CRAIG CLARKE SAYS that one of the main reasons he left New Zealand was to play against teams like Toulouse in the Heineken Cup.
And Connacht’s new leader, who guided the Chiefs to two Super 15 title wins before moving to the Sportsground in the summer, believes that one victory could turn their season around.
The 30-year old said that they were looking forward to playing the four-time Heineken Cup champions despite a dismal run which has seen them lose their last eight league games.
“The fact that they are such a powerhouse of European rugby and the fact that we are on the European stage, that sort of thing will look after itself, in terms of issues in getting up for a game,” he says.
He said it was difficult to fathom how they could go within inches of beating English leaders Saracens in the Heineken Cup and then slump to a 42-10 league defeat in Edinburgh.
“It’s challenging not getting results. It’s different. We work really hard during the week, we do prepare really well, but it is challenging when you don’t get the results after preparing so well.
“We deal with the things we can see in terms of our performances, the areas where we are lacking. Then we address why our levels of enthusiasm and energy can be great for these big games and why they drop off against teams that potentially we are on a level pegging with and should beat. There are a couple of thing we have addressed.”
The net result though is that Connacht have lost nine out of their 11 games this season and the two wins have come against Zebre.
But Clarke, who has been asked by Lam to take charge on the field with John Muldoon, Michael Swift and Gavin Duffy captaining the squad off it, says he has been in this position before and that one good win could turn their season around.
“My first year in the Chiefs was in 2009 and we played in the final. We got a hiding in the final but we had a pretty good year. But then in 2010 and 2011 were very lean years and we were down in the bottom three or four teams in the comp.
“There was obviously a change of regime and things before we started having success but towards the end of 2011 we … I don’t know … it took a local derby against the Blues for us to finally realise for us to get real passion back in our performance and it’s a real want, in terms of actually trying to out and get the win instead of just worrying about doing your role and doing what we said we would do. Actually going out and finally fighting for a win,” added the 6’7” lock who was drafted in on a three-year deal when Mike McCarthy signed for Leinster.
