Friend praises his side after leaving Zebre in slow lane
More to come from a squad building some strength in depth across the park
THE script for Connacht’s next run in the Guinness PRO14 is already set out. Edinburgh will have more than a hint of desperation about them, having lost both opening rounds in games they felt they should have won. And now here come Connacht.
With a couple of experienced heads to add to the mix – including Bundee Aki and new man Robin Copeland – Connacht coach Andy Friend reckons his lot have the sort of depth to their squad that will allow them compete.
Waking up yesterday on what he calls ‘bonus point Sunday’, a happy state of affairs for the families of players and staff as much as the men closer to the action, the coach surveys an appealing scene.
“We need depth, we need competition, we need people pushing through,” he said of the cast waiting in the wings. “Tom McCartney captained our Eagles side yesterday (Friday). He is back on the paddock too. It’s a good headache for us. That’s what you want as a coach: you want headaches.”
In that case Michael Bradley will want a prescription for the way his side fell off the edge of the cliff named Discipline. Having conceded just four penalties in their first round win over the Kings they lost the plot at a classically wet and windy Sportsground. And finished with 13 decisions against them.
Reflection
They turned over 17-3 down at the break and then promptly lost two men to the bin in the space of a minute – the first a reflection of huge issues at the scrum for tight head Giosue Zilocchi, the second a classic example of wholesale plot-loss when hooker Oliviero Fabiani whacked Denis Buckley late enough as to be in a different time zone.
Friend described Zebre as “a good football team”, and he’s right. Or at least they’re better than they looked here, and a few teams will struggle on the trip to Parma. But when referee Lloyd Linton took against them in the first quarter it was like there was no way back.
Connacht too look like they could be consistent, which is what eluded them last season. After two rounds you wouldn’t be too sure about the power of their set-piece – the lineout struggled against Zebre, albeit in rapidly worsening conditions when the day went from grey to black – and the scrum was far stronger than it had been against Glasgow.
The dodgy lineout didn’t stop man of the match Paul Boyle nailing down his award with two tries in the first quarter. He is yet another example that life exists west of the Pale for those who find Leinster’s doors locked.
A brawny, hard-working ball carrier, Boyle impressed Friend from
the start of pre-season and it looks like there’s more to come. This weekend is his next delivery point, when the coach will have a broader group with their hands up for selection. And a highly motivated opposition.
“We did have a close look at them,” Friend said of Edinburgh. “They defended very well on Friday up until that last 20 minutes when they just knocked off a touch on the inside. They have also got some real threats across the park. For us, we’ve got (defence coach) Pete Wilkins who has worked there before.
“Pete has got some thoughts on what he had seen when he was there. But it is more about us to be honest. We probably fell into a bit of trap against Glasgow. We didn’t spend a lot of time on them but more than we had done in any of the three pre-season games. This week we peeled it back a touch with Zebre. It was a lesson for us. You can be worried too much about opposition and maybe take your eye off your own team.
“The only time that we lapsed in our pre-season, in the first four games, was in that game against Glasgow. We were just asleep and we paid a penalty. They are a good side and they put points on us when we did sleep. I am really confident that is starting to become in our DNA, if it remains in our DNA and that is the way Connacht perform. Every time we don’t have the ball we are bouncing, every time we do have the ball we are working hard to get set early and get straight in our structure.”