Crisis, what crisis? About two weeks ago, there was a bit of consternation in certain places – and understandably so – after the four Irish provincial sides lost in the first round of the United Rugby Championship (URC) for the first time in two decades. Align that to the fact that the national team appears stagnant at best and you wouldn’t wonder at an air of despondency hovering over aficionados of the oval ball code in these parts,
But then, you’re only as bad – or good – as the result of your last output. Regardless of what facet of life that may be in. Thus, if you jump forward to the opening weekend of the Investec Champions Cup which produced four outstanding results from the perspective of the Irish ‘club’ sides.
Which for a variety of reasons was somewhat against the run of play. Beginning with Leinster who have to have been at least slightly distracted by the fact that Leo Cullen announced this season would be his last in the coaching box for the biggest province. That in itself then had ramifications for the other teams around them.
Yes, in some cases those developments have brought about positivity for some. For example Connacht got a very nice boost when Ciaran Frawley headed into the west in search of more game time. A sensible and understandable move with the likes of Sam Prendergast and Harry Byrne notionally at least ahead of him in the queue for the fly half berth with Cullen’s crew.
However, what Connacht Inc could do without was speculation already revolving around whether Stuart Lancaster could be tempted back to his old employers.
Mind you, while there’s no doubting the potency of the Leinster artillery, there won’t be anyone wanting away from the Dexcom Stadium in a hurry given the manner in which Lancaster’s lads have incrementally improved in what feels like quicker time than it probably actually is in reality.
That said, as statements of progression go, beating aristocrats of European rugby like Saracens is as loud as they come. Especially a Sarries outfit with Owen Farrell restored to their ranks.
When big hitters like them roll into town, a prerequisite of having any hope of beating them has to be to get away to a good start and get the home crowd’s dander up.
On that score, not if the locals were working off John B. Keane’s script for The Field could it have played out any better.
Not that it began as such. No, falling 0-12 behind and losing Shane Jennings through injury inside the first dozen minutes certainly wouldn’t have been part of Plan A. Viewed through another lens though, their response to that eventuality was the most telling factor of all.
Which they did via tries from Cian Prendergast and Cathal Forde. One of which was converted by Sam Gilbert. Incidentally, isn’t it telling where Connacht’s confidence in themselves is when they had no problem leaving Gilbert on dead ball duties even though Frawley was also on the pitch.
Anyway, the sides then traded converted tries courtesy of Shamus Hurley-Langton and Nick Tompkins. The latter score arriving as Hurley-Langton was binned in the immediate aftermath of clocking up the five points.
The upshot of all of which was that after a chaotic first 40 minutes the sides were deadlocked at 19 apiece.
Six minutes after the return, Prendergast went over for his second major score of the evening. Rotimi Segun and Farrell then went to work at the other end to maintain deadlock.
The pendulum then became as wobbly as Donald Trump’s sanity once again as firstly Frawley got on the end of a brilliant move and ran in under posts only for Sione Vaenku to do the same at the other end.
Eventually though, the residents of the Regional Sports Grounds got the bit of separation they’d been striving for all evening when Frawley (again) and the introduced Caoilin Blade added further ‘Majors’ without riposte. At that stage at least.
The try scoring machine that is Elliot Daly did bank another one at the other end but Stuart’s sharpshooters were full value for their win.
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