Fusaro says Scarlets defeat has focused minds ahead of Connacht clash

Connacht are not the force they were two years ago under the tutelage of inspirational head coach Pat Lam, when they exceeded all expectations outwith the west coast of Ireland to win the Guinness Pro12 title.

Since then, Lam has moved on to coach free-spending English Championship side Bristol and several of the key players from that successful season have also switched allegiances – including Ireland and Lions centre Robbie Henshaw who is now at Leinster, USA stand-off AJ Mcginty (Sale Sharks) and second-row Aly Muldowney (Grenoble).

This season they have managed only six wins from 19 league outings, and only one win on the road against Benetton Treviso. They currently sit second bottom of Conference A of the Pro14.

Glasgow Warriors defeated Connacht 12-18 in Galway when the two sides met in the opening round of this season’s competition, and given the trajectories of both sides in the seven months since, the near universal assumption is that the high-flying Scots will have too much firepower in Friday’s return fixture.

The Warriors will secure first place in Conference A with any win, but flanker Chris Fusaro has insisted that the home side must be wary of the threat they face.

“They like to play from anywhere. They like to hold on to the ball. There are times when they are in their own 22 they will go phase to phase and not kick it back. We expect them to play from anywhere,” said the 28-year-old, pictured.

“Itisthesharpendof the season so we want to get the momentum going into the last few games,” he added.

A worryingly flat performance from the Warriors last Saturday led to a 26-8 defeat against the Scarlets, and Fusaro reckons that setback has helped focus the team’s minds as they close in on the end of season play-offs.

“It shows where we have to be if we want to be successful” he added.

“Scarlets are in the semifinal of Europe, and have had a very good season in the pro14 as well, so that is who we are measuring ourselves against. That defeat will sharpen our focus even more. It reminds us that we have to be at the top of our game if we want to win this thing.” Yorkshire director of cricket Martyn Moxon said there was an “absolute will” to protect the English domestic game among all who attended a meeting at Edgbaston.

With the future of the County Championship and the lure of Twenty20 the main topics, only Essex of the 18 counties were unable to attend the Birmingham gathering.

Moxon chaired the meeting of coaches and directors of cricket and said afterwards: “It was really good and because of the sensitivity of all the issues, we won’t make any public statements until we feed back to our chief executives and the ECB about what we’ve come up with.

“Everyone present stressed that what we discussed was for the good of the game as a whole. It was about how do we protect it, how do we make it better so that people want to play and watch it. It was about the game as a whole and not about localised agendas.

“The topics discussed were County Championship laws and County Championship cricket. Everyone present felt that it was still important that all 18 countries must be protected within that framework.

“We looked at Twenty20 tournaments around the world and the impact they have on the counties and players – the IPL (Indian Premier League) and the new (English) T20 competition for 2020.

“The ECB were aware of the meeting. They’re very keen to get our views, so we’ll feed it back to them and then we’ll decide how we take it forward.

“Everybody knows the game is at an important stage. Important decisions have to be made over the next year or so, but at the meeting there was an absolute will to make sure we get those decisions right.”

Meanwhile, former South Africa paceman Morne Morkel has signed for Surrey as a Kolpak registered player until the end of the 2019 county season.

The 33-year-old has now penned a two-year deal with Surrey and will feature in all three formats.