Connacht aim to beat Glasgow to avoid unlucky eighth spot

Connacht’s Champions Cup qualification is down to the wire, and a win against Glasgow will ensure that target is achieved, says head coach Pete Wilkins.

“Eighth is not good enough – we put the picture of the URC table up front on Monday morning and pointed it out. We said, ‘well done, we’ve got the URC play-offs, but this is the next thing, eighth isn’t good enough’.”

URC’s Champions Cup qualification currently goes to the winning team from each pool, with the remaining four places assigned to the four highest-ranked teams in the league table who did not win their regional pool. That means top Welsh side Cardiff, in 11th place, can qualify as Welsh pool winners, taking the place of the team that finishes eighth.

“It is a quirk of the format of the competition, and thankfully it is going to change from next season,” says Wilkins. “I think it is a good thing that it is fully merit-based.”

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“However, it’s something we can’t control other than putting our best performance out there, and making sure we are not finishing in that eighth position, because whoever ends up in that position, you would be gutted because of those quirks in how the competition was negotiated. So we have to control the rugby and make sure we finish in fifth, sixth or seventh, and hopefully as high as possible.”

To that end Connacht will have John Porch available for selection, as he has recovered from a calf injury, but Jarrad Butler is sidelined after suffering an Achilles injury in Connacht’s 38-19 over Cardiff on Saturday . Jack Carty (hamstring), Finlay Bealham (knee) and Denis Buckley (ankle) all trained yesterday and are available, but Dave Heffernan remains out of action with an ankle injury.

Continued improvements this season have ensured Connacht have crept up the table to put themselves in a strong position to qualify, but Wilkins says more progress is still needed.

“We need to be better around our defensive movement, and our ability to fill the field and take space away from the opposition.

“One of the things we talked about at half-time in that Cardiff game was that we were working unbelievably hard in defence, and thankfully when you coach a Connacht side , it is something you never have to question, the work ethic or the intent. So true to form, we were working unbelievably hard, but we weren’t necessarily working smart, and that results in some players over-folding when they just need to stay where they are, or players chasing involvement and ending up doing the same job as someone else.

“One of the great strengths of this Glasgow team is their ability to identify space and move the ball to space pretty quickly, so if you do overwork and do leave spaces on the edges or spaces on the other side of the ruck, they will find them and they are empowered to find that space regardless of shape and structure, so we have to be better in that area, and it starts with work off the set piece, from scrums or lineouts, and then our decision making.”

Saturday’s game is another must-win and a big one for coaching director Andy Friend in his final season.

“We have had that many must-wins games in the context of our URC season,” says Wilkins. “To get ourselves in the top eight, then to stay in the top eight, and now in fifth, sixth or seventh. Every week we have been in that position, and the players have really embraced that – to have something to play for.

“They would much rather have a week like that, it is something the players have got used to, and it suits this group in helping to push them forward.”