SEE YOU LATER Ireland’s Denis Leamy releases the ball just as he is tackled by Scotland’s Hugo Southwell and Simon Webster during Saturday’s RBS Six Nations game at Croke Park. Pic: Sportsfile
The only way now is up
Gavin Duffy
iT’S late on Saturday evening and I’m crashed on the couch in front of the TV. England have just beaten France in Paris and I’ve promised myself twenty-four hours free from rugby. No watching of, or listening to, anything related to the oval ball. That bit proves easy with a quick changing of the channel. Apologies to Brent Pope and George Hook but I’m not in the mood! Now, let’s see what’s on... Something that will take my mind of ‘it’.
Tubridy Tonight? Flick again. The phone rings. “Well, What happened last night?” is the question. Sorry, Dad. I know my reply was probably a bit short but it was just bad timing!
It’s been a bad couple of weeks. It started with Connacht’s trip to Swansea last Saturday week when we took on the Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium. After a three-week break due to the Six Nations, the Magners League resumed and we were confident of a rare away win.
Sure, the Ospreys were missing 12 front line players but with the likes of Mike Phillips and former All-Blacks Justin Marshall, Filo Tiatia and Marty Holah available, they still had players of considerable quality on their team sheet.
But one thing we have stressed in Connacht this year is that it is not about the quality of the opposition or the number of internationals they have in their ranks — it’s about us. If we play to the best of our ability we will win. Home wins against the Dragons, Glasgow, Newcastle and Llanelli have proven that if we maintain a level of performance over the 80 minutes we are more than capable of recording victories.
In other matches, like away to Leinster and Cardiff, we performed to the required level for 65-70 minutes and were in with a shout of recording outstanding away victories. Ultimately though, we couldn’t sustain our challenge for 80 minutes and returned home empty-handed on both occasions.
However, when we get it wrong, we get it very wrong. Ulster at home last October and Newcastle away in December are two cases in point. As of ten days ago, the Ospreys away match can be added to that list.
It has not gone unnoticed that in both the Newcastle and Ospreys fixtures we shipped points in the last five minutes of the first half. We conceded two converted tries in Wales as the half-time whistle approached which allowed the home side to stretch their lead from 6-0 to to 20-0. It’s frustrating. We had created a few try scoring opportunities of our own, defended well at times and yet still found ourselves 20 points down. More physicality at the break down and staying on our feet longer after contact were the key messages at half-time. We could turn it around. We would turn it around.
Things went from bad to worse though as constant defending and ill-discipline that cost us two sin-binnings took its toll. We were 37-0 down by the 75th minute and again found ourselves regrouping under our own posts. ‘Let’s just get a score’ was the message. It was the only thing we could have hoped for at that stage.
Johnny O’Connor crashed over and Tim Donnelly converted before the final whistle blew. 37-7 was a crushing defeat. There were harsh words behind closed doors and they were fully deserved. No matter what way you look at it, the Ospreys had more or less a second team out. It was a very poor result. To qualify for the Heineken Cup we need to win games like that.
Water, water everywhere
WE returned to Galway just before midnight, an hour behind schedule. One of the joys of professional rugby is random drug-testing throughout the season. Testers can show up at your home, training ground or after games without notice. It’s all well and good if you can produce a urine sample on request but quite often you’re left making small talk while you wait for nature to take its course. Two random players from each side are tested after most games. One of the lads tested last week took three attempts and nearly two hours to produce the 100ml required. While there were cries of ‘leave him behind’ from the cheap seats down the back of the bus, the management were busy rescheduling our departure time from Cardiff as luckily we had a chartered flight. Finally, after a bucket full of water, the player in question boarded the bus to rapturous applause and was also cheered continuously at least another dozen times as he made his way to and from the toilets on the bus and then the plane. When it rains it pours!
Minor lessons after major loss
HAVING returned from Wales on the Saturday, Johnny O’Connor and I drove up to Dublin on Sunday evening to train with the Irish senior squad for two days.
I was then selected on the Ireland A team to face our Scottish counterparts in MacDiarmuid Park, home of St Johnstone Football Club in Perth last Friday night. We met up in Dublin on Tuesday afternoon before travelling to Scotland on the Thursday. I think it’s safe to say that the game was a disaster. We lost by a record 67-7.
It’s at times like this that I remember JP Kean speaking to the Mayo Minor football team I was on when we lost against Galway in the first round of the 1998 Connacht championship in Tuam. We had fancied our chances that year, perhaps a little too much, yet even though our summer dreams were torn asunder, JP was still his cool, calm, collected self.
He could see there was still something that a group of talented footballers with their heads in their hands could take from the experience. “It’s only a disaster if you fail to learn from defeat,” he told us. He concluded by saying “It’s in adversity that you see the true character of a man.”
Leinster’s visit next on the list
SO where do we, Connacht, go from here? Well, we beat Leinster at home this Friday night. It is the only result acceptable. It may be stating the obvious but we need to retain the ball for longer periods. Constant defending takes its toll and no matter how good your poaches or techniques are at slowing down the opposition ball, you will give away penalties.
When you are constantly on the back foot fifty-fifty decisions tend to go against you as you are perceived to be ‘hanging on in there’ (in the game) by illegally slowing or killing the opposition’s ball. Less time defending will hopefully see us on the right side of the penalty count on Friday which has been a good indicator for us this season. As always, we will be hoping to give our growing home support something to shout about.
