Elwood eager to bow out on a winning note

Eric Elwood will bring the curtain down on a 24-year rugby career with Connacht tomorrow night – but has said his sole aim is to get a win over Glasgow Warriors at the Sportsground.

It promises to be an emotional night at the Sportsground with the departure of secondrow Mike McCarthy, who is joining Leinster over the summer, and the retirements of flanker Johnny O’Connor and hooker Adrian Flavin also a factor.

Elwood says he appreciates there will be a lot of emotion n the night but he is determined to keep focused on the goal of clinching another win.

Last game
"Obviously as it is my last game and the last game for some of the boys, it will be an emotional occasion. But it is important that we keep remembering that there are four points up for grabs.

“We want to improve on last year and if we win we will have a record number of wins to go with our best away record so far. And we will get nothing easy from a Glasgow side that are chasing a home semi-final,” said Elwood.

As well as it being his own finale, Elwood is hopeful the popular O’Connor will be able to recover from an ankle injury in time to play one more time at the Sportsground.

But he also has a number of more serious injury concerns after their 23-23 draw away to Treviso.

“Johnny has returned to training and it would be nice for him to play some part.

“It is hard to believe that this is my last week of 24 years involvement with Connacht. But your time always comes and I am just happy to be going out on my own terms.

“It will be an emotional night for everyone involved in the team and province, but I just hope that we get the good crowd that will help us copper -fasten what has been a good season,” he said.