Away day dream for Cons boss
Montpellier v Connacht Today, 3.15pm
ANDY FRIEND knows Connacht have faced Europe’s best in the Champions Cup, but he wants to end their pool with another memorable road win in Montpellier.
Defeats away to Toulouse and Gloucester mean they faced a massive test to emerge from Pool 5 for the first time in their history, but defeat last time out at home to Toulouse saw their unbeaten home record disappear as well as their chances of progression.
The western province has been blighted by an injury crisis that coincided with their European competition, but Friend knows his side need to show more patience in attack if they are to succeed.
“Last year we played some good sides in the Challenge Cup, the likes of Sale and Bordeaux in particular. But Gloucester, Montpellier, and Toulouse are better calibre again, so that has definitely stretched us, and with the injuries again that we have had, it has really put a stress on us,” said Friend.
“Over 50 times in the season we’ve been in that scoring zone, the war zone we call it, and out of that, we’ve got 12 tries. We’ve also got 19 penalties, and two yellow cards. We’ve had 12 or 13 turnovers in that period as well,
“So when you boil it down, during 75 per cent of our time there, while we may not be scoring, we are definitely getting a positive result, which is a yellow card, a penalty or a try. What we need to do is turn those 19 penalties into 19 scores.” CONNACHT: T O’halloran; J Porch, K Godwin, B Aki, M Healy; J Carty, K Marmion; P Mcallister, D Heffernan, D Robertsonmccoy; J Maksymiw, G Thornbury; E Masterson, C Fainga’a, J Butler. REPLACEMENTS: J Murphy, D Buckley, C Kenny, N Murray, E Mckeon, C Blade, C Fitzgerald, T Daly.