MAGNERS LEAGUE Connacht v Cardiff Blues:THE EMBARRASSMENT heaped upon Connacht last week in Edinburgh makes this game even more important for Michael Bradley's team, for whom the loss merely compounds the psychological damage of re-acquainting themselves with their customary slot at the foot of a formative table.
Both they and their supporters need a restorative performance at the very least if the renewed optimism and freshness sparked by a close-season turnover is not to be dissipated already. That defeat constituted a sixth straight defeat in the Magners League and the statistical weight of evidence against them winning this evening doesn’t stop there.
It is a further measure of the task facing Connacht that they have won just one of their last nine matches against Welsh opposition, when beating the Dragons 39-17 at home last April. Furthermore, Connacht’s only victory in the dozen previous encounters with Cardiff Blues was 13-9 at the Sportsground in September 2005.
Admittedly, last seasons Anglo-Welsh Cup winners and Heineken Cup semi-finalists haven’t been tearing up trees themselves, and in losing a fourth successive league game last weekend in Limerick appearing to be missing the controlling hand of the departed outhalf Nick Robinson.
Where we are at the moment I feel the next two matches are massive games for us,” admits coach Dai Young. “We want to get the win under our belt and then we face the Scarlets at home. We start with Connacht, who are a difficult team for any side to face at the Sportsground but I feel we have enough quality to win. However, we have to match that quality with the desire, hunger and accuracy to get the right result.
CONNACHT:G Duffy; B Tuohy, T Nathan, K Matthews, F Carr; M Nikora, F Murphy; B Wilkinson, S Cronin, J Hagan, A Browne, B Upton, J Muldoon (capt), R Ofisa, M McComish. Replacements: A Flavin, R Loughney, M McCarthy, J OConnor, C OLoughlin, I Keatley, A Wynne.
CARDIFF:B Blair; L Halfpenny, G Thomas, J Roberts, C Czekaj; C Sweeney, R Rees; J Yapp, G Williams, T Filise, B Davies, P Tito (capt), M Molitika, S Warburton, X Rush. Replacements: G Powell, T R Thomas, D Jones, A Powell, G Cooper, S Norton-Knight, G Evans.
Referee:Neil Paterson (SRU).
Forecast:Cardiff to win.
