A WET NIGHT IN Swansea may not seem like the setting to talk something up, especially as this is round 7 rather than 17 of the URC.
Yet you already get the sense that every point counts in this year’s championship, not just because some teams, Lions, Edinburgh and Benetton, are better than they used to be, but also because the danger exists that if a big enough gap grows then you won’t be able to catch those running away from you.
That’s where Connacht are right now, at another crossroads (kick-off 7.35pm RTE).
Win, and they move to three wins from seven, conscious the hard part of their season is over.
After tonight, they have 11 games left, six at home, where their record is good, and of the five away games, two of those are against Zebre and Dragons.
That’s why these sorts of games are vital. Last season Connacht would have made the play-offs if they had have kept their discipline at home to Dragons and Glasgow. Instead they switched off. Both games were there to be won. They blew it. They can’t afford to repeat that trick tonight.
“Ospreys could well have a large number of players missing but that’s actually been a bigger banana skin for us in recent seasons when we’ve played the Welsh, Scottish and Italian clubs on the eve of the international windows,” said the Connacht coach, Pete Wilkins.
“We’ve come unstuck unforgivably and that is a red flag for us. We’ve laid down that challenge to the group this week. They’ve been much stronger at home than away and we have some catching up to do. So we’ll be taking this seriously.
“We’re getting closer to understanding what our best 15 and best 23 is and also the combinations within that.”
The team they have selected for tonight’s match looks impressive.
Even in the absence of Mack Hansen, they still have Alex Wootton and John Porch to choose from on the wings, with former Leinster player Adam Byrne there among the replacements.
Niall Murray’s absence from the second row is compensated for by the presence of Gavin Thornbury and Oisin Dowling while the form of backrower, Conor Oliver, has been another plus for Wilkins.
“He is getting better with every game,” says Wilkins.
“He burst on to the scene and last season, he played a lot of minutes in the first-half of the season and it’s on us to make sure we manage him appropriately so that he doesn’t fall off the cliff around Christmas time. That he keeps firing on all cylinders until the spring and hopefully finals.
“We’re probably managing him better this year than we might have done previously. But certainly in terms of the abrasiveness, intensity and energy he brings to the team, he is exactly the kind of person around whom we want to build our game and identity around.
“He’s not the only one but he’s a key part of it. As he’s getting more established here in Connacht, you’re starting to hear his voice more and more behind the scenes in terms of driving standards amongst the other players and demanding more from them whether that’s performance or details around the game.
“He’s maturing nicely and he will be very important to us on an ongoing basis this season.”
Also important to Wilkins is getting out of Wales with five points.
“It’s really important to sign off this block with a win,” he said.
“Ospreys will be a challenge but coming out with a 3-4 (win/loss record from their seven games to date this season), is vital.
“Many people thought we’d struggle to win one of these seven. We feel we could do a better job but we’re at least moving in the right direction. We understand what the fixture list was like but we would still like to have improved upon. A win would be massive for us this weekend in terms of addressing that.”
Ospreys: Max Nagy, Luke Morgan, Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler, Keiran Williams, Keelan Giles, Jack Walsh, Reuben Morgan Williams, Rhys Henry, Scott Baldwin (CAPT), Tom Botha, Rhys Davies, Huw Sutton, Ethan Roots, Harri Deaves, Morgan Morris
Replacements: Sam Parry, Garyn Phillips, Ben Warren, Jack Regan, Tristan Davies, Matthew Aubrey, Luke Scully, Cai Evans
Connacht: Tiernan O’Halloran, Alex Wootton, Tom Farrell, David Hawkshaw, John Porch, Jack Carty (CAPT), Caolin Blade, Denis Buckley, Dylan Tierney-Martin, Jack Aungier, Oisín Dowling, Gavin Thornbury, Shamus Hurley-Langton, Conor Oliver, Jarrad Butler
Replacements: Grant Stewart, Jordan Duggan, Sam Illo, Darragh Murray, Paul Boyle, Kieran Marmion, Tom Daly, Adam Byrne
