of the best 40 mins of rugby over 2 games , it unfortunate however that games are 80 mins long and averages dont count, why arent we signing established experienced players who are winding down their careers to back up the young fellas, you only have to look at leinster, olly le rouix, david howell, owen finnigan in previous years, surely if we signed a few former big names they could lend experience to the squad and help develop young players. i look at that connacht squad and see a few quality players but alot of excess baggage too.
Comment by Beverly greenhills 90210 — March 13, 2009 @ 12:09 pm