UNDERSTANDABLY, THE MOOD has been pretty good around Connacht for a few weeks now.
Under Andy Friend and his new-look coaching team, the province are beginning to purr again. Last weekend they put on a superb showing to thrash the Ospreys in the howling wind and rain, picking up where they left off before the international break, when they put Ulster to the sword at the Aviva Stadium.
Next up its a trip to Dublin and a date with Leinster. The fixture is not as daunting as it once was, with Connacht winning in style on their last visit to the RDS.
Confidence is high, but Connacht have been here before. As always, consistency is the key focus.
“I think the mood has been generally good for a few weeks now,” says Eoghan Masterson.
“We finished up the (first) block with that big win over Ulster in the Aviva, which was a really good day out, a really good experience and then going into a few weeks off as well it was a good time to celebrate that win with everyone and then we had a couple of days off and everyone came back in a good mood, and then the training afterwards was really good.
“I suppose the challenge then was something everyone said about us and we were well aware of ourselves – consistency. Could we back up a good performance with another good performance? And I thought the lads were outstanding on Friday night, particularly the first half into the wind.
“I’m not sure if everyone watching on telly could understand how bad the conditions were, but it was absolutely freezing, howling wind, really cold, wet weather as well and some of the handling that the backs showed was really, really good and really encouraging to see that the hard stuff and the key principles that Friendy and Pete (Wilkins) were talking about were implemented.”
When it clicks for Connacht, there are few teams who are as exciting to watch. It’s early days in the season yet, but some of their performances have sparked memories of that wonderful Pro12-winning campaign in 2016.
“I’d love to think it’s getting to that stage but I suppose in terms of keeping our feet on the ground, while we have had two good back-to-back wins, we are three from six, we need a lot more before we start getting carried away with ourselves,” Masterson continues.
In 2016 when the ground dried up and we were able to impose our game-plan on teams with a dry ball on a dry track, it was very exciting so I suppose it is very encouraging to see the conditions on Friday and the conditions that are going to be coming up over the rest of the winter you’d imagine, you’d think that if we can do it in these wintery conditions, come February or March if we are in with a shout, it should be great for us.”
Not all camps have had it so rosy this week, with Munster’s trip to South Africa quickly descending into chaos. With a number of their travelling party still stuck in Cape Town, there remains uncertainty around what type of team they will be able to field for their Champions Cup encounter with Wasps next week.
Connacht have some experience in this area. Six years ago, Pat Lam’s squad found themselves stuck in Siberia for a number of days following travel complications after a Challenge Cup win over Enisei-STM in Krasnoyarsk.
Masterson didn’t make that trip to Russia, but recalls how the squad tried to turn the experience into a positive one.
“First of all, I hope Munster get home and get home safe and everyone is feeling healthy and that issue is resolved as quickly as possible.
“I know the (Connacht) guys were stuck in an airport in mid-Russia for a couple of days and no showers, hotel rooms, and they just found a way to make it work and in hindsight it was a great opportunity to bond as a team.
“I’m raging I missed out on that trip because people only speak about it with fond memories. A once-in-a-lifeline thing that you go through. Nobody came back from that trip with a bad word to say about it.
“They just said it was incredible and when they got delayed a little bit longer there were nearly smiles on faces because the attitude was – ‘We will make this work and we will have a good time and make the most of it’, and I think that’s the only way you can look at it.”
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