With just eight games remaining in the URC, Connacht have several mountains to climb to make it into the top eight and bring Champions Cup rugby back to Dexcom Stadium.
A 22-19 loss to Glasgow in Scotstoun may normally be seen as a decent result away from home, but not when Connacht are languishing near the bottom of the table, and certainly not when they were up against a Scottish outfit shorn of their big-name players.
Hence Connacht head coach Pete Wilkins is prepared to “bottle up the frustration” and channel it into “working really hard at training”, with more “honest reviews”, and a greater intensity to “get better”.
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“It makes every URC game very clear and present in terms of having to deliver,” he says. “There was not much room for error coming into that game, but we left with even less, and what we have to do is get out there and win the next game and get ourselves in touch with that top eight, and then win the next one, and keep pushing until we make sure we are back in the top eight and stay in the conversation.”
It is a tall order with little room for error but if anything comes from the Glasgow result and performance it is that it will held up as the example of what not to do in those next eight games.
“We turned the ball over five times in the attacking 22, which is just madness in terms of any game when you are looking to put the opposition away,” says Wilkins, “but particularly away from home and in a game of that importance. So five times in the first half alone and then to concede two tries in transition – very soft tries – we need to do much much better than survive just two passages of play before conceding.”
And at the other end of the pitch Connacht also coughed up possession, seven times just metres from the opposition line.
“Just not good enough,” Wilkins says. “You can’t win games when you are giving up that much ball. But the big issue are the chances we are not taking at the other end of the field.”
Connacht had travelled to Glasgow on the back of a strong European campaign in the Challenge Cup, but their inability to continue that form is “grating” on Wilkins.
“It will take a fair bit of reflection and review of the game and the individuals within it. Part of the challenge now is we have a little time to stew on it before we prepare for Cardiff and then Benetton – incredibly important games. It’s going to take some much better performances and consistency if we are to get what we talked about at the start of the season.”
However, Wilkins’ belief in his players and coaches is unshakeable, if currently being tested.
“The one thing I know is the strength of character – that ability and determination to stay in the fight. I don’t doubt any of that, but what we have to make sure is having that consistency and quality in the big moments in games.
“If we can discover a little bit more of that I think we can put ourselves back in the conversation, and I don’t think I could do this job if I didn’t have that type of belief. But we have to back it up, and unfortunately now we have to wait for Cardiff in a few weeks’ time to have another crack.”
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