YOU’D HAVE TO feel for the Connacht supporters. After the heartbreak of last weekend’s late defeat to Leinster, tonight they were subjected to a completely different type of pain as their team opened their Champions Cup campaign with a concerningly flat display, the game over before things ever really got going in Galway.
A new European season always brings hope but by the end of a desperately disjointed opening 40 minutes at The Sportsground, the life had been sucked out of the home crowd.
From there it only got worse.
With less than an hour played in Galway the result was out of Connacht’s reach as Bordeaux-Begles stormed to an opening weekend 41-5 bonus-point win.
If last weekend’s late defeat to Leinster was heartbreaking, this one was just baffling. Connacht were inexplicably off pace and never really looked capable of troubling their visitors.
Pete Wilkins had hoped the manner of the loss to Leinster would fuel the fire for tonight but this was a hugely disappointing night for his team, who once again were their own worst enemy at times.
Bordeaux are a quality side who have elite talent in their ranks but this should have been a competitive contest to kick-off the first round of Champions Cup fixtures.
Instead the home side made it all to easy for their visitors, who strolled to victory while still looking like they had more in the tank. Their pack was dominant and some of their attacking play scintillating. For all Connacht’s faults, Bordeaux brought the necessary intensity and delivered a statement performance which suggests they might just be set for an interesting season.
As in Leinster game, too many of Connacht’s problems were self-inflicted. Last Saturday they were left to rue inaccuracies at the lineout and moments of indiscipline which handed momentum back to their visitors. Tonight some of those same issues crept up again.
After Connacht played all the rugby in the opening minutes without any reward, Bordeaux struck with a try from Romain Buros.
Connacht replied when Shamus Hurley-Langton peeled off the maul but otherwise struggled to get their attacking game in motion. Hurley-Langton’s score arrived with 15 minutes played and would be Connacht’s only points of the night.
They had some struggles at the scrum, with Finlay Bealham getting on the wrong side of referee Karl Dickson. Their lineout was inaccurate and they let promising attacking positions go to waste – JJ Hanrahan cutting a frustrated figure after seeing his pass wide fail to hit John Porch.
Bordeaux had no such issues, with the gifted Damian Penaud a live threat through. The French winger was on hand to rub salt in the wound after Connacht lost Mack Hansen to injury on 21 minutes, Penaud crossing after Bordeaux did well to work their way through the Connacht line.
It was another Connacht error which ended the opening period, Byron Ralston spilling the ball to kill one of their better phases of attacking play.
They trailed 12-5 at the break and emerged for the second half with Bealham and Denis Buckley sitting on the bench. During the interval Donncha O’Callaghan ripped into the home side on TNT Sports, saying Wilkins “needs to lose it in the dressing room right now.” It was hard to argue with him.
Three minutes into the second period Bordeaux were pulling clear, another smart break by lively scrum-half Maxime Lucu ending with Pablo Uberti crossing for their third try after the visitors broke the line with ease again.
They had the bonus point secured before the hour after driving Connacht back at maul time and swinging it out to the opposite wing. With numbers up, Buros bagged his second try. You could almost feel Donncha grinding his teeth on the sideline.
When Connacht did manage to get within striking distance of the Bordeaux line they couldn’t find that clinical edge. Hurley-Langton was perhaps unlucky to lose possession as he attempted to ground from close range, before a close range tap-and-go saw Jack Aungier’s reverse pass smack Sean Jansen in the face.
It summed up Connacht’s performance, just as the final score of the game summed up Bordeaux’s – the Top14 side clocking up the offloads before Maxime Lamothe spun it wide to Uberti to finish a fine team move which looked inevitable as soon as they got the wheels in motion.
For the second week running, the small band of travelling support made all the noise as the final whistle sounded. For the second week running, the locals trudged back into Galway trying to make sense of it all.
