ONCE THE DUST had settled on the euphoria of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat with Cathal Forde’s 78th minute penalty at Parc y Scarlets, Connacht head coach Peter Wilkins was able to reflect on what might have been.
Having raced into an early lead and ended the first half with a beautiful third try from Ben Murphy everything seemed set-up for a bonus-point win. Yet from 21-14 they failed to add to their tally for 38 minutes as the Scarlets came storming back to take the lead at 23-21 with six minutes to go.
Cometh the hour, cometh Forde’s big boot as he took over from the departed Jack Carty as the goalkicker. With an 83% success rate this season he was probably odds on to kick the wide angled penalty out on the right, but it was certainly a pressure kick.
“I was confident in Cathal, but it wasn’t an easy kick. It was close enough to the touch line to be missable, but the way he has been kicking this season we had full faith in him,” said Wilkins.
“One the dust settles to come away with four points we can be pleased because it’s a tough place to come. To get away with a win, and it think it is getting away with a win, will prove to be really significant in our season.
“We started brightly and we had a decent flow about our attack and we played some good pressure rugby. I thought we were starting to produce a good away performance, but in the second quarter we breathed life into the Scarlets.
“In terms of some of our contact work we gave the Scarlets momentum with their ball carries, and they got enormous go forward, energy, field position and penalties from their line out drives
“When you put yourself in that position with the start we had, being 14-0 up and then getting the third try just before half-time, you are always disappointed not to get the fourth. We recognise we didn’t get enough try bonus-points last season and we are consciously going after them this year.”
There was a try-bonus point in the 35-33 defeat at Thomond Park on the opening day of the season, and then another in the 36-30 home win over the Bulls last weekend, which is why Wilkins was left wondering why the tries dried up in the second half in Llanelli.
“The Scarlets deserve credit because they swung the game around momentum wise. They defended with real resilience and took their chances brilliantly when they came,” he added
“I was waiting for our game to click back into gear in the second half and it just wasn’t happening. That’s the stage when you know it’s too close for comfort on the scoreboard and you wonder if we’ve got it in us to find a way.
“In fairness to the team we did that and it shows the progress we are making. I’m not sure we would have won that game this time last year.”