A victory at either Ravenhill or Thomond in the next three weeks would probably be rated as a best ever Magners League win for the province and nothing about the way this side have been playing in recent week suggests that such a scenario is anything other than a long shot. Connacht are starting to limp towards the summer.

Friday was always going to be a tougher assignment than the six triumphant home games that had come before. Cardiff are a top six side, European Challenge Cup holders and well backed financially. When a team like that decide they are up for a Magners League game against the westerners, nothing can be done to stop them.
 
Two crucial second half sin binnings, countless handling errors and a lack of continuity at the breakdown could all be blamed for Friday’s defeat but even in a scenario where all was well in those areas, it’s hard to see how more than a bonus point could have been achieved.

Connacht didn’t have the quality required to challenge the Welsh out wide, especially in the centres where the home side were ruthlessly exposed as a blunt force. Up front the pack just missed Michael Swift’s brute force at times and they never really got to grips with proceedings.

As a team, to a man, Connacht were fully committed from start to finish and the attitude was bang on. Under Eric Elwood, the level of commitment and focus has been refreshingly consistent throughout the campaign and it explains a record haul of nine bonus points in the campaign.

Yet the quality in key positions remains a problem, Connacht don’t have a 13 to open up defences and will hope for Eoin Griffin to develop further without being hampered by injuries. They’ll need him as inside centre Keith Matthews will be out for the rest of the year now with an achilles tendon injury. A huge loss.

As an attacking threat, the back line was not relevant on Friday, they had no go forward ball to set a platform because Cardiff, with their 14 internationals (the only uncapped player was kiwi Paul Tito who frankly is the league’s best forward), bulldozed every breakdown and had great success with their blitz defense.

As we said already, the Blues were up for this and that meant there was only going to be one winner. Resources don’t matter in the middle of the campaign when an Osprey’s side arrive missing 15 players and still sneak a victory like they did back in November, however, when Spring comes and the play offs are in sight the intensity is cranked up and that’s when resources can be crucial.

In games like these, Connacht supporters are forced to accept the reality of the haves and the have-nots. Still though, it would be easier to accept if the basic error count wasn’t so high and the team didn’t give away some needless penalties.

Ray Ofisa’s dump tackle in the second half and Gavin Duffy’s failure to roll away left Connacht down to 14 men for twenty minutes after half time chasing a seven point deficit.

It was never going to work and they were put to the sword with ten minutes remaining. Both yellow cards were avoidable and needless, yet referee Andre McEnemy didn’t endear himself to the crowd with some other decisions.

Connacht actually led at half time 12-10 thanks to the boot of Ian Keatley who along with Sean Cronin, Jamie Hagan and Fionn Carr, was playing his final home game at the Sportsground. All will be missed but the work is ongoing to replace them.

The Blues had scored a key try through three time All Black Casey Laulala in the first half, the outside centre provided a spark to finish off a sustained attack, Dan Parks kicked a conversion and a penalty but Connacht held the advantage.

After half time Parks added nine further points from the boot, the third penalty seemed harsh on Connacht as the Cardiff tackler had failed to roll away. That had the lead at seven after the Ofisa sin bin and when Gavin Duffy was pinged and binned for not rolling the wheels were coming off the wagon.

A sustained attack saw big Bradley Davies crash over for an insurance score for the Blues, they would have hoped to push on and add a couple more but time was not on their side and in fairness to Connacht, they finished on the attack searching for seven points and a losing bonus.

The failure to secure that was very disappointing. John Muldoon came close off the base of a scrum, Ray Ofisa almost got in for a try in the corner but the visitors held firm and repelled the Connacht assault.

A bonus point would have been in keeping with a season where everything was fought for but this game was out of sync with most of Connacht’s home performances this year. They failed to find their best and deserved to come away with nothing. Rallying the troops for Belfast will be difficult.

Rob Murphy - http://www.knockon.ie/?p=5978

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