Schadenfreude has never entered my sporting mind especially when watching the vanquished. That is until Northampton Saints injured fullback Ben Foden’s half-time answer to the simple question: “Can you do it, seriously?” “Am . . . I don’t know, it would be a big ask, this Leinster team don’t look like they’re gonna take off the pressure, but am, the boys gotta dig deep and gotta rescue something . . . ’
Final score – 7-40.
Well we are half way between the reverse fixtures and I can’t imagine schadenfreude taking hold of the Irish provinces as the challenges remain huge. That said, for Connacht’s massive task, and to a lesser degree Munster’s, there’s no way an Irish sportsman would enter any second half with Foden’s meek fatalist utterances.
Looking back at the marvel of Connacht’s achievement can bring a sense of patronising punditry. Hence it would be remise not to highlight Connacht’s challenge and Munster’s victory. After all this is a professional environment and having jumped clean out of my chair last Sunday evening with unbridled joy I immediately turned to tomorrow’s rematch.
Stiffer challenge
Connacht will be facing a stiffer Toulouse team selection. Statistically, in nearly every facet of play Toulouse outshone Connacht.
The secret to Connacht’s win is twofold. Firstly, the Kieran Marmion’s 47th-minute try was top-class first-phase attacking play from a half-way line scrum. I’m especially happy for Connacht props Brett Wilkinson and Nathan White for this try as no doubt Marmion, Eoin Griffin, Robbie Henshaw and Fionn Carr got the obvious plaudits but the scrum has been a huge foundation all season.
To balance that, it took Toulouse seven seconds to make contact with a Connacht ball carrier and lost 15 metres in doing so. The world-class Thierry Dusautoir conceded nine of those metres affording Marmion a clean run around the scrum and offload; this is unlikely to reoccur but Marmion brilliantly maximised the opportunity.
Secondly, when Toulouse finally awoke to the danger they progressed like Munster did, direct and around the fringe. That Dusautoir scored was inevitable but that there were 15 minutes remaining implied Connacht’s day was done. Their victory was so impressive as they had so much rugby time remaining (Ireland had 90 seconds against the All Blacks). In that time they conceded huge swathes of possession but gobbled up the tackles, holding concentration.
Tomorrow, bravery in defence is not an issue for Connacht especially when giant Toulouse heavies carry. Connacht’s Achilles’ heel in defence has been a combination of line speed (which was immense last week) and defensive decision-making by Connacht individuals facing juxtapositioned ball carriers, decoy runners in space, narrow or wide.
Harlequins exposed this all too easily at the Sportsground last season. They lost that game 22-30 having been down 19-24 at half-time. But ’Quins should never have scored 15 points in those closing first-half minutes. ’Quins scrumhalf Danny Care scored two tries, one from terrible blindside scrum defence, the other a muddle around the fringe. Both concessions were avoidable had the defence understood the angles.
With Gloucester on the ropes in Kingsholm back in December 2011 Connacht had a massive opportunity with the score 16-19 and five minutes remaining until replacement prop Rodney Ah You muddled his lines of defence miles out and Jonny May got in for a seven pointer.
So much positive is happening for Connacht but so much more intelligent effort will be required tomorrow evening where weather dependent the lines of Toulouse running will be the greatest threat to a famous Connacht double!
Vulnerable
Based on Perpignan's injuries, their travelling – and crucially their recent poor performance – I fancied Munster to easily beat the spread last week. That they did but five tries to one could lead to a lazy conclusion of high performance. Those tries mask other issues that will be tested in Stade Aimé Giral, not aided by Conor Murray's injury. However, Perpignan are still weak and vulnerable so Munster can win where one losing point will be a disappointing result.
The key to Munster’s performance is their point of attack. I don’t know where it is and I’m not sure the players do as they continue to attack wide channels with front five players loitering, before changing. Time and again secondrows received the ball right on the whitewash, where a passive, disinterested Perpignan defence easily ushered them into touch. Where is the value?
Likewise when highly-skilled attacking players such as Keith Earls and Felix Jones arrived on the ball they found heavy traffic. Casey Laulala’s creative offloads tended to bounce to ground with precious few support lines hunting for the ball.
The strangest part of their play is the insistence of multiple passes where one might suffice. For instance I would love to see James Downey running a hard line, on to a weak Perpignan shoulder from an off-the-top lineout (near the tail) from the scrumhalf's flat hard pass. This would get a big ball carrier to the line quicker, putting the Perpignan defence under immediate pressure, sucking in their midfield so Jones et al can run. Direct, front foot rugby in Stade Aimé Giral could get them across the line.
PS 100; well done Peter Stringer.
liamtoland@yahoo.com
