Defiant Display Deserved More

Rob Murphy reflects on Connacht's exhilarating performance on Saturday embellished by two glorious Fionn Carr tries, and where they were ultimately desperately unfortunate not to pull off a stunning coup against the reigning Heineken Cup holders in their RDS citadel.

Leinster 17 Connacht 14

by Rob Murphy

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We came expecting a hammering, what we were given was a wonderfully defiant display by a Connacht side that are now clearly streets ahead of anything we have seen from the province in the last five years. Jonathan Sexton's stunning late drop goal stole the points for Leinster but the men in green made some real noise in Dublin on Saturday.

For four games on the bounce now, Connacht have been, at the very least, within a whisker of victory, one loose pass away from a win at the Ospreys, a last minute miss tackle against Glasgow cost them a draw, a resounding win over the Dragons and now this last gasp defeat to Leinster.

Those with half empty glasses will bemoan the dropped points in the last couple of months but can they really point to another time when Connacht were consistently competitive at such a high level, and all this, just when the IRFU noose is again being lowered.

The sheer defiance of it all is enough to get you off your feet and down to watch them train next week, such is the buzz. They are in the midst of a ten week manic schedule. Leinster have used 46 players in the Magners League because they have a bottomless well of resources, Connacht have been stretched to the limit in using 30 players.

On Saturday at the RDS in front of 13,385 fans. They took on the Heineken Cup champions and were forced to do so without six front liners. Cronin and Keatley were held back, Muldoon, Bibo and others were injured. Sure Leinster had their absentees but the replacements for likes of O'Driscoll and D'Arcy would grace any Magners League starting XV.

Connacht burst out of the blocks and scored first through the electric Fionn Carr. He came of age in his native city and looked at home in green against the side that cast him aside. He ran rings around Girvan Dempsey and could have had four tries. He now has seven of Connacht's eleven in the league this season and is top try scorer.

He was just one example of the class on show, take Aidan Wynne as a second example. First of all we must note that both he and Brian Tuohy looked at fault for Rob Kearney's first half try but outside of that the Buccaneers centre was immense.

The Connacht branch will be scrambling to get this local gem signed up for another year in the coming weeks. His work rate in defence was crucial to the win, while all the talk this week will rightly be about the likes of Jamie Hagen, Sean Cronin, Carr and others who have come west to develop and are clearly flying, our local academy graduates are thriving along side them.

Carr's first try came after only three minutes and was converted by Miah Nikora, Jonathan Sexton responded with a penalty but Connacht were 14-3 up by the midway point in the half. Carr robbed Girvan Dempsey, popped to Nikora who drew the cover brilliantly and feed his winger back on the inside for the try. This was without question the young Kiwi's best performance of the season to date.

Scrum half Frank Murphy was key to all of this, he truly overshadowed Irish back up Eoin Reddan and made a clear case for his inclusion in the summer international squads.

Johnny O'Connor meanwhile was Connacht's best forward. He was too much for the much vaunted Shane Jennings to handle throughout. There hasn't been much between Ofisa and O'Connor all season but after this brilliant display it seems clear that the Galway born vastly experienced openside will be key to further progress in Europe.

Leinster's fight back started just before half time, Kearney's try was a simple backline that caught Connacht badly. After half time Leinster edged closer through Sexton - who had missed three kicks in the first half - but the game remained finely balanced. Connacht had the arsenal on the bench to change the contest and the likes of Nathan, Hagen and Cronin were sprung late on to great affect.

Mike McCarthy and others were dominating up front at this stage but the fresh blood helped. The momentum swung with Gavin Duffy's sin bin on 68 minutes. A truly shocking call by Irish touch judge Simon McDowell who alleged that a punch had been thrown.

In contrast to the Magners league Ulster official, the French referee Jermoe Garces was a breath of fresh air to proceedings. No pre-conceived notions about Connacht, just refereeing the game as he saw it.

The sin bin provided Leinster with an easy three points to level the scores but Connacht had three golden chances to win in the closing stages. Ian Keatley really did let the troops down with two bad drop goal misses while a fleet footed break from Carr set up Cronin for what looked like a certain try only for him to be stopped inches short. To add insult to injury, Sexton duly found his range with three minutes to spare to steal the win.

Not everything is perfect, there are a host of off-field improvements that are badly needed yet despite all that we have a team to be bloody proud of, battling to the bitter end each week and scaring the life out of the aristocrats.

Heck you could have the best facilities, the cheapest tickets the most forward thinking of structures and it wouldn't matter a jot if the team wasn't fighting for every last point and competing with the opposition week in week out. That's happening now and if it continues, brace yourself for some long overdue good times.

Leinster: R Kearney; G Dempsey, F McFadden, S Berne, I Nacewa; J Sexton, E Reddan; S Wright, J Fogarty, M Ross, L Cullen (capt), M O'Kelly, R Ruddock, S Jennings, Stephen Keogh.

Replacements : P Ryan for Keogh (27-31 mins), CJ van der Linde for Ross (48 mins), B Jackman for Fogarty, D Toner for O'Kelly (both 64 mins), E O'Malley for Beirne (70 mins).

Connacht: G Duffy (capt); B Tuohy, A Wynne, K Matthews, F Carr; M Nikora, F Murphy; B Wilkinson, A Flavin, R Morris, M McCarthy, B Upton, M McComish, J O'Connor, G Naoupu.

Replacements : A Browne for Naoupu (31 mins), T Nathan for Matthews (half-time), S Cronin for Flavin, J Hagan for Morris, M Swift for McComish (all 56 mins), I Keatley for Nikora (65 mins).

Referee: J Garces (France).