DURING THE WEEK, Ulster’s scrum half John Cooney was up for media duties in Ravenhill.
Cooney is a perennial favourite, because he usually says something quite off the wall. This time, he mused about the possibility of giving one of the American Football combines a go, with his ability from the dead ball.
In the end, he said that he decided against it. But here against Connacht he showed his worth again.
With the defence floundering in the second half once Connacht had the win, Cooney won the game for Ulster.
Little wonder that the defence coach, Jonny Bell, was grateful for him. But he wasn’t aware of the NFL whispers.
“That’s news to me,” he smiled.
“John would probably try out for ballet to be fair. He would back himself.
“Is there a danger of rugby players going to that? Well, for the majority I can’t see it. The sport they love is rugby and there is a very strong team ethic here and they want to be part of them wanting to go and play in the NFL.”
On a night when the conditions were awful, Ulster had an awful lot to be thankful for with the Dubliner. The darling of the terraces and stands here, he is something of an institution in the northern province.
“We are delighted to have John. John is a special player. He’s been here for a long time now and the crowd love him. He loves himself,” he says, again with a chuckle.
“No, he’s fantastic and he steps up whenever he is needed which is brilliant. And he doesn’t let pressure get to him, he just lets pressure run off him. You know when you give John those opportunities that nine times out of ten you are going to be banking those points. We are lucky to have him.”
From the win here last May, and the win over Ulster in Galway at the start of the season, Connacht have been on a steep decline. For certain, Bundee Aki was the most enterprising and exciting player on the pitch.
At times, Ulster’s play was turgid. How much of that was down to conditions though is a critical facet in making any judgements. Either way, the champagne rugby that head coach Dan McFarland promises is only seen in flashes.
Will this bother them? You suspect not. The crowd here have always valued the blue collar stuff. They would be wary of the balance tilting towards the flashy backs. They get a thrill when they see a maul building steam. In some ways, it seems an ideal marriage.
However, the tap penalty and maul combo that Bell reckons – with no lack of hyperbole – has made them the most talked about team in world rugby over the past week, will not be enough to beat the very best teams. If Nick Timoney is the man to look for to carry the try-scoring burden, then there’s a ceiling on that kind of stuff.
Meanwhile, Connacht head coach Pete Wilkins was trying to see the bright side.
“We’ve had a couple of tough ones like that in the last month, but very proud of the effort,” he said.
“It’s fine margins, when you look at the build-up to this game, Connacht and Ulster were incredibly even in terms of what they’ve produced this season on average.
“At half time it was incredibly even in terms of penalty counts, entries to the 22, and amount of possession, and it was going to be like that all the way through the game.
“Crucial moments, three penalties conceded just after half time to piggyback Ulster down the field was crucial. Those things make a big difference at the end of it.”
Every sentence of it was impossible to argue. But they still find themselves on the end of a bad run of form that looks a steep decline.
