JOHN MULDOON WENT through enough peaks and troughs during his record 327 appearances for his native Connacht to spot greenshoots and he reckons their win over Munster on New Year’s Day has prepared them for the Champions Cup test in Lyon on Saturday.
This is his first season back at the Sportsground after five seasons coaching with Pat Lam at Bristol Bears and the 22-9 win in the URC, in a game with a high casualty rate, has got them back on track after a five-match losing run.
They have only a point to show from their opening two Champions Cup games against Bordeaux-Bègles and Saracens, but a win over a Lyon side in freefall in the Top 14 would set up a final round showdown with Lam’s Bristol at the Sportsground on Friday week.
Muldoon, now lineout and maul coach in Pete Wilkins’ management team, believes the manner of the win over Munster leaves them in fine fettle heading to France.
“The win was important after a couple of tough weeks. Obviously, Munster have had their challenges but the result was important. The manner in how we did it was big as well. Ultimately, on a day like we had with the weather, with the wind and rain, the forwards have to muscle up and I thought they did a good job and it set the scene for the second-half,” said Muldoon.
“The wind doesn’t win you the game but I think we managed it very well in the second-half. The challenge in the Sportsground is managing into the wind.
“It was a huge performance in terms of the pressure that was on us to win, so we were delighted with the outcome. From a forwards aspect that was probably our best performance all season in terms of 100% lineouts.
“We got a couple of penalties, scrum was good. To me that’s attitude, that’s concentration and I think that’s where we have to be better as a forward pack. We have little lapses in concentration, little individual errors, but to me that was a total performance and it shows what we can do but we just need to be consistent in it.”
Muldoon said they will be punished in Lyon for any lapses against a side badly needing to respond after a 45-0 thumping away to Toulouse last weekend has seen them slip to second from bottom in the Top 14.
The former Connacht skipper said that Lyon, who were pipped at the death by Bristol after staging a remarkable comeback at Ashton Gate before then defeating the Bulls by a point, have an abundance of talent despite their lowly Top 14 position and he reckons they will need to be on top of their game to thwart them.
“I think you could probably say this about most teams in France, they are big, they have unbelievable individuals, they like it when it gets loose and it gets unstructured and I think from our point of view that is what we have to control. If we get into an arm-wrestle with them and we let it get loose and uncontrollable in terms of how we let the game go, that’s where they are at their best.
“They are struggling for results at the moment but they have got some real quality players. You only have to look at the last 25 minutes of the Bristol game where something like 33-10 down and suddenly they are winning with a couple of minutes to go.
“So we have to make sure we are switched on and that we don’t give them any easy opportunities and that could come from anywhere with the team they have,” added Muldoon.
