THE INTENSE LONGING for victory that characterised Connacht’s maiden voyage into the Heineken Cup seemed tempered in the early rounds of this season’s adventure.
Winning can do that.
The euphoria from the win over Harlequins in January and the satisfaction from victory over Zebre in Parma meant the entire organisation could be philosophic about losing when ‘Quins returned to Galway.
After all, Conor O’Shea’s men had learned the hard way and have been moulded into a team capable of wrestling the European title away from Leinster.
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Today, Biarritz arrive in hope of inflicting a third straight defeat on Eric Elwood’s side. Yetthis is a long way from the Biarritz of old. They do still have Dimitri Yachvili and he will ensure the home side are punished for sloppiness at the breakdown. But many of the other names fail to inspire much of the awe once generated on the south west coast by Thomas Lievremont, Damien Traille, Nicolas Brusque and Serge Betsen.
There are the forces of Marcelo Bosch and Aled Brew in the back-line while Imanol Harinordoquy has been deemed fit enough for the bench, but Connacht will not be scared of the challenge.
In their last four outings at the Sportsground, Connacht and their fearless young back-line have only failed to score 20 points or more on one occasion – and that was a sopping wet day when they would squeeze out an 18-3 win over Treviso.
“After the last campaign, we want to step up and improve on what we did last year. Even with the unfortunate injuries, we really fancy ourselves against teams like Biarritz.” Elwood said on ConnachtRugby.ie.
“We all know how the French teams play and these guys are no exception. They have a beast of a pack. Yachvili and Harinordoquy are back from injury – perfect timing for them if not for us – so there is still that buzz. Some of the boys will be playing their first Heineken Cup game, so it’s exciting for them.”
Whereas the old cliché that you ’never know which French team is going to show up’ is tired and worn-through to insignificance, this new Biarritz are genuinely inconsistent.
Their 12 Top 14 games this season have been divided perfectly in two. They have lost heavily at home to Toulon, and also the Basque derby meeting against Bayonne. Meanwhile, their only win away from home came against second-bottom Agen all the way back in August.
Today, they will take the field one point ahead of Connacht in Pool 3, but only by virtue of the fact they have played Zebre at home.
Connacht, no longer possess that desperation for a win. No matter how they qualified for this tournament nobody can question the challenge they bring to it.
Preview: Nothing for Connacht to fear from broken Biarritz
THE INTENSE LONGING for victory that characterised Connacht’s maiden voyage into the Heineken Cup seemed tempered in the early rounds of this season’s adventure.
Winning can do that.
The euphoria from the win over Harlequins in January and the satisfaction from victory over Zebre in Parma meant the entire organisation could be philosophic about losing when ‘Quins returned to Galway.
After all, Conor O’Shea’s men had learned the hard way and have been moulded into a team capable of wrestling the European title away from Leinster.
Today, Biarritz arrive in hope of inflicting a third straight defeat on Eric Elwood’s side. Yetthis is a long way from the Biarritz of old. They do still have Dimitri Yachvili and he will ensure the home side are punished for sloppiness at the breakdown. But many of the other names fail to inspire much of the awe once generated on the south west coast by Thomas Lievremont, Damien Traille, Nicolas Brusque and Serge Betsen.
There are the forces of Marcelo Bosch and Aled Brew in the back-line while Imanol Harinordoquy has been deemed fit enough for the bench, but Connacht will not be scared of the challenge.
In their last four outings at the Sportsground, Connacht and their fearless young back-line have only failed to score 20 points or more on one occasion – and that was a sopping wet day when they would squeeze out an 18-3 win over Treviso.
“We all know how the French teams play and these guys are no exception. They have a beast of a pack. Yachvili and Harinordoquy are back from injury – perfect timing for them if not for us – so there is still that buzz. Some of the boys will be playing their first Heineken Cup game, so it’s exciting for them.”
Whereas the old cliché that you ’never know which French team is going to show up’ is tired and worn-through to insignificance, this new Biarritz are genuinely inconsistent.
Their 12 Top 14 games this season have been divided perfectly in two. They have lost heavily at home to Toulon, and also the Basque derby meeting against Bayonne. Meanwhile, their only win away from home came against second-bottom Agen all the way back in August.
Today, they will take the field one point ahead of Connacht in Pool 3, but only by virtue of the fact they have played Zebre at home.
Connacht, no longer possess that desperation for a win. No matter how they qualified for this tournament nobody can question the challenge they bring to it.
They belong. Winning will only reinforce that.
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European Rugby Champions Cup Connacht