AS THE OFFICIAL health and wellbeing partner to Leinster, Munster and Connacht Rugby, laya healthcare is passionate about the provincial game.
In this new series, Provincial Pride, we will relive each team’s finest moments and look ahead to the future.
We’re kicking things off with the Westerners…
28 May, 2016 is a day that Connacht supporters will never forget. By beating Leinster in the Pro12 final, the province finally made an historic breakthrough to capture a first trophy in their history.
It was a stunning end to a season that saw Connacht emerge as one of the league’s great entertainers, head coach Pat Lam revitalising a team short on superstars but packed with talent.
They have yet to reach those heights again in the six years since then, but the challenge now is to build consistency and establish themselves as regulars in the knock-out stages of the league in the future.
It’s been a difficult start to the new United Rugby Championship season for the province, with Connacht away from home for the opening three rounds as they waited for their brand new 4G pitch to be completed at the Sportsground.
A first outing on the artificial surface may have been a glimpse of things to come as the Westerners claimed a nine-point win over Munster last weekend, thanks to tries from Mack Hansen, Finlay Bealham and Paul Boyle.
With a handful of promising summer signings still finding their feet at the club and the new pitch hopefully allowing Connacht to build on their attacking game, Fiona Halligan, a member of the Connacht Clan, the official Connacht Rugby supporters club is optimistic that the province are heading in the right direction under Andy Friend.
It takes time for new players to settle in and get used to the Connacht systems,” she says.
“The 4G pitch, from what I’m hearing the players are really excited about it. It will hopefully work to our benefit as Connacht do like to play an open and expansive game.
“It hasn’t been the best start to the season but it’s a tough five games to start with, three interpros and two games in South Africa. I expected a bit more from the Ulster game but you can just see glimpses of what they are trying to achieve this year. Hopefully they will be able to start to put it all together.
“You can see what they’re trying to do, but it’s quite frustrating as well to see some of the errors at the moment, like handling errors and missed tackles. But if they tighten them up, everything else will hopefully fall into place then.
“To get back into the Champions Cup for next season would be great, and make the quarter-finals in the United Rugby Championship. That looks a long way away at the moment, but it’s a long season yet!”
Looking back at that famous 2015/16 season, Eoin McKeon – who was back row for Connacht at the time – says there was a huge amount of self-belief among the squad throughout the campaign.
“That year was one of the most enjoyable years because I remember thinking before games, ‘Yeah, we’ll win this game, we’ll win this game’,” he recalls.
“So I think when we came into the final we were pretty sure that we were going to win that game as well. I probably didn’t think about it as a final, I thought about it as another game, essentially.
“That was the way we were coached. Pat Lam had us remove the noise that was being said in the media and everything outside and we tended to do that as well for most games. Just do our own thing.
“We had confidence in the way we were playing and we knew we could turn over the big teams and I think that was apparent. You could just see it when we were playing, around the training park even, everything, we were just brimming with confidence.”
In the Pro12 final, Connacht made a blistering start to the game, a superb try from Tiernan O’Halloran putting them in the lead with just 12 minutes on the clock, before Niyi Adeolokun extended their advantage with a brilliant solo effort 10 minutes later.
“I just had this feeling that we weren’t going to lose,” McKeon continues.
“I do remember cracking a rib pretty early on in the game and carrying it until I had to come off at half-time because I couldn’t really move with it. But yeah, I don’t ever remember feeling like we lost control.”
Leinster’s first points didn’t arrive until Johnny Sexton slotted a penalty early in the second half.
Matt Healy then added a third try and while Sean Cronin scored Leinster’s only try of the game shortly after the hour mark, they never looked like catching Connacht on the day, Lam’s side powering to a 20-10 win.
A special day, but for some of the players the size of the achievement only really started to sink in over the days and weeks that followed.
“When it really hit us was when we got back to Galway, and probably first Knock, because there was a huge crowd at the airport, a couple of thousand, and then we did a parade in Galway and 30-40,000 people showed up,” McKeon says.
That’s probably when you start thinking, ‘oh my god, this is massive’.
“And I think when you look back at it, most of us were probably more proud of what we did for our families and for the fans and that sort of stuff. That’s what I felt anyway. When I was bringing the trophy to my grandparents and other family members, that’s when you feel the pride of what you’ve done.”
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