The
Connacht marketing gurus settled on the slogan “Front Up Rise Up”
for this historic season.
While
there's no doubting Eric Elwood's men have shown the ability to get
the first half of that pledge done, sadly the second has eluded them
and if ever there was a single match that highlighted the
difficulties they're facing it was this one on New Year's Day.
Even
more sadly, there's not much evidence to show that 2012 will be any
different for them.
I
know the remit of HarpinOnRugby is to be a Leinster blog, but I
really can't write about this match without making Connacht the
focus. Besides...it's a special relationship we have with our
Western cousins...it's almost like they're our “little brother”
in that we always want them to do well so long as, of course, they
never actually upstage us.
That
may sound horribly patronising, but the truth is that's how the
provincial system has been set up in the professional era. A look at
the two team sheets proves it. On the Leinster side, names like
Hagan, Cronin and Carr, all of whom went in one direction with their
careers on the up...on the other, names like O'Donoghue and Tonetti,
who went the other way and may not necessarily be on a down slope but
are sideways at best.
And
the focus of my negative attention has to be the scrum-half Paul
O'Donoghue. I was really impressed with what I saw of him when at
Clontarf, but last season when he was called upon by Leinster I never
got the sense he was up to the pace the level demanded. While I
haven't seen every Connacht outing this season, I really don't
understand why Elwood insists on picking him ahead of Frank Murphy
for the big matches.
Now
just so we're clear, it wasn't all bad for the home side on Sunday,
far from it – they should have won the match (as should London Irish & Clermont have in 2010 - we really do get lucky when it comes to opposing kickers don't we?), and it was largely
due to the contributions of prospects like Tiernan O'Halloran. But
you see that's exactly where their problem lies – even though the
youngster is a locally-born talent you can't help presuming that he
will be snapped up by one of the “big brothers” before long if he continues with the line-breaking and the try-getting.
In
every aspect, Connacht just could not catch a break on the day.
Actually that's an unfortunate choice of words, poor Brian Tuohy suffered a
broken leg. The chronically poor kicking of Matt Jarvis (very
tempted to make my headline “Jarvis Cockup” but that's not something one
does to one's little brother is it) and Miah Nikora didn't help them
much either. And yes, I'm counting the last-minute attempted ROG impression as a poor kick.
While
we're on the subject of kicking, what can be said about Isa Nacewa
that hasn't already been said. Actually, quite a bit.
As
if the blustery conditions & the banana-skin nature of the
contest weren't enough pressure, he had to deal with “The Elephant
On The Pitch”™
that was the recently-announced IRFU dictat which basically told him
he was no longer welcome on these shores.
Yet
consummate professional that he is, the man somehow managed to slot
all five penalties on a day when he'd be forgiven for missing at
least two. Whereas other Leinster players, skipper Leo Cullen
included, seemed hell bent on handing victory to the opposition, with
this display alone Nacewa probably tacked another 10% onto his asking
price when the Top 14 or Super Rugby inevitably come a-knocking.
Elsewhere
on the Leinster side of things, there was huffing and puffing but
let's face it – as an offensive unit they played like they were up
well past the singing of Auld Lang Syne the night before. I'd have
to single out Rhys Ruddock not just for his unnecessary coughing up
of the ball on the Connacht line towards the end but for overall
invisibility. I'm seriously questioning the wisdom of handing him
the captain's armband during the World Cup, a time that could have
been better spent letting him focus on the three different positions
he was asked to play.
Of
course it's churlish of me to moan about our performance since we
returned to Dublin with the spoils AND a renewed 6-point lead in the
league, but with a tricky trip to Cardiff around the corner where
mostly fringe players will be selected, there will be many wishing to
leave their cobweb-filled displays at the Sportsground.
But
going back to the home side, I really hope they can get out of this
rut they're in. When normally coaches would look to rest key players
for a match, especially one that's away from home, that comes a week before a Heineken Cup series, I wonder if Eric Elwood can afford to do
this when they travel to Viadana next Saturday – the losing streak
really needs to be halted at 12 and no offence intended but
when it comes to brotherly relationships Aironi are the Fredo to
Treviso's Michael Corleone in Italian rugby so this has to be seen as
an opportunity to turn the tide.
You'd
really like to think that even with a few injuries, with their best
available XV Connacht can go over there, win 2 tries to nil for the
second week running, only this time finishing ahead on the scoreboard
that matters. I'd wish nothing less for our little brother and
hopefully it can spur them on to an improvement on their two European
pool points and then they can "rise up" the Pro12 table down the line.
Because
if things don't improve, whatever deals have been done recently,
there's always the danger that Daddy will banish him from
the house altogether. JLP
Posts
