Parks drops a late winner to cheer up Lam
UPLIFTING European exploits – beating Toulouse and coming within a whisker of doing likewise against Saracens – are all well and good, but when you’re in charge of a side drifting along on the bottom of the PRO12 table following a losing streak of eight league matches since the opening day win over Zebre, it can’t be fun coming to work on Monday mornings.
Tomorrow will be different for Pat Lam, though. The coach will arrive at the Sportsground smiling after a late demonstration of guts and determination turned what looked like a 6-11 defeat into a rousing 14-11 win thanks to Fionn Carr’s 74th minute try and Dan Parks’ last-minute clinching drop goal.
‘We were down by five and to show some character and guts to get down that end and get the points we needed was massive,’ enthused the relieved coach. ‘It just all adds to the belief and the trust within the team and we achieved the first objective of getting off the bottom of the table.’
All the more courageous was how the result-defining cohesion and accuracy materialised amid the horrendous shower of hailstones that should have prevented the execution of any rugby of significance.
Having failed to do anything when the weather wasn’t as inclement during the sinbinning of Dragons prop Owen Evans, it appeared as if their chance of a successful comeback had gone once it was a 15 v 15 contest for the closing 10 minutes, but Connacht held their nerve.
A quickly-tapped penalty was precursor to a try, a rarity for them in this tournament as they had managed just 11 in nine matches before this.
However, their forwards sucked in the Dragons cover with decent pick-and-drive and the wily Parks had the awareness to notice winger Carr was all on his own out wide. One well-weighted cross-kick later and the sides were level on 11 points. If there was a problem with the score it was where Carr touched down − too near the touchline for Parks to make good the conversion. But Connacht weren’t to be denied.
With replacement Andrew Browne among a number of players to handle efficiently, play was eventually worked towards the middle for Parks to nab the winning drop goal with 78:56 showing on the clock. Cue bedlam.
The uplifting climax, though, was at odds with the ugliness of the rugby that preceded it. Bar Connacht’s utterly dominant scrum, this was a match very low on quality and you would wonder what the watching Ireland coach Joe Schmidt made of it all.
At least he would have seen Robbie Henshaw bounce back from adversity. The starting full-back was relocated to outside centre early on after Dave McSharry’s rather serious looking ankle injury, and it was Henshaw’s error that led to Dragons jumping in front on six minutes through full-back Daniel Evans. Jason Tovey, who had missed an early penalty, was wide with the conversion, but the out-half came back for three penalty points on 16 minutes after Toby Faletau carried to the ruck by the posts. That eight-point advantage could have been more after Ross Wardle intercepted a Kieran Marmion pass and sprinted from his 22. However, a return from William Harries didn’t go to hand under pressure from Matt Healy and the opportunity slipped by.
It was important moment. A second try would have given Dragons a cushion that would have been beyond Connacht’s reach, but the scrum levered the home side back into the game.
The set-piece gave Parks a kickable penalty to peg the margin to five points seven minutes short of the interval, and it set-up the second half nicely.
Even though the wind seemed to die down a bit, the obvious tactic was for Parks to kick long to the corner and give his forwards the platform. Enterprising pick-and-drive off lineout possession earned a penalty to further trim the margin. But now came the hard part – getting in front. It took an eternity to happen.
Not long after George Naoupu came on, he gave away a penalty that Tovey nailed. In contrast, Parks missed the long-range effort awarded after Evans was carded on the hour and, having failed to do anything in the prop’s absence, it appeared as if Dragons were going to hold on for an away win.
However, Connacht weren’t to be denied. ‘It’s a great Christmas present; it’s good being off the bottom,’ beamed Lam. COnnaCHT: R Henshaw; G Duffy, E Griffin, D McSharry, M Healy; D Parks, K Marmion; B Wilkinson, J Harris-Wright, N White, M Kearney, C Clarke, J Muldoon, J Heenan, E McKeon. Reps: F Carr for McSharry (6); G Naoupu for Heenan (48); R Ah You for White (65); P O’Donohoe for Marmion (67); D Buckley for Wilkinson, A Browne for Kearney (both 70) nG DraG0nS: D Evans; W Harries, P Leach, R Wardle, H Amos; J Tovey, R Rees; O Evans, S Parry, F Chaparro, A Coombs, C Hill, L Evans, N Cudd, T Faletau. Reps: TR Thomas for Samuel, D Way for Chaparro (both 57); H Gustafson for L Evans (63-70), for O Evans (70); M Screech for Hill (65); A Smith for Wardle (67); I Jones for L Evans (70). Sin Bin: O Evans (60) rEFErEE: a rolland (Ireland)