Connacht's European Story
By Mark H
March 27 2006
The Irish provinces in European competition have reflected their national team over the past few years; very entertaining to watch, some brilliant individuals, but apart from the odd success, ultimately falling agonisingly short of the big reward.
Indeed, were it not for Ulster’s Heineken Cup win in the boycott year of 1999, then the European competitions would be covered by an Anglo-French blanket. Since then, Munster have led the charge for the Heineken, whilst Leinster have occasionally shone before falling short, and Ulster have struggled to repeat their heady success.
There is one more, oft-forgotten province though. Never allowed into the Heineken Cup, first through the IRFU’s insistence that only Heineken Cup results be taken as a qualifier , then by their own failings in the Celtic League, Connacht have forever been stuck in the void that the European Challenge Cup sometimes seems to be. The challenge for the men from Galway then, is that to get into the Heineken spot, they have to go out each season and win the ECC.
No pressure.
Consider a team with Damien Browne (Northampton) and Christian Short (soon to be Saint) in the second row, Mike McCarthy at blindside and Jonny O’Connor (Wasps) at openside; it’d be a pretty impressive outfit. Three of these players have left Connacht in the past 2/3 seasons; the fourth (Short) comes to the Premiership in the summer. You don’t see big names joining Connacht, only rising stars leaving Galway and becoming bigger names away from the Showground. It’s not so much a Showground but a breeding ground.
Rule One. Never talk about Ireland, Irish rugby and its politics unless you know the facts. You draw your own conclusions and keep them to yourself.
Back to the story. Whatever the rights and wrongs of Connacht’s fate, you have to sat that they are consistently a front-runner for the Challenge Cup; semi-finalists in the last two years, I expected them to be a lot closer to Worcester in Pool Five, but after sharing a win each, the Galwaymen missed out when the Warriors won in Montpellier whilst Amatori Catania were grabbing a shock win in Sardinia.
The European story for Connacht starts back in the first season of the secondary competition, 1996/97 – indeed, they’re the only ever presents. That first season saw 24 teams in four pools of six, and the Irishmen were eliminated after coming third in their pool, winning two of the five games. Padova and Orrell were the vanquished sides at the Sportsground, but crucial losses in Wales to Dunvant (their only win, incidentally), and at Northampton, meant that their 44-10 hammering in Toulon didn’t matter. Northampton were the only non-French quarter-finalists, with Bourgoin eventually beating Castres in the final 18-9.
1997/98 saw the first tournament restructure, with the home and away format adopted throughout the eight pools. If anything, qualifying was harder, with only the pool winners going through, but a 43-13 revenge over Northampton provided a good start. A 20-16 defeat in Nice was also a setback, but home and away successes over Begles-Bordeaux and a three point home win in the return game against Nice set up a last day showdown at Franklin’s Gardens. The maths were easy; if Connacht avoided defeat they were through, whilst if Saints won they would qualify on points difference. A fabled 14 man lineout which led to a try meant that Connacht would win the match 20-15, and ultimately the pool, but a trip to the eventual conquerors of Falcons, Agen, meant a 40-27 quarter-final loss. Agen beat Falcons, then Colomiers went on to beat Agen 43-5 in the final.
1998/99 and another format change - three pools of seven, with the top two from each pool and best two third placed teams progressing. This was, of course, the year of the English boycott, and no fewer than 11 French clubs participated. Connacht won their first three games - away at Newport and Rovigo, and at home to Perigueux, but heavy defeats at home to Narbonne (38-26), and in Caerphilly (39-8) meant that they would have to hammer their final opponents, Racing Club de France, by 80-plus points to snatch a third place qualifying spot. The tame 19-14 defeat meant an early exit in fourth place, and such was the strength of the French sides that all of them but Racing finished with a better record across the groups. Montferrand beat Bourgoin 35-16 in the final in Lyon, in front of a near 32,000 crowd.
When the English clubs returned, for 1999/2000, the format became seven pools of four with the group winners and best runner-up qualifying, and Connacht avoided all six of the English clubs. Not that it did them much good. They didn’t bank on Ebbw Vale (pool winners with six out of six) being so strong, and with old foes Toulon sharing wins with them, their only hope of salvation from this season came with games against Steaua Buceresti, in their only season in European rugby. The 30-20 defeat to the Romanians in the second round of matches provided an early final nail; it remains, and probably will for the foreseeable future, Steaua’s only European victory. Pau, conquerors of Falcons in the quarter-final, eventually beat Castres 34-21 in the final.
