RUGBY MAGNERS LEAGUE: Connacht 27 Leinster 13:THE WEST is awake alright. Something remarkable has been stirring in Connacht these past few months and this was utter proof of it.
Coming hard on the heels of Sunday’s debilitating defeat to an understrength Munster means it was not entirely logical but that only made beating the European champions all the more sensational.
Living off scraps for much of the night, defending heroically – with John Muldoon underlining his status as probably the best defensive backrower in the country with a tackle count that is liable to have broken some kind of record – they also struck stealthily with three tries, one of which by veteran Michael Swift is a contender for try of the season.
Leinster’s big guns all came out to play and they had buckets of ball, with Eoin Reddan probing and the likes of Stan Wright, Nathan Hines and Jamie Heaslip rising to the challenge in a thunderous second half. But they could have no complaints. This was a deserved Connacht win which takes them off last place and level with Ulster, while Leinster will have to wait to seal a home semi-final.
There was a minute’s silence for the 26-year-old Leitrim intercounty footballer Phily McGuinness who died after sustaining an accidental head injury while playing for his club Mohill last Saturday. Needless to say, this was assiduously observed.
Connacht had been hit hard mentally by Sunday’s defeat and by injuries to both first-choice midfielders Niva Ta’auso and Keith Matthews, along with the in-form Frank Murphy (who had been the classiest player on the pitch when the sides met a month ago at the RDS) as well as promising tight-head Jamie Hagan.
No doubt nursing a host of other knocks from the Munster bruiser 72 hours beforehand, for Connacht to make another match of it and bridge the 38 points that separated the league’s top and bottom it was imperative that they didn’t go quickly behind as they had on Sunday.
They began brightly enough, but it wasn’t long before the first half settled into a repetitive rhythm, namely Leinster hammering away at the Connacht defence deep in home territory. There had been a daring counter-attack inspired by Gavin Duffy, whose form has been rejuvenated this season, when eluding Shaun Berne and Mike McComish linked with Troy Nathan, and Berne over-cooked a long kick to touch.
But these were temporary reprieves as the tackle count must have been in the ratio of five or six to one.
Having begun well, Connacht’s lineout and their scrum both began to creak as Kevin McLaughlin and Malcolm O’Kelly applied pressure to the Sean Cronin throw – which was actually pretty good – while Ronan Loughney came under pressure from CJ van der Linde.
At any rate that was Peter Fitzgibbon’s view as Connacht’s former Irish under-21 international was twice penalised at attacking Leinster scrums even though van der Linde seemed in bother as well and closer to the ground for one of them.
Connacht came back with a sequence of strong scrums. Muldoon drove Stephen Keogh back at the base and Cronin just did enough to prevent Kyle Tonetti breaking through and offloading while Muldoon and Mike McComish held up Stanley Wright over the line.
When Shane Jennings latched onto a loose lineout tap-down and kicked ahead for another attacking touch, cue another siege. Nathan intercepted Eoin Reddan’s pass, and McComish and George Naoupu counter-rucked for another turnover before Nathan held up Girvan Dempsey for Carr to pilfer another steal. It couldn’t last. And it didn’t. Connacht scored.
As they proved against Munster they can roll with the punches and strike from deep, and so they did again. From a good attacking lineout after Brian Tuohy had chased ahead a Conor O’Loughlin box- kick, they moved the ball wide to Aidan Wynne. First O’Loughlin sniped, then Cronin straightened up the middle whereupon the back three all appeared to effect up the middle. Duffy cleared out, Carr went for the pick and go, and offloaded for Tuohy to score under the posts.
Nikore converted for a 7-0 lead but the interval scarcely constituted an interruption to the trend. Berne slotted a penalty for a high tackle by Michael Swift on Dempsey but Connacht went downfield and then Nikora, having revived their efforts with a drop goal, struck from even deeper in a contender for try of the season.
It began with the outstanding Duffy countering from deep off Andrew Conway’s kick and linked with Carr for a thrilling run before he linked infield. Muldoon, Wynne and Naoupu handled before Cronin injected pace with a hard line and offloaded to Mike McCarthy. Off the recycle Nikora made a lovely half-break and soft hands by Loughney enabled McComish to flight a long pass to Swift. Connacht’s most capped player hugged the touchline and beat both Richard Strauss and Conway for a stunning try.
It deserved a left-footer landing an unlikely left-handed touchline conversion. And that’s what it got. Back came Leinster with renewed vigour and Berne landed a penalty off the post before a Connacht scrum move launched Carr up the middle, from where Nathan picked up and darted under the posts. It was possibly illegal, as he was to the side of the ruck, but there were no defenders behind the ruck.
With Connacht living on the edge, Fitzgibbon sinbinned Johnny O’Connor and then awarded Leinster a dubious penalty try when Loughney and the scrum buckled once more. Berne converted but Connacht weren’t done.
Nathan led another break-out, Tuohy, Muldoon and Naoupu all handling before Cian Healy killed the ball and Ian Keatley nervelessly landed the insurance penalty.
All that remained was for the remarkable Muldoon to latch onto a forced spillage from O’Driscoll. By then the fat lady had cleared her throat.
Cue the pitch invasion from a, by now, manic home crowd.
Scoring sequence:34 mins: Tuohy try, Nikora con 7-0; (half-time 7-0); 43 mins: Berne pen 7-3; 49 mins Swift try, Nikora con 17-3; 58 mins: Berne pen 17-6; 64 mins: Nathan try, Keatley con 24-6; 69 mins: penalty try, Berne con 24-13; 73 mins: Keatley pen 27-13.
CONNACHT:G Duffy; B Tuohy, T Nathan, A Wynne, F Carr; M Nikora, C OLoughlin; R Loughney, S Cronin, R Morris, M Swift, M McCarthy, J Muldoon (capt), M McComish, G Naoupu. Replacements: K Campbell for O'Loughlin (38 mins), A Flavin for Cronin, J OConnor for McComish, I Keatley for Nikora (all 61 mins),B Upton for McCarthy (64 mins), A Browne for Swift (67 mins), Wilkinson for Loughney (70 mins). Sinbinned: O'Connor (67-77 mins).
LEINSTER:G Dempsey; A Conway, B ODriscoll, K Tonetti, Simon Keogh; S Berne, E Reddan; S Wright, R Strauss, CJ van der Linde, N Hines, M OKelly, K McLaughlin, S Jennings (capt), Stephen Keogh. Replacements: C Healy for van der Linde, J Heaslip for McLaughlin, E O'Malley for Tonetti (both half-time), I Madigan for Dempsey (48 mins), J Fogarty for Strauss, L Cullen for O'Kelly (both 54 mins). Not used: P O'Donohoe.
Referee: P Fitzgibbon.
Attendance: 4,000
