SIX DAYS. SAMMY Arnold made the words sound like a prison sentence rather than a turnaround between rugby games. He was that sore about Connacht’s 42-20 defeat to Glasgow on Saturday, practically tortured by the pain of a loss.
The worst part wasn’t the scoreline. It wasn’t even the fact that Connacht are slipping behind the pack in the race to secure a play-off spot and qualification place for next season’s Champions Cup. No, the worst part was not that they lost but how they lost.
“Everyone is a bit down, it was pretty terrible for us, everyone just has to go away and look at themselves individually. We have a six day turnaround before Ulster and there are a few things that need to be addressed immediately,” Arnold said afterwards.
“We could not get a foothold into the game, their lineout defence was pretty good, so we struggled to get clean ball there. And then physically they just dominated us all around the pitch.”
That was the humiliating part. Sports athletes tend to be a proud bunch. So, when they are beaten physically, emotionally they have a tendency to suffer, to go hard on themselves. That was certainly the case with Arnold on Saturday as he spoke in the aftermath of the 22-point loss.
“We have to look at ourselves first,” he said when asked about a few refereeing decisions that went Glasgow’s way rather than Connacht’s.
In particular Connacht have to look at their breakdown and collisions. “When you strip it all back, rugby is a very simple game. Glasgow won all the collisions, played off that fast ball and scored. We can make it complicated if we want but if we are not going to win collisions, we are not going to win (anything).”
Realistically Connacht are not going to win the Champions Cup – despite qualifying for the round of 16. The URC is a competition they are capable of travelling far in – Munster, Ulster and Leinster have all been beaten by Andy Friend’s team in the last 13 months – but if they play like they did on Saturday then they won’t even win people’s respect.
“I think we have certainly made it hard for ourselves (to make it into next season’s Champions Cup),” said Arnold. “We have played a few more interpros than the other teams so hopefully we can claw a few points back after the break. There has to be a reaction next week. We know that. We had a big crowd there on Saturday; we just completely let them down and that is the most important part. There has to be a reaction. I don’t think our season rides on it so to speak. But there has to be an emotional reaction.
“We have got to go up there – we have to go up there and win because nearly every aspect of the game; it was not up to scratch on Saturday. We want to play fast rugby and for whatever reason we could not get that quick ball. That, for me, is the most frustrating thing. We have to have a look at our breakdown. We have to sort it out in a matter of days.”
There’s a personal reason why he wants to do so. Connacht is his home now; Brive will be his employer next season. There’s a subtle difference. As professionals, these players know they have to take ruthless decisions but even when they knowingly do so, it can still hurt. He doesn’t want to leave Galway on a low note. In fact, he wants to come back here when his French sojourn is over.
“This (with Connacht) has been the most enjoyable two seasons of my career so far and obviously I haven’t been with the national team for a few years now and the move to France was something that I just could not say no to. I’d like to, if the opportunity was to arise in the next few years, come back to Connacht. I have a lot of time for everyone in this environment.”
That was why Saturday’s poor showing hurt.
“There has to be accountability on everybody to do their job. The small things make the big things happen. And today every aspect of our game was just off. We went up to the Aviva the last time and there was a massive reaction. We are going to need more of the same. We are going to have to find the answers quickly. We have to fix it and look at ourselves as individuals.”
