The rugby action played second fiddle for the home crowd as they say goodbye to some legends, writes John O’Sullivan
It was a night of good byes at the Sportsground as Connacht bid farewell to several stalwarts and also, crucial to the result, their good record of late. Indeed, club legend Eric Elwood, after giving twenty four years of his life to the province as both a player and coach, took charge of his last game as head coach of Connacht. Club legends Mike McCarthy, Adrian Flavin and Johnny O’Connor also played their last games for the province before moving club and retiring respectively.
Seldom do sports games live up to the fairy tale billing they’re previewed with, and Friday evening’s clash with Gregor Townsend’s surprise package Glasgow proved this. In an ideal world, Connacht would have won a barnstorming game thanks to a last gasp Johnny O’Connor try, but, due to the excellence of Glasgow, nothing close to that materialised.
The wind battered Sportsground negated any chance of a flowing encounter. Instead, each team focused on using their burly packs, with Glasgow, quite clearly, gaining the ascendancy here. The hosts’ were extremely underwhelming, with Johnny O’Connor’s virtuoso performance and the solidity of late addition to the team Tiernan O’Halloran’s were the only bright sports in an otherwise turgid performance.
With their two Lions, Sean Maitland and Stuart Hogg, in reserve, Glasgow coped admirably with the adverse conditions and their fired up opposition and showed exactly why they’ve had such a good season this season. Gregor Townsend was maligned whilst he was Scotland’s attack coach for his team being too predictable and conservative. However, the opposite is true of his Glasgow team, with their off-loading game, in particular, despite the weather conditions, extremely impressive.
Bar a few excursions, particularly from Johnny O’Connor, Connacht were quiet during the first half, ceding both possession and territory to the visitors. It was no surprise when the Canadian DTH Van Der Merwe’s crossing brought him to one try away from the league’s leading scorer Tim Visser and tied him in second place in the try scoring stakes with Andrew Trimble.
The vicious Atlantic wind made place kicking extremely difficult and the one penalty that Dan Parks did manage to convert was almost skewed wide by the elements. Glasgow replied with a magnificent drop goal from fly half Ruaridh Jackson.
The half time whistle blew with the Warriors leading by 10-3. A scoreline that, truthfully, flattered Connacht.
Glasgow flexed their considerable muscle in the second half, introducing there Lions’ duo of Hogg and Maitland as well the extremely impressive Fijian scrum half Nikola Matawalu. Warren Gatland championed Stuart Hoggs cause an auxiliary fly half and that’s where he plied his trade when introduced. He also assumed the kicking duties and was successful with both of his attempts, a penalty and a conversion. Hogg can thank his Lions and Scotland team mate Sean Maitland for the opportunity to practice his place kicking, as the New Zealand born winger scored a wonderful solo try to take the game away from Connacht.
It was a largely forgetful game, but no one will ever forget the contributions of McCarthy, Flavin, O’Connor or, in particular, Elwood. Their names will reverberate around the history of Connacht rugby.
I’m John O’Sullivan, 20. Part time student, full time sports nut. Love rugby and am currently the PRO of Connemara RFC as well as admin for the Rugby Banter Facebook page. I also do some radio work for my local station. One day, I would love to be a Sports Journalist/Broadcaster.
