Connacht 37 - 8 Glasgow Warriors - Hard Work Paying Off

There is no period in the Magners League season less glamorous or more anonymous than February. Six Nations is all the rage, club action is booming and the Heineken Cup is on a well earned break after a frantic winter. 

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It is here, in this dark crevasse of the season, that the Magners League must plough on.

Games get lost in the back pages, crowds dwindle but four points are still four points, a bonus point is still a bonus and make no mistake, the teams that are sitting on a perch in late May, have usually delivered in the Spring.

For a refreshing change, Connacht are making hay just when it really matters. The constant winter mutterings of “we’re not far off” and “give it time” are starting to seem justified.

It’s not that we doubted they would but this Connacht season really is starting to feel like one of those jigsaws that only begins to make some visual sense when most of the hard work has been done.

Friday’s victory was a fourth on the bounce – a run that started with a memorable and truly brilliant victory in Bayonne – it was the second home win of the season with a four try bonus point and the ninth Magners League point in six days.

It has jolted Connacht into 10th place, just three points off seventh. The Dragons, Treviso and Edinburgh are sitting just in front. All are bright spots on the radar.

There is work to be done but the manner of Friday’s performance was hugely encouraging. The tries were at times mesmerizing, this added to a strong and focused work ethic and a ruthless late defensive stand – when the Warriors were denied a chance even to save some pride – really does underline a pertinent point. Connacht are a very different animal these days.

There will be no sunshine day in front of seven thousand fans this season, the city won’t go green, a side of Toulon’s stature won’t be visiting for a televised semi final and to a large degree, the bulk of the nation’s sporting media probably won’t pay any heed to Connacht for the rest of the season. Yet this campaign has the potential to mean so much more than last year’s European adventure.

Connacht are making progress, big strides under this new regime. They started with a bang and topped the table for a while in September, then the wheels appeared to have fallen off as defeats mounted, yet within each defeat a trend was developing. It was born around one word, consistency.  No one has steamrolled the men from the west this year, the work rate and attitude has been the same in every game.

Connacht burst from the blocks on Friday with an Ian Keatley’s penalty and a try made by the free running out half and finished off by the most under-rated winger this province has seen since Wayne Munn was finishing off scores for fun, namely Brian Tuohy.  He’s not spectacular but he is immensely efficient and hugely valuable.

Glasgow hit back through experienced winger Hefin O’Hare after the brilliant Ruairdh Jackson took a quick tap penalty and caught the home side napping. It was a brief lull, Keatley’s little grubber kick with his weaker left foot wrong footed the Warriors backline soon after and Gavin Duffy burst through the gap to score.

By half time the lead was 18-8 but it should have been more as Fionn Carr had a great chance on the stroke of half time with his side up a man. Jackson had been sin binned for tackling Tuohy without the ball. An easy call as the try seemed on, but a crucial moment in the game as Connacht went on to score 15 points in his absence.

Twelve of those points came after half time as Connacht conjured up two sensational scores to put the game to bed and wrap up the bonus by the 47th minute. The first score came from Carr who finally ended a four month wait for a fifth League try of the season. The score was again made by Keatley who broke out of his own half drew the cover and released the winger.

By the time the fourth try came, Connacht were playing sevens style rugby keeping the ball alive to exploit the extra man in the backline. Duffy sparked the break, Brett Wilkinson defied loose head stereotypes with his speed on the break and off load to Keatley who looped a pass out wide to that man Tuohy and needless to say, he finished with style.

A penalty try followed on the hour mark thanks to a dominant scrum and then – to the mild frustration of Elwood – Connacht switched off a little in attack spending almost the entire final quarter in their own 22 defending a now abject Glasgow.

The pack excelled throughout, with Johnny O’Connor leading by example once more but Ray Ofisa making another key impact and Andrew Browne and Mike McCarthy also on top form. Connacht were fiercely determined to the final whistle and delivered a second half clean sheet to copper fasten another great win.

It might not be capturing the hearts of the province as much as European semi final runs but trust us when we tell you, a mid table Magners League finish would represent a far bigger achievement.

Yellow cards: Warriors, R Jackson 36m; Connacht, S Monahan 72m.

CONNACHT: D Duffy, B Tuohy, N Taauso, T Nathan, F Carr, I Keatley, F Murphy, B Wilkinson, S Cronin, J Hagan, M Swift, McCarthy, A Browne, J OConnor (cpt), R Ofisa. Replacements: M McComish for Ofisa (47 mins), R Ah You for Hagan (52 mins), C Willis for Murphy (64 mins), M Nikora for Keatley (65 mins), A Flavin for Cronin and R Loughney for Wilkinson (both 68 mins ), S Monahan for Tuohy (72 mins). 

GLASGOW WARRIORS: B Stortoni, H OHare, F Aramburu, P Murchie, DTH van der Merwe, R Jackson, C Gregor (cpt), R Grant, F Thomson, E Kalman, A Muldowney, T Ryder, R Harley, C Forrester, J Beattie. Replacements: J Welsh for, K Tkachuck for E Kalman (HT), P Horne for Murchie (HT), J Welsh for R Grant (47 mins), R Wilson for Harley (52 mins), C Fusaro for J Beattie (59 mins), H Pyrgos for Stortoni and D Weir for Jackson (both 63 mins), R Grant for J Welsh for (66 mins), F Gillies for Thomson (68). 

Referee: Tim Hayes (WRU).