IT wasn’t a good week for us last week losing both our away games but both matches were vastly different.
We sent a very experienced team down to Connacht on Wednesday hoping to get the four points that would have guaranteed us first seed going into the Magners League play offs. As I have pointed out before 1st seed gets home advantage for the semi final and if they win that game they get a home final.
This is the first season with play offs in the Magners league and I am sure that the treasurer in the Leinster Branch and our Bank are eyeing up to big pay days in terms of gate revenue.
Michael Cheika had announced our team to travel to Glasgow before the Connacht match and it was a very inexperience team Captained by yours truly.
Connacht were vastly superior to us on Wednesday night and were good value for their win.
We seemed to be out muscled at the breakdown which could only be down to lack of hunger and focus on our part and that was a point that was hammered home by the coaches at the review video meetings that followed.
Connacht, by beating us, put themselves in a great position to finish ahead of Ulster in the Magners League for the first time and by virtue of doing that they would qualify for the Heineken Cup.
However they again showed the inconsistency which must really frustrate their management and fans alike by going down to the Scarlets in a record defeat 58-10 on Saturday which means that Ulster cant be caught now. Connacht historically raise their games for the Irish derby matches but let themselves down against the Welsh and Scots.
The 30-6 defeat to Glasgow looks bad on paper but given the team we had out and the fact that Glasgow are second in the Magners League there was positives to be taken out of the match.
The referee even said to me before the Match “I see your on babysitting duty tonight” with an average age of 21 if you took our front row out of it.
The message all week was that experience has no impact on the physicality or the work rate that you bring and to a man the young lads played with massive bravery and aggression.
We had 14 men for the entire second half and had four yellow cards which was a bit ridiculous. Despite our effort we didn’t get anything tangible from the game and we will need to beat Edinburgh at home in the final match to seal the top spot.
This week the focus is on Toulouse and what a challenge they present.
They have said for the past month that their focus is Europe this year and of all the French teams they have the best record in the competition. They have an unbelievably strong squad with 28 internationals and it won’t be a case this week of matching their first 15 but matching all 23 in their squad as they use their bench very well.
We have been preparing for the forecasted heat down there by doing out gym sessions with the AC turned on Full blast and by wearing these “Sweat suits” that the fitness staff ordered in especially during our field sessions.
There was a big panic when the “Sweat suits” arrival was delayed in the post due to the volcanic ash problem and the fitness coaches got a good slagging when they duly arrived and turned out to be plastic bags with “Sweatz” printed on them. I could have knocked up a few of them myself and made a tidy profit.
We are struggling with injuries with key players missing or carrying knocks. If we can win I think it will be our greatest win yet. To do that we need to be unbelievably disciplined in defence and take whatever opportunity that presents itself to score points.