IT’S A BIG few weeks for Dave Heffernan and Connacht.
The 25-year-old hooker stepped up in the absence of New Zealander Tom McCartney, producing an influential display as Connacht earned a hard-fought 30-25 win over Ulster.
The experienced McCartney is out with a hamstring injury and set for a long spell on the sidelines, consequently placing extra responsibility on Heffernan’s shoulders.
While the former Blackrock College student is relishing the likely prospect of an extended run in the team, Heffernan admitted to being “nervous” ahead of his first start of the campaign, while the Mayo native also had high praise for his injured teammate.
“It’s a bit of responsibility and also a massive opportunity.
“Unfortunately Tom did pick up that knock at the end of the game last week, but he contributed a lot throughout the week. An incredible amount of stuff about scrums, lineouts, his attention to detail is brilliant.
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“I’ve learned a huge amount from Tom, so hopefully he gets back as soon as possible and we get that competition going again.”
Heffernan and Connacht can now look forward to a busy few weeks, with their opening Champions Cup fixture set to take place on Saturday in The Sportsground against Toulouse.
“I haven’t played in the Champions Cup before, so I can’t wait, it’s going to be a massive few weeks.”
Following a difficult start to the campaign, the performance and result against Ulster will provide Pat Lam’s men with a morale boost, and Heffernan acknowledged the game’s significance.
“It was definitely a massive win. It was a good game for the supporters alright.
“It was pretty hectic and pretty intense. We nearly threw it away a few times, but thankfully we did the job and got the win, which was the most important thing today.”
A second-half fightback from Ulster threatened to derail Connacht’s bid to end a four-year wait to beat their Irish rivals, but ultimately, Heffernan and co held firm.
“We talked at half-time about the importance of the next 10 minutes. That was pretty disappointing — we conceded two tries in two minutes.
“We kept pretty cool heads after that and just tried to get back into our game. The same system, the same process that we always do. We clawed our way back into it thankfully. It was a great kick by Jack (Carty) — that gave us a bit of breathing space and made a huge difference for us.
“We knew we didn’t turn into a bad team overnight after the first three games. At the same time, this doesn’t mean that we’re a great team.
“We’re just going to go back to the same process we use every week — there were a lot of mistakes out there. A lot of people are going to be not looking forward to going in on Monday with the video review. But at least we won and it was a massive win, because they’re the only team that beat us twice last year.”
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Connacht's Heffernan ready to pick up where McCartney left off
IT’S A BIG few weeks for Dave Heffernan and Connacht.
The 25-year-old hooker stepped up in the absence of New Zealander Tom McCartney, producing an influential display as Connacht earned a hard-fought 30-25 win over Ulster.
The experienced McCartney is out with a hamstring injury and set for a long spell on the sidelines, consequently placing extra responsibility on Heffernan’s shoulders.
While the former Blackrock College student is relishing the likely prospect of an extended run in the team, Heffernan admitted to being “nervous” ahead of his first start of the campaign, while the Mayo native also had high praise for his injured teammate.
“It’s a bit of responsibility and also a massive opportunity.
“I’ve learned a huge amount from Tom, so hopefully he gets back as soon as possible and we get that competition going again.”
Heffernan and Connacht can now look forward to a busy few weeks, with their opening Champions Cup fixture set to take place on Saturday in The Sportsground against Toulouse.
“I haven’t played in the Champions Cup before, so I can’t wait, it’s going to be a massive few weeks.”
Following a difficult start to the campaign, the performance and result against Ulster will provide Pat Lam’s men with a morale boost, and Heffernan acknowledged the game’s significance.
“It was definitely a massive win. It was a good game for the supporters alright.
A second-half fightback from Ulster threatened to derail Connacht’s bid to end a four-year wait to beat their Irish rivals, but ultimately, Heffernan and co held firm.
“We talked at half-time about the importance of the next 10 minutes. That was pretty disappointing — we conceded two tries in two minutes.
“We knew we didn’t turn into a bad team overnight after the first three games. At the same time, this doesn’t mean that we’re a great team.
“We’re just going to go back to the same process we use every week — there were a lot of mistakes out there. A lot of people are going to be not looking forward to going in on Monday with the video review. But at least we won and it was a massive win, because they’re the only team that beat us twice last year.”
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