Connacht fully rewarded this time

There's a pattern here and it's becoming remarkably repetitive. Blitzed off the park in the first quarter, Connacht's comeback was uncannily similar to their one over Ulster and even akin to their failed one against Leinster, for whom this latest collapse at The Sportsground on Saturday was more uncomfortably familiar.

Certainly, the greater the crisis, the deeper this Connacht team digs. Perhaps still lacking a bit of self-belief to really take a game to the opposition from the off, they seem to like setting themselves a challenge, witness the 6-0 deficit after 11 minutes against Munster; 12-0 down after 16 minutes against Ulster before winning 21-18; 19-0 behind to Leinster before garnering two bonus points in a 29-24 defeat and then, for their next trick on Saturday, coming from 17-0 in arrears after 23 minutes to take the lead for the first time with the last kick of the game in the fifth minute of injury time.

Accordingly, when Glenn Ross mused on this latest bout of Connacht escapology at the postmatch get-together in Corinthians (the mixture of disbelief and awe was still palpable) he observed that this was the best group of players he has ever worked with.

"There are no bad eggs, no prima donnas. They are all good people and that is why when the pressure comes on they pull together like that." All of which might almost sound a tad soppy in the world of rugby, but Ross had no qualms about saying it. "That's what won us the game."

As with the Ulster game, they were two tries to nil down in no time and lucky to be nil. Any time Connacht won the ball, usually through Jimmy Duffy's excellence at the restarts, they invariably coughed it up immediately - Leinster's offensive tackling seeing Victor Costello envelop Barry Gavin and Shane Horgan pressurising Mervyn Murphy into spilling static ball.

Connacht lacked any sort of control. Eric Elwood was clearly missed as eventual matchwinner Simon Allnutt kicked erratically.

Their scrum, predictably, was in trouble and so too their line-out, if less so, and they were missing a host of first-up tackles.

Leinster's ball retention was out of the top drawer, the first quarter being turn-over free. Clearing the tacklers and spoilers away with gusto, all the pack worked hard in establishing a steady flow of ruck ball. Costello was his turbo-charged self off the base of the scrum or in open field, another ex-Connacht man Brian Carey man was cutting through like a Rolls Royce, Kevin Nowlan was making attacking support runs all over the place and Girvan Dempsey was his usual composed, error-free and ever-threatening self.

The latter two scored their fifth and third tries of the Guinness Intepro campaign. It might have been more if the forwards hadn't occasionally over-cooked the broth. In any event, they were utter masters in every department. It was a slaughter of the innocents.

Crucially though, as in that three tries to two comeback over Ulster, Connacht opened their account in the first half - invariably through midfield, where their tries all ultimately came from. Following a 70-yard, wind-assisted touch find by Willie Ruane, and off top of the line-out ball, Murphy cut through and Gavin was in support to offload to Mulcahy under the posts.

Set-piece ball was still a struggle as the rain arrived to heighten the error count in the secondhalf, but the Connacht men still warmed to their task. Getting more numbers to rucks and clearing away the tacklers, Jimmy Screene, Martin Cahill and the rest of the tight five began to pick and go in some sustained drives.

They needed some inspiration along the way - Ian Dillon's call-up from the bench and invaluable late dash from his own half off nothing ball; Duffy's restart take at full pelt and a priceless strike against the head, as Connacht came within one more scrum infringement of conceding a penalty try, from man-of-the-match Mulcahy, the only Connacht player ever to boast of four home wins out of four against Leinster.

This time Connacht fashioned their own scores as opposed to forcing blockdown tries, Alan Reddan and Simon Allnutt breaking tackles for well-taken tries after variations on the famous Elwood behind-the-back pass, the slight of hand in both instances coming from Pat Duignan. Allnutt's last-kick conversion emulated Hugh Carolan's after Noel Mannion's try four years ago.

For Leinster then, it was all depressingly familiar. "We allowed Connacht back into it and I would have to say it meant more to Connacht than it did to us," ventured Jim Glennon damningly. "Each individual has to look very closely at himself and his performance, and examine just exactly what he's at."

Certainly, as in previous games, Leinster lost the plot, opting for collective cautiousness when ahead. Once a team sets a high standard and lets it dip, it's very hard to turn it on again. Even so, they stopped pushing up for the tackle, instead waiting for the runner to come on to them, lost control of the line-out and made no use of the wind - none of the Connacht outside three, to their own amazement, ever having to turn for a ball kicked over them.

Specifically, a stunned-looking Mike Ruddock bemoaned "too many missed tackled and too many penalties. We allowed them too much possession in the second half. We've got to look at ourselves and find out why we went off the boil, because some of the stuff in the first half was probably the best we've played."

Scoring sequence: 15 mins: Nowlan try, McGowan conversion, 0-7; 19: McGowan penalty, 0-10; 23: Dempsey try, McGowan conversion, 0-17; 32: Mulcahy try, Allnutt conversion, 7-17; 45: McGowan penalty, 7-20; 50: Reddan try, Allnutt conversion, 14-20; 58: Allnutt penalty, 17-20; 77: McGowan penalty, 17-23; 84: Allnutt try and conversion, 24-23.

Connacht: W Ruane; R Southam, P Duignan, M Murphy (capt), A Reddan; S Allnutt, C McGuinness; J Screene, B Mulcahy, M Cahill, G Heaslip, J Duffy, J Charlie, B Gavin, S McEntee. Replace- ments: M Finlay for Screene (temp 3-5 mins and 10-13 mins), I Dillon for McEntee (44 mins), N Carolan for Southam (51 mins).

Leinster: K Nowlan; G D'Arcy, S Horgan, B Carey, G Dempsey; A McGowan, D Hegarty; E Byrne, S Byrne, A McKeen, P Holden, G Fulcher (capt), T Brennan, V Costello, C Brownlie. Replacements: D O'Brien for Brennan (51 mins), C Scally for Hegarty (67 mins), H Hurley for E Byrne, P Smyth for S Byrne (both 75 mins), L Cullen for Costello (80 mins).

Referee: D McHugh (Munster).