On Rugby:It often takes an outsider of more independent thinking to make the most telling observations, and so it was that Matt Williams, in his time as Leinster coach, came to the conclusion that there was a form of institutionalised racism against Connacht within Irish rugby.

It's ironic to think that, as the newly appointed Ulster coach, he may now become one of the prime beneficiaries of this.

Williams most likely had in mind the way that Connacht players were cherry picked by the other provinces, and the way they have been largely drip fed by the IRFU both before and since the union's attempt to disband Connacht as a professional entity.

Then consider the agm of the IRFU council. Every summer they meet, in latter years in the Berkley Court Hotel, at which one of the routine bits of business is to elect six people on to the executive committee.

As if by ritual, every year Leinster, Munster and Ulster nominate their two candidates - more often than not the same as before - and Connacht nominate one, and every year since the early 1980s - when John Moore was elected, in part because of remarks made by one of the Munster nominees infuriated Ulster delegates - the other six are elected.

The vote is simply decided by all the delegates present deleting one of the seven nominations put forward. It would seem not to matter if Connacht had unearthed Australia's John O'Neill, or a former Irish international, multi-millionaire with a proven track record in business and administration or, for that matter, if the other provinces put forward mannequins or three-legged dogs. It is always the men from Leinster, Munster and Ulster who are elected.

Hardly any wonder then that Connacht committee members hold little power save for the titular role of the presidency every seven years or so. As it is, Connacht's annual budget is estimated to be around €2.2 million, considerably less than Ulster's estimated €3.7 and the €4.4 in Leinster and Munster.

Everything seems to conspire against Connacht ever obtaining a fair crack at qualifying for the Heineken European Cup, and they remain the only Magners League side never to have done so. It's true that the Dragons are relatively impoverished compared to the other three Welsh regions, but still it seems much of an WRU policy than an IRFU one to have four teams qualifying for the Heineken Cup.

Perhaps understandably it's curious, nonetheless, that whenever Connacht play one of their fellow provinces those fixtures fall in windows when there are no international camps or Tests in sight and the others are at full strength. In the last two seasons, they have lost all nine of those "interpros" and, significantly, only in one of them did the penalty count go in their favour.

Two of the games ended with the penalty count level, but the 17-0 defeat to Munster in Musgrave Park was the sixth time in those nine matches that the penalty count went against them.

That night, the count was seven-one against Connacht at half-time, and ultimately finished 13-6, while it's worth pointing out that Connacht were awarded three penalties after the 76th minute, by which stage the score was 17-0.

By contrast, in the 21 games against non-Irish opposition in the Magners League over the last two seasons, the penalty count has gone in Connacht's favour over 50 per cent of the time. It's also worth noting here that "interpros" are invariably refereed by Irish referees, whereas the games against non-Irish opposition never are.

The immediate priority in Williams' brief when he takes over the reins at the end of January will be to ensure Ulster finish above Connacht and thereby secure the third and last Irish qualification place for next season's Heineken Cup.

To that end, Friday's postponement of the scheduled Ulster-Munster game is likely to prove beneficial. Ulster and the Magners League organisers, and perhaps Setanta but not Munster, will be looking for a quick rearrangement of that game, and the most obvious window is on the last weekend in January which had been pencilled in as that rarity in the modern calendar - a blank weekend.

Alternatively, they could wait to see whether Munster progress over the next two weeks in Europe into the last eight of the Heineken Cup. The quarter-finals of that competition are scheduled for the first weekend in April, which is also a blank weekend in the Magners League.

However, the likelihood is that the game will be rearranged for the end of January. Coming a week before the Six Nations, therefore all Munster's frontliners will be unavailable (although Eddie O'Sullivan may be inclined to play Paul O'Connell), ensuring they will be much harder hit.

That wasn't the only thing to dampen Connacht's spirits after their hard-earned win over Llanelli at the Sportsground on Friday night moved them four points ahead of Ulster. Victories away to Cetransa El Salvador in Valladolid next Sunday and at home to Brive the following Friday would give Connacht a good chance of reaching the quarter-finals of the European Challenge Cup.

But bar winning that competition (which is downgraded too readily even by the IRFU and for a season would not be the dead end it's portrayed to be), their best means of reaching the Heineken Cup for the first time ever would be to finish above the fourth-ranked Welsh side and earn a play-off against the third-ranked Italian side.

This is the means by which the Dragons have qualified in three of the last four years, losing out to Overmach Parma last season. But the Dragons ended Glasgow's 15-month unbeaten home run on Friday night, when the Scots had one eye on Europe, and this followed on from Richard Mustoe's match-winning try over Llanelli in the ninth minute of injury time over Christmas.

The net effect is to leave Connacht six points adrift of the Dragons.

Somehow, the fates always seem to be conspiring against them.