Connacht need occasional rub of the green

On Rugby: It's bad enough that Connacht must, at times, feel that the rest of Ireland is against them, worse still when it appears that the whole world is.

Forever battling against the odds, forever having to prove themselves every time they step on a pitch, it would at least help their cause if they received an occasional rub of the green, or even fairness from the fellas in the Specsavers-sponsored jerseys.

Their sense of paranoia can surely only have been increased by the events of last Friday. A much changed, more youthful side appeared set to record perhaps the unlikeliest victory of the season thus far when deservedly leading 17-15 away to the reigning champions, the Ospreys.

Against vastly more costly assembled opponents, they had played nearly all the rugby, defended stoutly, aggressively and, for the most part, with the kind of discipline they had shown on many occasions last season.

Conor McLoughlin had been a real handful for a thoroughly out-of-sorts Jason Spice, the youngsters John Hearty and Keith Matthews were outstanding in midfield and the strong-running Darren Yapp had regularly sliced open the home defence, not least in setting up the game's only try for Matthews.

Then, as is his wont, Scottish referee Rob Dickson took centre stage. That he saw fit to penalise Connacht an additional 10 metres for engaging Spice was an ominous call, not least because Spice had tapped on his own 10-metre line, hadn't been tackled until reaching halfway, and the resultant sanction was a good 13 or 14 metres upfield, enabling Shaun Connor to try his luck from three or four metres inside halfway.

When the long-range penalty drifted wide and was touched down, two Connacht players dallied over tapped drop-outs before throwing the ball toward Paul Warwick. The impatient Dickson awarded an 82nd-penalty to the Ospreys in front of the posts which Connor landed for a scandalously fortuitous 18-17 win.

At the very least Dickson seemed to make his decision with indecent haste and the delay in the drop-out did not seem excessively long. Certainly one can recall Fergus Dunlea, the one-time Trinity and Clontarf fullback, making it something of a personal party piece.

But worse than all of that, Dickson was simply wrong. Law 13.11, under the heading "Delay in drop-out", states that "the drop-out must be taken without delay" but if it isn't, the law specifically states that "the penalty is a free-kick on the 22-metre line."

It will be interesting to see what will happen next. Among other games, Dickson is due to referee the Heineken European Cup games between Cardiff and Leeds, Clermont Auvergne and the Ospreys and, on December 10th, the Leinster-Bourgoin match at the RDS.

Indeed, in football, even in World Cup qualifiers, matches have been replayed after similar refereeing errors. Even the Ospreys coach Lynn Jones sheepishly shook his head. The phrase "we wuz robbed" has rarely seemed so appropriate.

But Connacht will not have any recourse to appeal, and the consequences could be far-reaching. For starters, all the Connacht players will have been denied a win bonus. In the longer-term, the net loss of three points could conceivably be the difference in reaching a European Cup play-off against the third-ranked Italian team.

You can't help but think that not everyone in the IRFU would be entirely upset about that, that not only Munster celebrated their recent bonus-point win over Connacht, and ditto not only Ulster when they did likewise the following week. Aside from provincial self-interest, they might also bear a grudge for the manner Connacht and their supporters walked in protest toward 62 Lansdowne Road when the union's axe fell over them.

Connacht begin their 10th successive European Challenge Cup campaign on Saturday against Amatori Catania at the Sportsground (2.30pm) and in this season's revised tournament format will also face Worcester and, in addition to Sicily, make the trek to Montpellier, with its Roman architecture. Nice trips anyway.

Yet they still operate with the sword of Damacles hanging over them as the union continue to drip-feed them. Were there a similar scrumhalf to Chris Cusiter, an Irish Lion from Connacht, would he be permitted to stay with his province, as he is with the Borders? You think of Gregor Townsend returning to Scottish rugby and the Borders, you think of the Borders buying in new signings such as Samoan lock Opeta Palepoi, and you wonder if Connacht would be allowed to do likewise.

The cost of running Connacht is estimated to be at €1.7 million, whereas the others are around the €4 million mark. IRFU chief executive Philip Browne, far too fair-minded a soul to bear any bias against Connacht, argues - not unreasonably - that the jam cannot be spread too thinly.

But as things stand Connacht are ensnared in a classic catch 22 situation.

Their failed attempt to lure in outside sponsorship and lure their prodigal sons home, such as Damien Browne, Johnny O'Connor and Gavin Duffy, were in part interconnected.

Meantime, Bernard Jackman and John O'Sullivan hot-footed it to other provinces, while others went abroad rather than consider heading west. And as long as Connacht are pretty much consigned to life without the European Cup, the trend will continue.

You also think of Gary Brown and Scott Young missing out on the Leinster and Ulster European Cup squads, and you wonder if the jam could be spread a bit more evenly. The Scottish and Welsh unions seem to be trying harder to get all their teams into the European Cup.

The push doesn't seem so strong here. Connacht, as ever, will have to do it pretty much for themselves.