Duffy: We will learn from pain of French lesson
The tournament newcomers have experienced the tough side of life in successive weeks, losing to high-rollers Harlequins and Toulouse but Duffy is determined to come out fighting again in the coming weeks.
Next up is a RaboDirect Pro 12 clash with league leaders Ospreys and the inspirational captain can’t wait for the opportunity to take a scalp.
After the loss to Toulouse, Duffy insisted: “If we can take anything out of tonight and the last week, I think it’s that we want to be playing at this level.” Duffy’s individual form is at a peak and he won new fans at the Sportsgrounds on Saturday for his attacking flair and inspirational fielding in a five-star performance that must have been noted by Irish coach Declan Kidney. His display earned words of praise from Connacht forwards coach Dan McFarland.
“Gavin comes from a Mayo Gaelic football background and if you are going to have someone running after a ball and taking it two-handed over your head, you want Gavin. That takes guts, what a fantastic player.”
But Duffy’s motivation is very much centred on this team: “It’s all about the group. We’re delighted to be playing at this level and I think we’ll improve as a result of it.”
And with words like that, McFarland figures rugby could become a core part of sporting interest in the region.
“The occasion has been fantastic. The emotional build-up over the last three weeks coming into the Heineken Cup has been tremendous, the people of Connacht have bought into it, you can’t move anywhere without people talking about it.
“You guys have been here when there has been nothing. The first season I was here we played Beziers and Tim Allnut reckons there were less than 200 people here. And that’s against Beziers, who rugby people will know are one of the greatest French clubs of all time. Here we are playing in front of 9,000 people and they are loving their night, what more can you ask?”
Toulouse forward coach Yannick Bru, the former French international, was also optimistic for Connacht.
“I thought [the event] was fantastic. We felt the passion in the city today and the welcome was fantastic: the people have a lot of respect and are polite and full of emotion.
“That’s why we play rugby, and I think Connacht and the crowd here gave a very good impression of rugby.
“They were inexperienced on certain turnovers but as we expected they had a very good lineout, and a good pace to their rugby.
“Our target was to stop the speed of their game and contest the rucks, and we did that.
“That’s why their game plan was not achieved as well as last week. But this team are very clever and very talented.
“They have worked a lot on their game and the future will be very good for them, I think.”
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