Write off Connacht at your peril

WHEN Toulon coach Philippe Saint-Andre was interviewed after his side had outclassed the Scarlets in the quarter-final of the Amlin Challenge Cup, he was quoted as saying “The Scarlets are a great footballing side, with dangerous backs, but the Magners League is a lot different to the French championship.

It is a lot looser and I thought we were good physically and at the contact area.”

The suggestion seemed to be that the Magners is an inferior competition, a little bit soft in comparison to the macho fare on offer in France. Hmm. Has he been watching the mini civil wars in Ireland over the last few weeks, the Munster-Leinster meeting in Thomond Park, the Connacht/Munster and Connacht/Leinster clashes subsequently?

Would you say that either of the Scottish sides aren’t physical? Okay, the Welsh do like to fling the ball around, that’s their instinct, inbred over many generations, but you think they’re gone soft? Whatever Saint-Andre – or anyone else – may think about the kind of grounding Connacht may have got in the Magners League, one thing you can be absolutely certain of this evening: in the physical stakes, at the breakdown or in the tight, the men in green will not be found wanting.

The Magners is as hard and as competitive as any league out there, and the fact that two Magners League teams are in Heineken Cup semi-finals (again), and another two in the Amlin Challenge Cup semi-finals (Cardiff Blues the second), is testimony to that. So, that’s that out of the way.

It’s not just in the physical stakes, however, that Connacht now match up against any opposition, it’s in the way they like to play this game. If you’ve watched them lately, you will surely have noticed that while they do have a good kicking game, a safe pair of hands in Gavin Duffy at full-back, they prefer to run with that ball.

Whether that’s ‘up the geansai’ and charge for the hard yards, or spreading it wide, where winger Fionn Carr has been doing the divil, they do like to try and play, as opposed to just kicking the lard off the ball then lying in wait for the opposition to make a defensive error.

This will not be a case of Connacht sitting back and soaking up the expected Toulon onslaught, then hoping to break out for the occasional kicked penalty goal, stealing a win; this will be Connacht doing what they did in their quarter-final win over Bourgoin, and taking the game to the hotly-favoured French high-flyers. So, that’s another misconception out of the way.

In terms of personnel, everyone now knows about this expensively-assembled Toulon side, 17 players brought in during the last off-season. But Connacht too have real quality from one to fifteen, and beyond. Seán Cronin, Johnny Muldoon, Johnny O'Connor, Gavin Duffy, all have full international caps with Ireland, while most of the rest have been capped at underage or at A level, with Ireland, England, New Zealand – wherever. There’s a lot of pedigree in Connacht now, and in a one-off match, they have no reason to be intimidated by anyone. Nor will they be.