2000/01 and guess what? Another change of format, now to eight pools which should have all been of four teams, but pool eight was reduced to three by Dinamo Bucuresti’s withdrawal due to funding problems. This was the nadir for Connacht in Europe – they lost their first five matches, suffered a 45-0 defeat in Neath and a 58-21 reverse in Montferrand, and only won their last game, 13-11 in the Neath return. Elsewhere, Falcons stuck 99 past Cross Keys in the pool and 61 past Mont de Marsan in the quarter final, before falling to eventual winners Quins in the semis.
2001/02 saw – shock horror – no change of format, and Connacht found themselves with the tricky task of getting past Sale and the beaten finalists Narbonne. Wins over the French side and Roma made for a good start, but an agonising 33-30 defeat at home to Sale meant that they would have to go to Heywood Road and win to stand any chance of progressing. The 44-6 reverse effectively ended the campaign, and despite a record 61-13 win over Roma, the last day defeat in Narbonne meant third place in the pool, and elimination.
For the next three seasons, the Cup resorted to two legged matches so that a Shield could be introduced, and this suited the Irish province. 2002/03 started with a 73-41 aggregate victory over Mont de Marsan, before another tie against Narbonne. The first leg in France saw a 42-27 defeat, but the second leg represents probably the high point of Connacht’s European history, when a 23-7 victory, clinched by Eric Elwood’s late penalty and Cedric Rosalen’s 87th minute miss, meant a 50-49 aggregate win and a tie with Pontypridd. Fortune couldn’t strike twice though, a home 35-30 loss to Pontypridd in the first leg of the quarter final (on the same weekend as the infamous frozen off game at Saracens) was followed by a 12-9 loss in Wales and the end of another campaign. Wasps won the final 48-30 against Bath after Danny Grewcock got sent off for entering discussions about the price of fish with Lawrence Dallaglio.
2003/04 was like a French fantasy for Connacht. Starting off with an 18-10 win in Beziers, the second leg saw a 13-11 home loss that meant qualification – just! That win meant a tie against Pau, and the 29-7 home win put enough pressure on Le Section that Connacht could soak up a 10-6 loss away and still progress. The quarter-finals saw yet another meeting with Narbonne, and away followed by home successes meant that the province were into their first ever semi-final. The trip to the Stoop was a close affair, but Quins were good value for their 31-22 success. Three weeks later, at a packed Sportsground on a Sunday lunchtime, came the fightback, and in a compelling game the aggregate lead switched to and fro before a late Will Greenwood try gave the Londoners a 49-45 aggregate win. For Quins, a final (and ultimately the trophy); for Connacht, finally, the respect.
Last season saw yet another pair of matches against Narbonne, this time in round one, and unlike the previous January, Narbonne won the home leg 25-11. It would take a hell of a fightback again; it happened. Living up to the truism that French sides don’t travel, Narbonne collapsed, and Connacht’s 40-21 win meant an aggregate success by just five points – enough, by the ever peculiar rules of the competition, to put both sides through; Narbonne qualified as a lucky loser.
Connacht’s reward was Montpellier, and a superb performance saw a 56-3 first leg success that made the second leg a formality. The quarter finals brought a tie against the earlier conquerors of Leeds, Grenoble, and Dean Richards’ side wrre despatched after losing home and away. The semi-final started with a home game against Sale, and the writing was on the wall when the Sharks returned to Stockport with a seven point lead. A stunning second half at Edgeley Park meant a 59-9 defeat – their heaviest – and the end of another Irish adventure. Sale went on to win the cup 27-3 over Pau.
This season, wins over Catania and Montpellier were followed by a nine point defeat at Sixways. Despite winning the home return, Connacht were behind in the pool on bonus points and had to rely on the Warriors slipping up – they didn’t, and consequently, it’s a trip to Kingston Park on Friday.
In ten games against English opposition, Connacht have won four and lost six, but only one of those wins was away from home – at Northampton in 1997. In their 29 away game in the competition, they’ve won nine and lost twenty, but it’s noticeable that their progress has pretty much got better and better in recent seasons. In three of the last four years, the team that’s knocked Connacht out – Sale twice and Quins – have gone on to win the cup. Whatever happens, one side will have a third ECC semi-final to look forward to. Whose nerve will hold longest?
Rule Two. Never write off Connacht in Europe, no matter how inconsistent they may be in the Celtic League. This, after all, is their raison d’être.
