IT WASN’T A result, it was a statement. The pre-match script had a familiar storyline, how Connacht were on the edge, and how the Bulls were going to push them over it.
And when the South Africans scored after just 1 minute and 42 seconds of the game starting, you’d certainly have been forgiven for thinking the actors on stage were going to deliver the predicted lines.
The beauty about sport, however, is that it doesn’t stick to any plot. Yes, there would be five more tries in this game – as well as a disallowed sixth – but the Bulls didn’t score any of those. Connacht did, and so they have a win on the board, and – after a season of closed-doors rugby – a connection once again with their fans.
You had to be in the Sportsground last night to appreciate how noisy they were. “Three thousand? It felt like 10,000,” said Mack Hansen, Connacht’s new boy, Irish qualified, signed from the Brumbies in the close season. “I’ve never known an atmosphere like it.”
Old timers have. Tiernan O’Halloran, Kieran Marmion, Dave Heffernan, Ultan Dillane et al remember 2015/16 when it was even noisier. The difference then was that Connacht made a habit of backing one big win up with another. Glasgow were strong back then. Connacht beat them in successive weeks.
Munster? Knocked over twice.
Leinster? Not strong enough for Connacht in the Sportsground, nor in the Pro12 final at Murrayfield.
Since then, it’s been different. There have been some big one-off wins – even during Kieran Keane’s forgettable year – but there has rarely been a string of them put together.
Last season they beat Leinster away for the first time in a couple of decades and then lost the following week at home to Munster.
February was kind and brought them three straight wins. They followed it up with three straight losses. Onto the Rainbow Cup. They won in Belfast on the opening night and then lost by 29 points at home to Leinster. A week later they beat Munster in Thomond Park and then the week after that lost in Benetton.
Now this, a magnificent 27-point win over the Bulls, South Africa’s stand-out side. It could be the start of something.
“We have to back it up next week,” said their head coach, Andy Friend.
“Yes, this win was really important because it’s a new style of footie that we are developing here and we had some pretty heavy defeats in pre-season, another one last week and a loss tonight would have put us under more pressure.
“So this gives us confidence, a performance against a formidable side, knocking them off by 27 points. There is relief and with that relief comes greater belief. We’re only developing it and that’s what makes it more exciting. There is so much more to come.”
The win is memorable for the tries – Hansen’s in particular – but what happened on the other side of the ball meant more to Friend.
“Our defence set the platform and the set-piece against a physical pack, they were trying to maul us and kick to corners and scrum us off the pitch. We just needed to hold them and give our style of play one on one on them or else get our linespeed to hit them in defence.
“We’ve been guilty of good performances before and then we have not backed those up. We have an eight-day turnaround before the Dragons. Our target this season is a home quarter final.”
Few gave them a chance of doing that in pre-season. South Africa’s Big Four were coming into the competition; the format had been tweaked which favoured the hit-and-miss Scottish and Welsh sides; plus Connacht’s depth chart looked like it needed a bit more to it.
But that was before we were introduced to Hansen. He certainly announced his arrival last night with his swerving run to the tryline from inside his own half.
“When I caught the ball, my first instinct was to brace myself so the Bulls defenders didn’t level me,” the winger said afterwards. “Then I put my head down and went for it. I wouldn’t be able to tell you what I was thinking, it was instinct. You’re in space and just go for it. It was what I needed; being in a new place and experiencing a crowd like that, getting a home win like that.”
