Heading into Friday night’s game against Munster, Connacht had lost five of their six Guinness PRO14 games but their points difference was only -16. Put simply, they had lost just about every close contest they were involved in.
After 65 minutes at The Sportsground, they looked to be heading for another defeat. Andrew Conway had been dismissed for Munster but, two minutes later, JJ Hanrahan had kicked last year’s finalists 16-13 ahead.
Connacht are looking a much better team now than they did in the early parts of the season. Kieran Keane and his coaching staff are bedding in and getting their messages across. The hosts did not panic and kept grinding, confident their chance would come.
It did, on 68 minutes, when Tom Farrell ran a smart line and the targeting of Hanrahan as a defensive weakness worked. The big centre raced home and his converted try made it 20-16. There was still some fierce defending to do but each and every player stepped up, even the hobbling, banjaxed Jarrad Butler.
Following the game, Keane deflected praise after seeing his side to their third successive victory [including Challenge Cup matches]. He commented:
“To be honest it is nothing about me, it’s more about the performance and the team.
“I thought they were outstanding, ten points down, they could have been rattled, they could have capitulated but it showed the character that they have been working on and talking about. Trying to bring back a little bit of pride. I know things haven’t gone particularly well all season but for me this is a massive, massive win for us.”
Keane says Connacht ‘have not been too far off the pace’ so far this season but have been edged in some close contests. Their disappointing home defeat to Cardiff was, he says, “an aberration”. Friday night in Galway, though, was the standard the the 2015/16 champions have been striving for.
“It was our night, it was at home, it was on a beautiful night. I saw the big yellow fella [the sun] come out this morning and I was smiling. My prayers were answered.
“Yeah, it was just a really good week, the coaches worked their backsides off, done a great job alongside the players. So, I think we got what we deserved, to be honest.”
On the subject of “deserved”, Keane had no arguments with his side being 10-0 down after only 20 minutes. Munster brought the early fire but Connacht battled back and grew in confidence once some passes stuck and phases were put together.
Keane would be used to overseeing New Zealand teams involved in club and Super Rugby rivalries but he admits there is a slightly different dynamic, and a little more heat, to the Irish inter-pros. His comments suggest Connacht won’t be rolling over for anyone this season.
“We’ve done a lot of work on Munster, we have a lot of respect for them in these games. it’s something new to me and I’m learning it very quickly, particularly after the Ulster fixture and the Ulster crowd.
“For me the boys it was more about keeping them calm than it was about lifting them high. You could see it in the whites of their eyes, they were ready to go today. I was just thrilled that they got a good result for themselves. They deserved it.”
“That’s why I’m so happy for the players,” he added, “because it means so much to them. They’re underdogs, particularly here in Ireland, but the underdog had his day today. It was pretty cool. Glad to be part of it.”
Keane is taciturn at times and even when he is joking, it is hard to pick it up. In time, we will get to know him better but there is a dry sense of humour under his gruff exterior.
Asked about the set-play that led to the winning try and elements of the game that pleased him most, Keane replied, “We’ve got a few strings to our bow.
“The fact that we hit the hard down-line off that set-piece, we’ve been practicing that since day dot so, yeah, it’s nice when things come off but I wouldn’t dress it up too much.
“I thought our defence was superb and our resilience was superb. I also thought we were well led. We took some pretty good options. It might as been as flamboyant as we’ve been in the past but we played winning rugby and I was pretty chuffed about that.”
Cheetahs are next up for Connacht, on Saturday evening in Galway. The westerners will need to string a few more results together before they can allow themselves to glance at the table [they are currently 22 points off runaway PRO14 leaders Glasgow].
“Coaches, we don’t get time to look at tables,” Keane remarked. “We just go one day to the next. One game to the next.”
