Connacht 13
By Rob Murphy
We might well have caught a brief glimpse of the future at Franklin’s Gardens last Saturday. For sixty minutes Connacht competed and out-manoeuvred their highly rated opponents in a hair-raising display. There was a cruel sting in the tail for sure and Northampton’s extra class told in the end but questionable refereeing and key injuries also played a part in this defeat.
With a little over ten minutes remaining in the contest, Connacht were breaking tackles deep in Northampton territory and rampaging towards the line. They trailed by just five points and through Ray Ofisa, they had scored the games only try. Not everything was going their way, Johnny O’Connor was in the bin at that point, but they were in the hunt.
What followed was a brutally unforgiving exhibition from the home side sparked by a moment of class in their backline from James Downey, Stephen Myler and Paul Diggin. The interchange unlocked a seemingly watertight Connacht defence and forced Gavin Duffy into a last ditch tackle, where he played the ball on the ground in desperation.
French referee Roman Poite had left Connacht supporters totally perplexed by his decisions all afternoon but the Duffy decision was indisputable and as Connacht’s brightest spark on the day walked to the sideline, the Saints maul from the resultant scrum trundled towards the line, on the second wave Neil Best got over for his side’s opening try on 70 minutes.
Connacht still managed a rampaging half break from Troy Nathan soon after but the counter attack from the home side led indirectly to Joe Ansbro’s try and in the closing stages Bruce Reihana and Chris Mayor also got over. It was unmerciful stuff and left the visitors deflated.
Overall though, leaving aside a baffling penalty count (15-4 in favour of the home side) and one crucial missed knock-on call in the lead up to Johnny O’Connor’s sin binning, Connacht lost this game because of a lack of front row resources. There are times when the budget issues come to the fore and this is one of them.
First choice tight head Robbie Morris was out injured and academy graduate Ronan Loughney battled bravely but his injury on 30 minutes meant Brian McGovern was called in. Not surprisingly with stretched resources against one of Europe’s most lethal front rows Connacht struggled.
McGovern was sin binned after just two minutes for the sins of his colleagues earlier and was eventually forced off injured on 60 minutes, as a result of the sheer powerful opposition. The prospect of uncontested scrums for 20 minutes left the home crowd decidedly unimpressed.
It really isn’t overstating it to suggest that had Connacht being at full strength and gained some semblance of parity in that front row, they could have won this contest. However as a result of this advantage, Northampton picked up three penalties and a sin bin. That kept them in the contest despite their inability to break through a rigid Connacht defence.
Connacht made numerous line breaks throughout thanks to backline in fine form. Niva Ta’auso cleanly beat his opposite number, in the outside centre channel, on two key occasions in the first half, which opened up big scoring opportunities in subsequent phases.
The first led to an Ian Keatley penalty, which cancelled out Stephen Myler’s early kick, the second paved the way for a drop goal from the superb Connacht out half who tackled tenaciously and attacked with purpose throughout.
Northampton started the second half well but their lead was only six points, 12-6, when Connacht snatched the games first try. It came from a backline move 30 metres out, that brought the inspired Duffy into the line at a foot-flattening angle, allowing him to beat the centres before the full-back conjured up a brilliant pass out of the tackle to Ofisa who had run a typically superb supporting line. Keatley converted for a 13-12 lead
Afterwards Connacht coach Michael Bradley criticised Connacht discipline in the closing stages. Yellow cards in the final quarter for Johnny O’Connor and Gavin Duffy proved crucial but in fairness to O’Connor he had been the victim of two shocking calls before that and his transgression on the ground came after a blatant knock-on had been missed.
Duffy’s was a last ditch desperate effort to avoid a try and was less about poor discipline and more about Nrothampton finally showing their undoubted class in midfield with a swift break that unlocked the Connacht defence.
Northampton kicked two penalties from Stephen Myler before Duffy’s sin binning so held an 18-13 lead going into the final ten minute blitz. The manner in which Connacht collapsed would normally rankle but with 13 men and tired bodies, the gaps in defence were inevitable.
A brave effort then and a real platform to build on but the injury count is very worrying at this stage and there is still work to be done if this season is to be labelled some sort of a success.
Northampton Saints: B Foden; P Diggin, J Ansbro, J Downey, B Reihana; S Myler, L Dickson; S Tongauiha, D Hartley, E Murray, I Fernandez Lobbe, J Kruger, N Best, J Gray, R Wilson.
Replacements: C Lawes for Lobbe, 50 mins; M Easter for Murray, 63 mins; A Dickens for Dickson, 70 mins; B Sharman for Hartley, 71 mins; C Mayor for Downey, 71 mins; T Smith for Tongauiha, 75 mins; B Everitt for Myler, 76 mins.
Connacht: G Duffy; F Carr, K Mathews, N Ta’auso, L Bibo; I Keatley, F Murphy; B Wilkinson, S Cronin, R Loughney, A Browne, A Farley, J Muldoon, J O’Connor, R Ofisa.
Replacements: T Nathan for Matthews, 23 mins; B McGovern for Loughney, 34 mins; M Swift for Ofisa, 60 mins; C Rigney for McGovern, 62 mins; A Flavin for Cronin, 73 mins; C O’Loughlin for Murphy, 76 mins; A Dunne for Ta’auso, 76 mins.
Referee: R Poite (France).
Attendance: 9119
Digg
Delicious
Facebook
Reddit
Stumbleupon
But is it a problem?
