AND JUST LIKE that, Ulster and Connacht are two wins away from a final in Bilbao.
The possibility of the two Irish provinces facing off in the Challenge Cup decider at the San Mamés on 22 May remains alive after they won their round of 16 clashes last weekend, teeing up interesting quarter-finals against French opposition for both.
Stuart Lancaster’s increasingly impressive Connacht made it six wins in a row as they delivered a fine performance in beating the Sharks on Friday night in Galway.
Their reward isn’t a great one. They will travel to France to take on top seeds Montpellier in the quarter-finals this Saturday. Montpellier advanced with a 53-13 hammering of Perpignan last weekend, their fifth win from five games in this Challenge Cup.
Joan Caudullo’s men are taking this competition seriously, even as they enjoy a decent Top 14 season. So Connacht will need to go up another level this weekend, even if their win over the Sharks offers encouragement.
The South Africans ended up bringing a few more Springboks to Galway than initially expected, with Eben Etzebeth, Ox Nché, Vincent Koch, and Ethan Hooker among those involved.
They were largely insignificant figures in the game, though, as the vast majority of outstanding performances coming from Connacht players.
As has been the case for several weeks in a row now, Connacht’s defence was in strong form as they got through 180 tackles at a 94% completion rate.
Lancaster put a major focus on improving the Connacht defence when he joined last summer and though it has taken some time for that to become evident on the pitch, the results have been impossible to miss in recent months. Connacht have conceded just 14 points per game on average in this run of six victories.
Connacht tighthead Sam Illo is in fine form. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
If they can keep Montpellier to such meagre scoring, Lancaster’s side will be well set.
Equally important has been the fact that Connacht have been so clinical on the other side of the ball. On Friday night, they only had six entries into the Sharks 22, but they scored four tries on those visits for a return of 4.8 points per visit.
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This ruthless scoring was a continuation of Connacht’s form in attack. Such a high return in the opposition 22 can be difficult to maintain over longer periods, but Lancaster will hope the likes of Shamus Hurley-Langton and Sean Jansen can keep punching over from close range.
Yet, it’s encouraging that Connacht haven’t been reliant on just battering over from a few metres out. Their varied attack means they’re well capable of scoring from much longer distance, as we saw for their opening try on Friday.
In that instance, Connacht received a Sharks exit kick near halfway and launched into their attack. Scrum-half Matthew Devine used the shortside to negate the Sharks’ linespeed, with Cian Prendergast and Shane Jennings sending hooker Dave Heffernan on a surge down the right.
Sam Illo then carried in midfield to split the Sharks’ defence before Bundee Aki surged at the line and offloaded in behind for Hurley-Langton to skip away and throw a lovely pass wide to wing Chay Mullins, who sprinted home from 25 metres out.
It was also vital that they were strong at set-piece time. Nché and Koch were always going to provide a stern scrum test but aside from one first-half penalty concession, 20-year-old loosehead Billy Bohan and 25-year-old Sam Illo did a superb job.
On top of that, they were both excellent around the pitch again. Illo is in impressive form at the moment, while Bohan is going from strength to strength after his experiences in Ireland’s Six Nations camp.
Devine, centre Cathal Forde, skipper Prendergast, replacement out-half Seán Naughton, amd wings Mullins and Jennings were among the other strong performers, so Lancaster must be pleased with how lots of his individuals are performing right now.
Connacht lost in Montpellier in January. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
Of course, there are still huge challenges ahead. Montpellier will be firm favourites this weekend at Septeo Stadium, where Connacht had an agonising pool-stage loss during a tough run of form in January.
Lancaster’s men will go from their Challenge Cup visit to Montpellier straight into their two-week URC tour of South Africa to face the Stormers and the Lions, so they will need all hands on deck.
It’s a challenging schedule, but Connacht have plenty of momentum on their side now.
Ulster maintained their winning momentum on Saturday night. Just about. The Ospreys thought they had won it late on through scrum-half Kieran Hardy, only for a TMO intervention to flag that Owen Watkins’ last pass was forward.
There have been valid questions around the TMO process in this instance and the Ospreys’ frustration is understandable, especially given what a run in the Challenge Cup would have meant for them amid the concerns over their futures.
