One of the nerviest, thrilling games of rugby I’ve been lucky to witness in person.
Connacht are not supposed to do this. There not supposed to be here.
But they are. 16-11 they defeated Glasgow after putting on a masterclass in guts, comradeship, the will to attack and the nerve to believe.
Niyi Adeolukon blazed home another superb try, AJ MacGinty was excellent in the 10 jersey, Matt Healy sparkled and Aly Muldowney was a revelation. But each and every one of them played a part. Even Rodney Ah You, who was yellow carded to leave Connacht a man short in the closing stages.
Leinster are next but, tonight, Galway parties and an entire province follows suit.
The game was held up for almost 10 minutes after, 40 seconds in, Zander Fagerson and Finn Russell were left in an awful leap after attempting to double-team Bundee Aki.
Fagerson somehow made it off the pitch under his own steam but Russell needed gas to get settled and a stretcher to escort him away from battle. Crazily, Simone Favaro was also seeing stars after attempting to stop Aki, later in the half.
More Aki roadkill https://t.co/miNtWSoUe5
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) May 21, 2016
There was no score for the first quarter but Connacht were denied an Eoin McKeon try after the video match official went back several phases to punish Aki for a knock-on.
That anger was sated somewhat when MacGinty’s penalty edged his men in front but it lasted all of two minutes as Duncan Weir answered back.
MacGinty, Adeolukon, Tiernan O’Halloran, Aki and Healy all made clean breaks but it looked as though Glasgow would get into the sheds lucky and level. Aki had other ideas.
Another attack swept to the right and Aki took out three Scottish defenders with one clever grubber kick. It bounced invitingly for Adeolukon and he hared away to dot down under the posts. MacGinty converted to give the hosts a nice advantage. The fun, however, was only getting started.
Warriors are not champions for nothing and they stormed back in the second stanza. Leone Nakarawa make Connacht look foolish with some smart play at a lineout and was barging over for a try, on the other side of the pitch, 90 seconds later.
Weir missed the extras and Connacht were 13-8 up after MacGinty chipped over a penalty from right in front.
Tension crept into affairs and mistakes followed soon after. Connacht’s heart is undoubted and every Glasgow jab was met with a furious parry of their own. Weir tagged three back and the westerners marched right back up to get those three back [MacGinty again].
Connacht decided to finish the game on the attack and thought they had won the tie through Adeolukon. For the second time in the match, the TMO went against them with a marginal knock-on call.
Life couldn’t be that cruel.
For Connacht, for once, it wasn’t.
