Connacht have defeated Munster just once in the professional era and in the long history of the inter-pros they have only managed to win on one occasion at Thomond Park, an 11-9 triumph in December 1986. And yet, should Pat Lam’s team shock the league leaders this evening in Limerick, it won’t even rank as Connacht’s best win of the month.
The spin-off from the astonishing 16-14 win in Toulouse in the Heineken Cup at the start of December probably yielded its first dividend last weekend when Connacht had the self-belief to deliver two late scores and notch a narrow victory over Dragons. Dan Parks set up Fionn Carr for the equalising try and then landed a drop goal to make it 14-11 and win the sort of match they have been losing all season.
Losing run
But while that victory brought an eight-match losing run in the RaboDirect Pro12 to an end, it once again highlighted Connacht's lack of line-breakers behind a pack which can hold its own with the best.
The loss again of centre Dave McSharry to another lengthy spell on the sidelines with an ankle injury greatly limits Lam’s options behind the scrum given that the likes of Danie Poolman, Craig Ronaldson, Tiernan O’Halloran, Miah Nikora and Kyle Tonetti are already on the casualty list, most of them long-term.
Kieran Marmion, who has started 13 matches this season and came off the bench in the other, is included among the replacements this time after being in the Irish national camp earlier in the week, and that allows Cork native Frank Murphy to start his 100th match for a Connacht side who have had to alter their backline.
The reshuffle will interest more than Connacht fans as Robbie Henshaw, a potential successor to the Irish number 13 shirt which will become vacant next season, starts at outside centre this evening and this is the sort of occasion where the 20-year-old could lay down a marker.
Lam will make his first visit as coach to Thomond Park and hopes to succeed where all before him have failed in the professional era, with Connacht failing to score a single try in their last four away games to Munster and whose only win over the Reds in the modern era was a 12-6 triumph at the Sportsground in 2008. He knows nothing is impossible – certainly not after the win in Toulouse – and the badly needed win over Dragons is also a boost heading to a venue where, aside from that 1986 win, draws in 1974 and 1940 were the only other days when defeat was avoided.
Massive game
"It is going to be a massive game for us and I'm looking forward to it. The win over the Dragons was important and it gives us a bit on momentum going there.
“We face a team that’s top of the table and top of their pool in the Heineken Cup and that have more Irish players than us but we have a plan to nullify their performance.”
He paid tribute to the work of forwards coach Dan McFarland, especially with the way he has turned Connacht props into an invaluable cornerstone of their challenge. “It’s tremendous and they’re responding well. We managed to disrupt Toulouse up front over there and we plan on doing the same down in Munster.”
Munster coach Rob Penney will have been glad of the few days’ break at Christmas to catch his breath after tries in the final play snatched a Heineken Cup win in Perpignan and then in the league against Scarlets last weekend.
“I’m just excited that at some point this team’s going to play some good footy and take the pressure of the hearts of the coaching staff,” he said after Ronan O’Mahony had finished a cross-kick from JJ Hanrahan, the hero scorer at Stade Aime Giral.
Penney rotates his squad again as he prepares to do battle with old friend Lam, while he has previously worked with Connacht skipper Craig Clarke and prop Rodney Ah You in New Zealand. Niall Scannell, their fourth choice hooker a few weeks ago, will start his first match for Munster after impressing off the bench last weekend when injury and illness ruled out Mike Sherry and Damien Varley.