But it’s not hard to imagine how livid Ulster would have been to exit the competition via a forward pass, even if it was marginal.
There may be concern among Ulster fans that their team’s form has slowed down somewhat in recent times, although this was always going to be a challenging period as they look to get back up to full speed after the unusual situation of having a big contingent away and prominent in Ireland’s Six Nations campaign.
The good thing is that most of those figures have returned to Ulster in buoyant form, most obviously Stuart McCloskey. He is appointment viewing at the moment and was brilliant again in Belfast.
Stuart McCloskey is on fire. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
Jacob Stockdale finished his try with notable pace and power, Nick Timoney did exactly the same, Tom Stewart shone off the bench after replacing Rob Herring in the first half, and Cormac Izuchukwu returned from head injury with a punchy try-scoring display.
The Ospreys played well but Ulster did enough to get over the line and earn a home quarter-final.
Their visitors this Friday night will be Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle, who possibly surprised even themselves by winning away to Newcastle last weekend.
La Rochelle are ninth in the Top 14, seven points off the play-off spots, so their priority is obvious. O’Gara brought a weakened team to Newcastle, but the Red Bulls have been struggling and didn’t have enough quality to beat them.
So it is that La Rochelle go on the road again for Friday, but given that they have a huge Top 14 game at home to Bordeaux the following weekend, it’s expected that O’Gara will leave his frontliners out.
Ulster also have an important league game next weekend as Leinster, one point behind them in the URC table, visit Belfast. But Murphy’s men will be backing themselves to win on home soil in Friday’s quarter-final.
If they go through, Ulster will face either Benetton away in Italy or Exeter at home in Belfast in the semi-finals. The Italians host Exeter – who were impressive against Munster last weekend – in their quarter-final on Sunday afternoon.
The semi-final outlook for Connacht, if they can overcome their big challenge in Montpellier, appears more favourable.
They would either face Zebre away in Italy or the Dragons at home in Galway in the semis. Zebre are at home to the Dragons on Saturday night in their quarter-final.
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Connacht and Ulster keep their good times rolling in Challenge Cup
AND JUST LIKE that, Ulster and Connacht are two wins away from a final in Bilbao.
The possibility of the two Irish provinces facing off in the Challenge Cup decider at the San Mamés on 22 May remains alive after they won their round of 16 clashes last weekend, teeing up interesting quarter-finals against French opposition for both.
Stuart Lancaster’s increasingly impressive Connacht made it six wins in a row as they delivered a fine performance in beating the Sharks on Friday night in Galway.
Their reward isn’t a great one. They will travel to France to take on top seeds Montpellier in the quarter-finals this Saturday. Montpellier advanced with a 53-13 hammering of Perpignan last weekend, their fifth win from five games in this Challenge Cup.
Joan Caudullo’s men are taking this competition seriously, even as they enjoy a decent Top 14 season. So Connacht will need to go up another level this weekend, even if their win over the Sharks offers encouragement.
The South Africans ended up bringing a few more Springboks to Galway than initially expected, with Eben Etzebeth, Ox Nché, Vincent Koch, and Ethan Hooker among those involved.
They were largely insignificant figures in the game, though, as the vast majority of outstanding performances coming from Connacht players.
As has been the case for several weeks in a row now, Connacht’s defence was in strong form as they got through 180 tackles at a 94% completion rate.
Lancaster put a major focus on improving the Connacht defence when he joined last summer and though it has taken some time for that to become evident on the pitch, the results have been impossible to miss in recent months. Connacht have conceded just 14 points per game on average in this run of six victories.
If they can keep Montpellier to such meagre scoring, Lancaster’s side will be well set.
Equally important has been the fact that Connacht have been so clinical on the other side of the ball. On Friday night, they only had six entries into the Sharks 22, but they scored four tries on those visits for a return of 4.8 points per visit.
This ruthless scoring was a continuation of Connacht’s form in attack. Such a high return in the opposition 22 can be difficult to maintain over longer periods, but Lancaster will hope the likes of Shamus Hurley-Langton and Sean Jansen can keep punching over from close range.
