Advertisement
Connacht's Gavin Duffy Denis Buckley and Rodney Ah You at the end of the match in France. INPHO/Billy Stickland
column

'Connacht went into an arm wrestle with the Kings of Europe and won'

Former Connacht hooker Adrian Flavin nipped into a Dublin pub to watch the province’s famous win over Toulouse.

LEINSTER AND ULSTER were fantastic and Munster got the job done but Connacht stole everyone’s thunder at the weekend. Nobody outside of Connacht expected them to beat Toulouse.

I was looking after my boys on Sunday — bringing them to see the Christmas lights and a visit to Santa — so I had the game recording and was following updates. I had to postpone all my other plans to catch the last 20 minutes of the game.

I dashed into a pub with the boys. It was amazing and everyone in the pub was cheering for Connacht.

It was an incredible performance. To keep Toulouse out at the end and the discipline was unreal. In situations like that there may be one guy that jumps out of the line or the defensive structure but no-one did. It was a testament to them and the work thy are doing out there.

In days gone by, or in days quite recently, Connacht may have gone ahead but leaked scores when the other side pushed back. This time they held strong. They went into an arm wrestle with the Kings of Europe and won.

The main thing now is that performance is done. As harsh as it sounds, they have to forget about it. They know how good they can be and that should be the benchmark going forward. That will be the topic all week — they cannot allow themselves to rest on that result. This can be the result that really, really sets them up for the rest of a memorable season.

The belief must be strong in the camp. They went into Toulouse’s back yard and didn’t just grind it out. They ran them ragged at times.

They were working to a plan to target them in midfield and get in behind them. They did that effectively as we saw with Robbie Henshaw’s break for Kieran Marmion’s try. Fionn Carr went close himself and was in arm’s reach of a score but he reined himself in rather than going for the double movement. It paid off when Marmion dived over.

imageDan Parks urges a penalty on at the Stade Ernest Wallon. INPHO/Billy Stickland

Brett Wilkinson was marvelous and Craig Clarke is the undoubted captain now. He was signed for his leadership so why not let him get on with it as captain. Everyone else around him will crack on. Marmion is getting better and better and keeps teams honest. He can sniff out a gap and is starting to score his share of tries. The young guys, Eoin Griffin, Dave McSharry and Eoin McKeon, are flying.

If you were going to travel to Toulouse and take them on again a week later, John Muldoon would be the man you would most want on your team. He was terrific. They are off today but you can be sure that tomorrow he’ll be telling all the players the result will mean nothing if they don’t win at home.

It was one of the biggest ever shocks in the Heineken Cup but Connacht will want to back it up on Saturday. Connacht and Toulouse will be the biggest game of the weekend and rightly so. Toulouse will be coming out with all guns blazing and there will be more fireworks on the pitch than the show before kick-off.

@adrianflavin played 159 times for Connacht between 2006 and 2013 and earned two Ireland Wolfhounds caps.

Like rugby? Follow TheScore.ie’s dedicated Twitter account @rugby_ie >

Connacht coach Pat Lam ‘so proud’ after thrilling Toulouse win

Try hero Marmion calls for back-to-back victories over Toulouse

Your Voice
Readers Comments
3
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.