FOR A MAN who prefers to keep his own counsel on a lot of rugby matters, Eric Elwood has been all over the sports pages this week.
Last Friday, his Connacht side shredded the European champions, Leinster, 34-6 at the Sportsground. On Tuesday he attended the Irish launch of the Heineken Cup and on Wednesday he announced that he would be stepping down from his coaching role at the end of the season.
Next Wednesday, TG4 will screen a documentary on Connacht’s 2011/12 season during which Elwood can be heard, amid passionate expletives, that he is sick to his stomach of losing games.
One should be in no doubt that, distractions aside, Elwood will have his troops primed for another thunderous inter-pro clash as Connacht face league-leading Ulster at Ravenhill.
However, he told TheScore.ie that there was no sense of euphoria among the playing staff after besting Leinster .
“Our feet are firmly on the ground. We are going to a place where we haven’t won in over 60 years. Ulster are flying at the moment.
“The key for us is to see if we can put back-to-back performances together. It’s all about the process. If we can concentrate on our process, the outcome will look after itself.
“It’s going to be very difficult, as it always is up north.”
Starting on the right note
Replacing Brian McLaughlin, the man who guided Ulster to a Heineken Cup Final in May, was never going to be an easy task but Mark Anscombe has eased the transition with four wins from his first four matches in charge at Ravenhill.
Anscombe told TheScore.ie, “It strikes me that if any team that are not on top of their game, on any given day, can be taken by the opposition. We’re fortunate at the moment as we’re the only unbeaten team. But that’s early in the piece.
Of all the players that Ulster signed up, or back, during the summer, one that has had the greatest impact so far has been the Number 8, Nick Williams.
Nick Williams powers over for a try against Cardiff Blues. (©INPHO/Huw Evans)
The New Zealander was impressive in his side’s home win over Munster and popped up with two tries in a man-of-the-match performance against Cardiff Blues.
“He’s getting there,” says Anscombe of Williams’ form. He added:
He’s a powerful man off the ball but there are areas of his game that we need to work on. His ball retention has got to be improved on and his conditioning.
“Nick is only going to get better from the games he plays. He has added to the team what we wanted him to do. I’ve known Nick for a while and have faith in his abilities. There’s no reason why we can’t have a good season out of him.”
Test from the west
Anscombe nods slowly, and smiles briefly, when asked a question about the challenge that Connacht will pose at Ravenhill on Friday.
He remarked that supporters would have to ‘go back a good while in the history books’ to see the last time a side put five tries on Leinster. Llanelli Scarlets ran in seven on the opening day of the season but we can see where Anscombe was coming from – Connacht were very impressive.
“(That result) tells you they’ve got firepower, they can score tries, but they’ve also got that dogged attitude,” said Anscombe. They love confrontation and contact so it will be a real battle.
“You want to have a good, hard battles in the league and going into the Heineken Cup and I don’t think it gets any harder than Connacht on Friday.”
