Memorable night for proud John Muldoon as Pat Lam hails ‘old heads in the pack’

Connacht captain John Muldoon will never forget Saturday night’s visit to Thomond Park.

Long before the final whistle blew on a historic victory for the western province, Muldoon found himself centre stage and in the spotlight with Welsh referee Ben Whitehouse demanding that he: “have the respect to look at me when I’m speaking to you”.

And things went from bad to worse for the skipper when he conceded a controversial penalty try and spent 10 minutes in the sin-bin as Munster looked set to continue their dominance over the visitors on their home patch. But thanks to Bundee Aki’s late heroics, Muldoon was left smiling at the end of an amazing night in Limerick, which ended a miserable run of visits to the famous old ground.

“It’s nice to be part of history, first and foremost”, he rejoiced. “I’ve had 13 goes at beating Munster here. James Connolly turned to me and goes, this is my first ever Pro 12 start and I beat Munster at home. That made me feel pretty old!

“It’s a great result for us from a personal point of view and as a squad. Someone asked me what’s the difference between this year and other years...we have a spine and a nucleus of a Connacht team with a couple of very important imports and fellas from other provinces. More importantly, we have a lot of young fellas able to step into the role. James is a great example, Sean O’Brien is a great example — Sean was making his first ever appearance in the Pro 12 — James was making his first ever start.

“But we’ve got to be honest here. We’re top of the league because a lot of teams have been missing their international players at the World Cup. We were the team least affected. What it does is give us confidence to come down to Thomond Park and believe we can win. Watching that last 10 minutes from the bin, I thought we were in real trouble but the lads dug really deep and that’s an indication of how far we have come and the belief that was there. It was good to see us being put under pressure and being able to come out the other side.”

And the penalty try? “It was definitely a yellow card. Absolutely no doubt. Was it a double whammy penalty try and a yellow card? I’m not sure.”

Connacht’s inspirational coach Pat Lam made no attempt to conceal his admiration for his captain: “I’m particularly pleased for John. He was one of a few emotional guys in the dressing room who have been trying for a while.

“Everything we do is about the team but for the guys who have been here for a long time and especially someone like John, I’m just so happy for him.

“He spoke with a lot of passion, a lot of pride, to his team and I could see how much it meant to him. We had 13 players from our academy or recent graduates out there.

“Connacht rugby is in good hands. There are good guys coming through and you’re led nicely by the Muldoons, the Whites, the Muldowneys, the old heads in the pack.”