By LDTT
November 5 2006

Despite a late rally which saw Connacht claim a try bonus point, they went down to Glasgow in Huegenden. Riordan, Ofisa, O'Connor & Yapp all crossed for the visitors, but it was not enough as they lost 39-34 in Scotland. After 14 minutes Connacht lead through a Mark McHugh penalty, and a drop goal. But a Parks penalty was soon followed by the games first try for Glasgow. The ball was hacked ahead by Leonelli, and when Gavin Williams didn't deal with the loose ball, the Glasgow fullball pay him pay. Connacht were in need of a quick response and they got that through Galway fullback Dan Riordan, who collected Yapps pass out of the tackle and ran in for the score. McHugh converted, then added another penalty 5 minutes later to open up an 8 point gap.

Scottish International Dan Parks had the last say of the half though as he ran through the stretched Connacht defense to score under the posts. The conversion left Connacht leading by just one point at the turnaround. The first five minutes of the second half was a horror scene for Connacht as Glasgow ran in two tries in quick succession. Kellock and Barclay touching down for the home side, and as Parks converted both Connacht seemed dead and buried with the try bonus point conceded.

Connacht rang the changes with John Hearty on for McHugh, Keith Matthews on for Williams and Conor O'Loughlin on for the injured Riordan. Warwick moved to outhalf, Adrian Flavin came on for J Fogarty and Brett Wilkinson came on for Ray Hogan. Unfortunately the changes hadn't settled by the time Glasgow scored their next try, when Morrison ran in for the Scots. Parks again converted and the game seemed over.

On 69 Ray Ofisa gave the visitors a glimmer of hope with a well taken try, and after the final two subs were brought on (Michael Swift on for Gannon and Brendan O'Connor on for Rigney) the young flanker O'Connor got a try with his first touch of the ball. Warwick kicked a penalty as Barrow was binned for Glasgow, but Connachts Swift followed him to the bin shortly afterwards with Parks cancelling out Warwicks kick.

In the second minute of injury time, Connacht seemed to be heading away from Glasgow with nothing to show for their efforts, but a last ditch try in the corner from Darren Yapp earned the visitors 2 bonus points. Considering what had gone before, this was shambolic performance, however with a week off, Connacht can now contemplate how three defeats in a row, have come from three winnable games.

This game was billed as a 'must win' game for Connacht if they we to stand any chance of making the Heineken cup. This got me thinking, so I had a look at last seasons final standings:

Team	Wins	Draws	Defeats	Points
Dragons	7	0	13	37
Connacht	6	0	14	29

The Dragons earned their spot in the Playoff, but winning just one more game than us, but also earning 4 more bonus points than us. In fairness, the dragons are a poor side this year and yet, are only 6 points behind us with 2 games in hand.
If we have a look at the numbers so far this season:
Scenario 1, with only 8 games played this season, we are already passed half way for our total last season. On average that's 2 points per game. Should that continue, then we are looking at 40+ points for the season and a certain playoff spot.
Scenario 2, last year Munster finished third in the league but they've had a fairly poor start. That they could conceiveably finish behind us I think is not going to happen. They will have a strong December & January which should put them back up to mid table. However, there is a chance that we could finish as the third Irish seed.
Scenario 3, the Borders are looking a bit lost this season. Despite recruiting well, it seems they can't buy a win at the moment. However, if Connacht do slip up, the Dragons are there to take the playoff spot.

Team	Played	Win	Draw	Defeat	Points
Connacht	8	3	1	4	17
Glasgow	8	3	0	5	15
Dragons	6	2	0	4	11
Munster	6	2	0	4	9

Glasgow Warriors: 15. Francisco Leonelli Morey 14. Rory Lamont 13. Graeme Morrison 12. Andrew Henderson 11. Hefin O'Hare 10. Dan Parks 9. Graeme Beveridge 1. Kevin Tkachuk 2. Fergus Thomson 3. Justin Va'a 4. Andy Newman 5. Alastair Kellock 6. Andrew Wilson 7. John Barclay 8. Jon Petrie Replacements: 16. Scott Lawson 17. Ben Prescott 18. Dan Turner 19. Steve Swindall 20. Sam Pinder 21. Ruaridh Jackson 22. Scott Barrow Connacht Rugby: 15. Danny Riordan 14. Matt Mostyn 13. Paul Warwick 12. Gavin Williams 11. Darren Yapp 10. Mark McHugh 9. Chris Keane 1. Ray Hogan 2. John Fogarty 3. Brett Sturgess 4. David Gannon 5. Andrew Farley 6. John Muldoon 7. Ray Ofisa 8. Colm Rigney Replacements: 16. Adrian Flavin 17. Brett Wilkinson 18. Michael Swift 19. Brendan O'Connor 20. Conor O'Loughlin 21. Keith Matthews 22. John Hearty