Yet, it’s encouraging that Connacht haven’t been reliant on just battering over from a few metres out. Their varied attack means they’re well capable of scoring from much longer distance, as we saw for their opening try on Friday.
In that instance, Connacht received a Sharks exit kick near halfway and launched into their attack. Scrum-half Matthew Devine used the shortside to negate the Sharks’ linespeed, with Cian Prendergast and Shane Jennings sending hooker Dave Heffernan on a surge down the right.
Sam Illo then carried in midfield to split the Sharks’ defence before Bundee Aki surged at the line and offloaded in behind for Hurley-Langton to skip away and throw a lovely pass wide to wing Chay Mullins, who sprinted home from 25 metres out.
It was also vital that they were strong at set-piece time. Nché and Koch were always going to provide a stern scrum test but aside from one first-half penalty concession, 20-year-old loosehead Billy Bohan and 25-year-old Sam Illo did a superb job.
On top of that, they were both excellent around the pitch again. Illo is in impressive form at the moment, while Bohan is going from strength to strength after his experiences in Ireland’s Six Nations camp.
Devine, centre Cathal Forde, skipper Prendergast, replacement out-half Seán Naughton, amd wings Mullins and Jennings were among the other strong performers, so Lancaster must be pleased with how lots of his individuals are performing right now.
Of course, there are still huge challenges ahead. Montpellier will be firm favourites this weekend at Septeo Stadium, where Connacht had an agonising pool-stage loss during a tough run of form in January.
Lancaster’s men will go from their Challenge Cup visit to Montpellier straight into their two-week URC tour of South Africa to face the Stormers and the Lions, so they will need all hands on deck.
It’s a challenging schedule, but Connacht have plenty of momentum on their side now.
Ulster maintained their winning momentum on Saturday night. Just about. The Ospreys thought they had won it late on through scrum-half Kieran Hardy, only for a TMO intervention to flag that Owen Watkins’ last pass was forward.
There have been valid questions around the TMO process in this instance and the Ospreys’ frustration is understandable, especially given what a run in the Challenge Cup would have meant for them amid the concerns over their futures.
But it’s not hard to imagine how livid Ulster would have been to exit the competition via a forward pass, even if it was marginal.
There may be concern among Ulster fans that their team’s form has slowed down somewhat in recent times, although this was always going to be a challenging period as they look to get back up to full speed after the unusual situation of having a big contingent away and prominent in Ireland’s Six Nations campaign.
The good thing is that most of those figures have returned to Ulster in buoyant form, most obviously Stuart McCloskey. He is appointment viewing at the moment and was brilliant again in Belfast.
Jacob Stockdale finished his try with notable pace and power, Nick Timoney did exactly the same, Tom Stewart shone off the bench after replacing Rob Herring in the first half, and Cormac Izuchukwu returned from head injury with a punchy try-scoring display.
The Ospreys played well but Ulster did enough to get over the line and earn a home quarter-final.
Their visitors this Friday night will be Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle, who possibly surprised even themselves by winning away to Newcastle last weekend.
La Rochelle are ninth in the Top 14, seven points off the play-off spots, so their priority is obvious. O’Gara brought a weakened team to Newcastle, but the Red Bulls have been struggling and didn’t have enough quality to beat them.
So it is that La Rochelle go on the road again for Friday, but given that they have a huge Top 14 game at home to Bordeaux the following weekend, it’s expected that O’Gara will leave his frontliners out.
Ulster also have an important league game next weekend as Leinster, one point behind them in the URC table, visit Belfast. But Murphy’s men will be backing themselves to win on home soil in Friday’s quarter-final.
If they go through, Ulster will face either Benetton away in Italy or Exeter at home in Belfast in the semi-finals. The Italians host Exeter – who were impressive against Munster last weekend – in their quarter-final on Sunday afternoon.
The semi-final outlook for Connacht, if they can overcome their big challenge in Montpellier, appears more favourable.
They would either face Zebre away in Italy or the Dragons at home in Galway in the semis. Zebre are at home to the Dragons on Saturday night in their quarter-final.
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Connacht Momentum onto the next Ulster