Winning is not coming easy to Connacht this season, and it gets even tougher during the festive season with interprovincials on the agenda.
Connacht will host Ulster on Saturday (December 27 ) at 5.30pm and then travel to the capital to face Leinster on January 3, at 5.30pm. Despite an unexpected 20-point loss to bottom-of-the-table Dragons, results elsewhere ensured Connacht are still in ninth position. They are now level with the Bulls, who lost to the Sharks, but still hold the important eighth place in the BKT URC table.
However, Connacht have now put themselves under unnecessary pressure and will need to start bagging wins if they are to challenge for the top eight Champions Cup places.
The 48-28 loss to bottom-of-the-table Dragons was not only unexpected, but probably one of the most disappointing of the season. Connacht and their supporters undoubtedly thought the Dragons (who were without a win this season ) would be an easy target at Dexcom. Instead, they were dished out a hammering by the Welsh outfit who had been without a win all season - a result which head coach Stuart Lancaster says has exposed Connacht’s mental fragility.
Now, Connacht fans can expect a response over the Christmas period, but it may still not be enough. They are facing their tough interprovincial opponents, and there is a possibility they could see themselves slip down the table and out of the top eight reckoning.
Lancaster says the loss was a “tough one to take”, and has exposed Connacht's lack of consistency.
“We have had some really good performances so far this season, but interlaced with Ospreys and Cardiff, and now this one - it’s a roller coaster which we have to get over.” Lancaster says Connacht “need to be mentally tougher and more consistently tougher”.
“I’d like think there is enough from what we have done this season to know we are a good team, but ultimately [we need] to play at our best, and we need everyone to be tactically, technically, physically and mentally nine out of ten, or minimum eight, and we didn’t have enough players at that level,” he says.
Although facing two tough Christmas derbies, Lancaster believes it can be remedied.
“Obviously we are going into every game with an attitude to win, and we showed plenty of encouraging signs - even as bizarre as it sounds - the fight to get a bonus point at the end.”
However, there are injuries woes, particularly in the back three with Shane Bolton, Shane Jennings, and Mack Hansen all possibly facing time on the sidelines, but Lancaster believes Connacht still has time and games to make the top eight.
It might just be the watershed Connacht need to get their campaign back on track, and hopefully to celebrate the festive season.
