Bradley still thirsty for Heineken success

SUNDAY’S surprise bonus-point win by Ulster over Edinburgh, combined with Connacht’s heavy defeat by Llanelli away, has ended any slim hope the western province had of qualification for next season’s Heineken Cup through the Magners League route.

Everything was building nicely to a high-octane final-round game in Ravenhill between Ulster and Connacht, but that option has now closed. A disappointment, certainly, for Connacht manager Michael Bradley and his team, but as they ready themselves for this Friday night’s Amlin Challenge Cup against French Top-14 joint table-toppers Toulon, it has the more positive effect of furthering narrowing their focus.

A win doesn’t just get Connacht to a European final, it brings them one step closer to what has been a long-standing ambition for all those connected with rugby in Ireland’s Cinderella province — Heineken Cup rugby.

“You’ve got to acknowledge the (Ulster) result for what it was,” said Michael, “It was an excellent performance and result for Ulster. In two weeks’ time it would have been great to go up to Ravenhill for a winner-takes-all. But it’s not going to happen, they got the five points they were looking for to make that a null-and-void match.”

That Heineken Cup berth, however, is still very much in Connacht’s own hands. “In terms of what we can control, yeah. I think you have to acknowledge as well that a semi-final of a European Cup is a great event to be involved in, a special day for our supporters and the team, and to have that event in Galway is huge.

“The match — we think — will be sold out tomorrow, if it’s not sold out already, which is an excellent back-drop to the event itself.

“We see it as a great opportunity to continue our good form in Europe. We’re unbeaten in Europe to date (the only unbeaten team in Europe this year, in fact). It could be an historic season for us if we get to the final and/or win it. So, all those things are going on the table on Friday night.”

Toulon, however, are formidable opposition. While most of the exposure this week will be on the efforts of Leinster and Munster as they both attempt to qualify for an all-Irish Heineken Cup final, such is the quality of this ‘lesser’ European competition, it should be noted that Toulouse — whom Leinster face — and Biarritz — Munster’s opponents — both finished behind Toulon in the French championship.

They have a very strong squad. They brought in 17 players at the start of this season, all quality players.

“The French Top 14 is a punishing league, it’s extremely physical, you need to have a huge squad to survive — themselves and Perpignan have done that, they are at the top, Clermont next, Toulouse fourth. The cream will come to the top, and at the start of the league you could have predicted that.

“The reality of the situation we find ourselves in this Friday is that it’s a cup match; we talk about league, that’s why Toulon and Toulouse are up there near the top (strength in depth), Leinster are comfortably on top in the Magner’s, Munster will finish second or third, the Ospreys — all the teams with the big squads. But in a cup competition anything can happen; 80 minutes, bounce of a ball — and that’s just for starters.

“That’s why, going into a match like Friday, our single focus is the match — we’re looking forward to it. We think we have an advantage, the Sportsground — it’s a difficult place, very unusual surroundings for professional teams to come to. We have the crowd, a very knowledgeable crowd, they have backed the lads fantastically well.

“There’s a lot of pressure on the officials — Wayne Barnes is reffing the match, we know him very well, he speaks our language. These are all positives. It’s a good position for us to be in.”

On the playing front Ray Ofisa has been suffering from vertigo on and off for the last couple of weeks. He had a recurrence in the match against Scarlets, so he’s out. Robbie Morris has a calf injury, hopefully he’ll be okay. Keith Matthews has an ankle injury from the Munster match so that would be a major concern.

Niva (Ta’auso, knee), John (Muldoon, groin), Jamie (Hagan, hamstring) and Frank (Murphy, ankle) — hopefully all four of those will pull through, they’ve been getting intensive treatment over the last couple of days.