Elwood: Bring on Toulouse

CONNACHT coach Eric Elwood is urging his team to step it up another gear for Toulouse’s visit this week after pushing Harlequins to the limit in their Heineken Cup debut.

Elwood says Connacht’s first performance in the competition came as no surprise to him, but the challenge now is to raise the bar higher when the European kingpins arrive in the west on Saturday.

“We firmly believe in what we are doing — people may not think we can compete against the likes of Harlequins or Toulouse, and that might happen, but we firmly believed we could have won that game, so I was not surprised,” he says. “People have every right to be proud and I am proud of the lads, but we were so disappointed because we genuinely felt we could have won — that is not being big-headed because that is not our business — but it was an opportunity. I have waited 16 years to get into the Heineken, so I am not going to be harsh on the boys — it was a fantastic effort, but we came up short and got nothing out of it.”

Now, he says, Connacht have to “rock up and raise the level against the mighty Toulouse”.

“I think we opened people’s eyes, but the challenge now is to back it up — can we back it up at home? Can we front up?”

Expecting a full house for Toulouse’s visit, Elwood hopes the home crowd will raise the spirits after Friday’s 25 — 17 defeat by the premiership leaders in which Connacht were denied a bonus point.

“We are looking at the Heineken Cup as a six test series. That was our first — it was important because it was our first game and now this week’s second test is that bit more important because it’s our first at home. The crowd will play its part, it will be a full house, all the boys want to play in that game.”

Elwood has some injury concerns, primarily to flanker Ray Ofisa who suffered a neck injury, and with Johnny O’Connor still out for another three weeks, the back row resources are stretched again. However Elwood has paid tribute to his younger players who have made the step up to Heineken Cup rugby, particularly his young centres.

“Young David McSharry was playing club rugby with UCD last year. He played his first RaboDirect game against Ulster and has now played Heineken Cup rugby a week later. There’s Eoin Griffin beside him, and Tiernan O’Halloran, it’s great.

“People are certainly not going to give us a chance against Toulouse, but that is the beauty of sport. The key for us to believe in what we are doing, believe in each other, and be the best we can. We cannot try to imitate anybody else — we are who we are — and if we can do everything to the best of our ability, I cannot ask for anything more.”