Bad days for Connacht

This was no fun, no fun at all. Sure, you couldn't but admire a Munster side rapidly assuming the mantle of the Guinness Interprovincial great entertainers, but it was against a team that had more holes than a soup-strainer.

Ultimately it was back to the bad old days of the Wild Wild West, even eclipsing the 60-20 romp in Thomond Park five years ago. It brought Munster's haul against Connacht to 286 points in seven meetings and extending their winning run over the westerners to 14.

Indeed, it was a record defeat at any level for Connacht, outdoing Ulster's 42-nil win in 1970. Record wins, of course, tumble repeatedly in the modern game and changed scoring systems, all the more so in a Super 12 type format.

Nevertheless, that can be forgivable one week, less so two weeks running. The side that over the previous couple of seasons had prided itself on its resilience and defensive fortitude, has now caved in on successive Saturdays, and, what's worse, at the Sportsground.

The natives are restless, and Glenn Ross' critics are becoming more voluble. As things stand, only 21 of their allotted 24 contracts have been filled; there is no recognisable full-back; nor a recognisable open side in a back-row that is now a barren area and the front-row lacks mobility; the once penurious midfield is now porous amid a feeling that Connacht have simply lost their heart.

Alas, Connacht don't have the indigenous talent of the other provinces so Ross simply had to cast his net further afield. It's hard not to feel a little sorry for Ross and by extension Connacht, given they have the least political power in Lansdowne Road, and perhaps more could have been done for the province.

He was unlucky that most of Ireland's summer recruits went elsewhere, having tried his hardest to get Dion O'Cuinneagain and Mike Mullins. Whatever about Allnutt's failed conversion to fullback, it has to be said that Ross' contentious preference for Martyn Steffert over Junior Charlie was a form selection on last season's evidence. Sod's law, of course, decreed that an injury to Steffert came on top of Jimmy Duffy's protracted absence, aswell as injuries to Shane McDonald and Gavin Webster.

In the longer term, Munster's coach Declan Kidney believes Connacht will improve significantly, citing the likely progression of Martin Cahill and Jimmy Screene over the season, and the return from the sidelines of Webster, Duffy and Steffert.

By comparison, Munster are in good health and can only be commended for adopting the most expansive approach of any of the provinces so far. They are far more varied in their options off set-piece ball, in what is largely a quick-rucking, running game.

They were helped by the limitations of a makeshift and outclassed, if willing Connacht backrow, and the way the home side quickly dropped their heads after conceding the first of ten tries, as well as a referee who strove to play the advantage and let the game flow.

Allowing for a relatively patchy spell into the first-half wind and a few turnovers, their rucking and ball presentation for Tom Tierney was excellent, and Ronan O'Gara looked what he is; an utterly accomplished all-round footballer in prime form.

Always aware of everything around him, his inventive running and distribution helped tear Connacht's defence apart. One moment two minutes into the second-half encapsulated his cocky assurance. Receiving set-piece ball inside his own half with the Connacht midfield converging on him, he weighed up the options in a second and arrowed a textbook diagonal grubber in between the Connacht right-winger and fullback to find touch deep inside the home side's 22.

He deserved his Man of the Match award, although arguably it could just as easily have gone to the outstanding Mike Mullins. His injured knee heavily strapped last week after just two training sessions, there were only glimpses of his true ability. But aware that he was playing for one of the last seven or so invites to this week's Irish squad get-together, after one missed tackle early on no-one produced a higher work-rate or more creative performance.

In fact, he has given an added dimension to Munster's game with an ability to take one, two or even three men in the tackle and offload one or two-handed to put support runners into space.

It was Mullins' anticipation, acceleration and awareness onto O'Gara's wind-affected garryowen, as Allnutt and John Casserly hesitated, which created the opening try, and all told Mullins gave the try-scoring pass to four tries. To their credit, Munster treated the fixture with due professionalism. "Had it been a schools game or a club game I might have made the substitutions earlier but it was our job to be professional and win by as much as we could," explained Kidney.

"It was pleasing the way they took on new goals and new targets during the 80 minutes. The first thing was to win, the second was to score four tries and then the third was to improve the points difference and outdo Ulster last week."

It's given them only a slight advantage over Ulster, but it could yet be crucial and thus far they deserve it.

Scoring sequence: 3 mins Duignan try, Elwood con 7-0; 8 mins Elwood pen 10-0; 13 mins O'Gara try 10-5; 20 mins O'Gara pen 10-8; 24 mins Crotty try, O'Gara con 10-13; 26 mins Kelly try, O'Gara con 10-20; 31 mins Murphy try, Elwood con 17-20; 33 mins Lynch try 17-25; 43 mins Wallace try, O'Gara con 17-32; 53 mins Crotty try, O'Gara con 17-39; 60 mins Crotty try, O'Gara con 17-46; 66 mins Corkery try 17-53; 69 mins Sheehan try, O'Gara con 1760; 71 mins Kelly try, O'Gara con 17-67.

CONNACHT: S Allnutt; M Mostyn, M Deane, M Murphy, P Duignan; E Elwood (capt), C McGuinness; J Screene, S McDonald, M Cahill, C Rigney, M McConnell, J Casserly, B Gavin, B Jackman. Replacements - C Kilroy for Allnut (30 mins), N Carolan for Allnut (63 mins), J Maher for Cahill (67 mins), E Brennan for Jackman (75 mins).

MUNSTER: D Crotty; J O'Neill, J Kelly, M Mullins, M Lynch; R O'Gara, T Tierney; P Clohessy, K Wood, J Hayes, M Galwey (capt), J Langford, D Corkery, A Foley, D Wallace. Replacements - A Quinlan for Corkery (5860, 66 mins), F Sheehan for Wood, M Horan for Hayes (both 66 mins), Cian Mahony for Crotty, J Holland for O'Gara, S Leahy for Langford B O'Meara for Tierney (77 mins).

Referee: David Tyndall (Leinster)