NINE GAMES INTO the season, the URC table does not make for comfortable reading for Connacht.
Saturday’s damaging loss to Ulster leaves Connacht 13th in the table, just three points clear of Ospreys who have a game in hand (v Cardiff on New Year’s Day).
The result changed the mood music at both provinces. Before the game Ulster and Connacht had identical records in the URC this season but now one province can bounce into the New Year while the other tries to pick up the pieces from a highly deflating end to 2024.
Pete Wilkins’ side have now lost six in the league and picked up just three wins, meaning they face a difficult battle to force their way into the playoff picture over the second half of the season.
“I’m disappointed at this stage, we’re behind schedule in terms of where we should be and where we wanted to be at this stage,” said Wilkins.
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Connacht’s head coach Pete Wilkins. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
“The Bulls loss at home (in November) was significant enough being a home game against a South African team, but against a top of the table side in terms of once the competition normally plays out, this is our chance to make sure that we didn’t get left behind.
“You know, (I was) talking to the media before the game and a good win for us could have seen us up in sixth going back into Europe and a loss could have seen us, depending on what happens in the Welsh derbies, in the bottom three.
So the URC is still tight, but the impact of this loss is massive. Now, there’s still a good nine rounds to go plus hopefully a couple more, certainly hope isn’t lost but yeah, it’s a big dent in our season.”
Much of the damage was done across Connacht’s sluggish start to the game as they fell 10-0 behind. The home side were second best in the contact areas and struggled in the face of an aggressive Ulster defence.
From his vantage point up in the coaching box, Wilkins felt Connacht’s issues were both technical and mental.
“We talked at halftime about lowering our body height in terms of when we’re carrying the ball and also lowering our body height in terms of our tackling and defense to try and be more effective in that. So that’s technical, but it’s also a mindset in terms of how you go about your skills. There’s the mental edge in terms of your speed and intensity to fold in defense or to get off the ground.
“There are aspects that were good, but Ulster were a gear ahead of us. So I suppose you look at it from the rugby point of view, you look at it from the mental point of view, from us in the coaches box you’re looking down to see what body language is like, and on the whole it was positive. You’re looking to see if players are communicating with each other, either in the play or in the huddles in the breaks in play, and that all seemed to be there as well, but we were second best to a lot of things in that first 15-20 minutes.”
“Games ebb and flow all the time and you can look at it from the first quarter and lack of intensity, and there’s probably just a couple of errors that allowed them access into the game and put us on the back foot,” added Connacht captain Cian Prendergast.
“So I don’t think it was a lack of intent. I think it was just a lack of precision and a lack of clarity maybe at times which allowed them entry into the 22 which put ourselves under pressure.”
This weekend is a break week for Connacht and while the plan was for the players to take Monday through Wednesday off to recharge, the schedule may now change ahead of next weekend’s Challenge Cup meeting with Lyon.
“I think we’re an excellent squad,” added Prendergast.
I think we’re a really good team, I think we need to start believing that we’re a really good team and just push on and get better every week and push on into Europe now and really stake our claim there.”
Connacht are also waiting for an update on whether Mack Hansen will receive any punishment for his comments about officiating in the URC after the province’s loss away to Leinster.
“URC have been in touch to say there’ll be conversations, but there’s been nothing sent down the line in terms of a timeframe or indeed what what they’re looking to go after,” Wilkins explained.
“So we’ll wait and see. That will be another exciting thing landing on my desk over the next week, probably.”
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'We're behind schedule' - Connacht face uphill battle to get season back on track
NINE GAMES INTO the season, the URC table does not make for comfortable reading for Connacht.
Saturday’s damaging loss to Ulster leaves Connacht 13th in the table, just three points clear of Ospreys who have a game in hand (v Cardiff on New Year’s Day).
The result changed the mood music at both provinces. Before the game Ulster and Connacht had identical records in the URC this season but now one province can bounce into the New Year while the other tries to pick up the pieces from a highly deflating end to 2024.
Pete Wilkins’ side have now lost six in the league and picked up just three wins, meaning they face a difficult battle to force their way into the playoff picture over the second half of the season.
“I’m disappointed at this stage, we’re behind schedule in terms of where we should be and where we wanted to be at this stage,” said Wilkins.
“The Bulls loss at home (in November) was significant enough being a home game against a South African team, but against a top of the table side in terms of once the competition normally plays out, this is our chance to make sure that we didn’t get left behind.
“You know, (I was) talking to the media before the game and a good win for us could have seen us up in sixth going back into Europe and a loss could have seen us, depending on what happens in the Welsh derbies, in the bottom three.
Much of the damage was done across Connacht’s sluggish start to the game as they fell 10-0 behind. The home side were second best in the contact areas and struggled in the face of an aggressive Ulster defence.
From his vantage point up in the coaching box, Wilkins felt Connacht’s issues were both technical and mental.
“We talked at halftime about lowering our body height in terms of when we’re carrying the ball and also lowering our body height in terms of our tackling and defense to try and be more effective in that. So that’s technical, but it’s also a mindset in terms of how you go about your skills. There’s the mental edge in terms of your speed and intensity to fold in defense or to get off the ground.
“There are aspects that were good, but Ulster were a gear ahead of us. So I suppose you look at it from the rugby point of view, you look at it from the mental point of view, from us in the coaches box you’re looking down to see what body language is like, and on the whole it was positive. You’re looking to see if players are communicating with each other, either in the play or in the huddles in the breaks in play, and that all seemed to be there as well, but we were second best to a lot of things in that first 15-20 minutes.”
“Games ebb and flow all the time and you can look at it from the first quarter and lack of intensity, and there’s probably just a couple of errors that allowed them access into the game and put us on the back foot,” added Connacht captain Cian Prendergast.
“So I don’t think it was a lack of intent. I think it was just a lack of precision and a lack of clarity maybe at times which allowed them entry into the 22 which put ourselves under pressure.”
This weekend is a break week for Connacht and while the plan was for the players to take Monday through Wednesday off to recharge, the schedule may now change ahead of next weekend’s Challenge Cup meeting with Lyon.
“I think we’re an excellent squad,” added Prendergast.
Connacht are also waiting for an update on whether Mack Hansen will receive any punishment for his comments about officiating in the URC after the province’s loss away to Leinster.
“URC have been in touch to say there’ll be conversations, but there’s been nothing sent down the line in terms of a timeframe or indeed what what they’re looking to go after,” Wilkins explained.
“So we’ll wait and see. That will be another exciting thing landing on my desk over the next week, probably.”
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