ANYONE WHO HAS ever covered professional boxing quickly learns that it is always better to trust your eyes rather than your ears.
That was certainly the case when an excitable chap started talking up this Cuban prospect, Mike Perez, who had got the hell out of Havana to end up in the National Stadium, fighting live on RTÉ, way back in 2008. “He has the feet of Floyd Mayweather and the power of Mike Tyson,” we were told in the build-up to his fight with Tomasz Zeprzalka, a Pole whose career ended with four wins and 10 defeats.
On another night, with another judge, Zeprzalka could have ended up with a pro record of five and nine. In other words, Perez didn’t quite live up to his billing.
Somehow all that came to mind last Saturday night in the press box at the Clan Stand in Galway. Again, we were listening to someone give it the Big I Am. This time it was Jake White, going on the charm offensive pre-match, pretty much saying Connacht were filled with Leinster rejects.
If that was bad, what followed afterwards was hilarious. For a post-match debrief, White had retreated to his bunker, reflected long and hard about the reasons for his side’s 34-7 defeat and then promptly explained what went wrong to a group of South African journalists who were joining the conversation on zoom.
Inevitably, as is standard practice for any coach who loses in Galway, the weather was mentioned. “It was wet and windy,” White said. Plus he grumbled about ‘a slope’.
Seated about 15 yards from the pitch, out in the open air, the Press looked at one another. “Where’s the wind?” one veteran asked. There hadn’t exactly been Noah and the Arc type rainfall, either. If White thought this was bad then he should be grateful the game was in early October rather than December. As for the Sportsground’s slope, well it’s not exactly Croagh Patrick.
The upshot of all this, though, is simple.
Andy Friend doesn’t have to motivate his players for today’s game (against Dragons, 5.15pm, TG4, Premier Sports); White has done the job for him. They wouldn’t have been aware of his pre-match comments last Friday as they were made just a few minutes before kick-off.
They know them now, though. Plus they know they have been accused of something far more damaging, not by White, but by themselves. As a team they have consistently been capable of beating decent opposition, winning away to Ulster, Munster and Leinster last season, but backing those wins up has been their issue.
That can’t happen this time. For Connacht to break into the play-offs, to secure Champions Cup rugby next season, games like this have to be won. Last season – with the crowds absent from the Sportsground – they lost seven of their 11 home games.
You can’t imagine that happening this season. You only had to hear the roars of the 3,000 people there as they finished their warm-up; you only had to see the concentrated faces of the players as they reacted to that, to know they would do something special last Friday.
But that was then. This is different. This is Dragons, a team with a diplomat for a coach, someone who won’t disrespect Connacht because he knows his team are the Connacht of Wales, forced to operate off a lower budget, forced to listen to snide comments from outsiders.
The truth is they’re a game outfit, deprived of depth in their squad, but a proud bunch, capable of taking Leinster to the brink last Sunday. But that was in Rodney Parade. With just a six-day turnaround and with travel thrown into the mix, Dragons are up against it. Their only chance would have centred on Connacht complacency. And look, that isn’t going to happen. Jake White has seen to that.
Connacht Rugby: Tiernan O’Halloran; Ben O’Donnell, Tom Farrell, Tom Daly, Mack Hansen, Jack Carty, Kieran Marmion; Matthew Burke, Dave Heffernan, Finlay Bealham, Oisin Dowling, Ultan Dillane, Cian Prendergast, Jarrad Butler (CAPT), Paul Boyle
Replacements: Shane Delahunt, Jordan Duggan, Jack Aungier, Leva Fifita, Conor Oliver, Caolin Blade, Conor Fitzgerald, Sammy Arnold.
Dragons: Jordan Williams, Jonah Holmes, Jack Dixon, Aneurin Owen, Jordan Olowofela, Sam Davies, Rhodri Williams, Greg Bateman, Elliot Dee, Mesake Doge, Will Rowlands, Joe Maksymiw, Harrison Keddie (CAPT), Taine Basham, Aaron Wainwright.
Replacements: Taylor Davies, Aki Seiuli, Chris Coleman, Joe Davies, Ollie Griffiths, Gonzalo Bertranou, Josh Lewis, Adam Warren.
Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen (SARU)
