Ellison blow takes shine off Munster celebrations

Not one to set the pulses racing, but then again it was never going to be. Predictably, a better prepared Munster hit the ground running a little quicker than a rustier Connacht at the Sports ground on Saturday and it will be another game or two still before the Guinness Inteprovincial Championship really takes off.

That Munster were made to toil and sweat for their four-point haul and that Connacht at least extracted a bonus point from the day, to leave lethargic Leinster at the foot of an embryonic table, says much for the strides Connacht continue to make. Munster's win came at a heavy cost, too; the hugely influential Rhys Ellison twisted an ankle, leaving him unable to walk and extremely doubtful for the visit of Leinster and maybe the trip to Ulster.

Connacht limited Munster to a 6-3 interval lead after playing into the wind for much of the first ,half but, despite a stronger scrum and quicker ruck ball, couldn't impose themselves on the game for lack of their own line-out ball in the second half.

Borrowing a leaf from the Shannon manual, Munster applied concerted pressure on the Connacht throw by contesting it with both Eddie Halvey at the front and Shane Leahy in the middle. This forced Billy Mulcahy to lob long for Barry Gavin, a dicey exercise in a swirling Sportsground wind.

After one such crooked throw, Glenn Ross replaced a decidedly hunched birthday boy, Mulcahy, with Bernard Jackman. But, for all his greater weight around the pitch, Jackman is no dartsman yet. When Alan Reddan kicked out on the full and Brian O'Meara found touch by the corner flag, Leahy duly won Jackman's throw and O'Meara's long blind side pass sent John Lacey over outside the out-of-position Reddan.

Connacht's excellent riposte off Jimmy Duffy's quick tap and Gavin's drive showed what was possible when they got it right. Amid the re-organisation and porousness which followed Ellison's departure, with Michael Lynch moving inside to accommodate Brian Walsh's arrival, Elwood cleverly skipped Mervyn Murphy for Pat Duignan to carve through diagonally just beyond Lynch's clutches, Willie Ruane supporting at speed for the centre's deftly worked reverse pass.

Heretofore, the two teams had cancelled each other with fairly impenetrable midfields. The ever-improving Murphy, something of an Ellison wannabe, came out of the contest well, even nailing the Kiwi with a trademark hit of his own - the biter being bit.

Such was the aggressiveness of Murphy, especially in Connacht's reliable 10-12-13 defence, that Munster were often working their switches and loops from too deep to have a chance of then outmanoeuvring Connacht on the flanks.

Elwood, of course, is peerless amongst Irish out-halves in this regard, frustrating Munster drives at source and covering across the line to intercept Lacey's inside pass as a fitting finale to the first half.

Then, back in the game at 10-11 entering the final quarter, Connacht appeared well placed. Killian Keane had had no reward with several cuts, and seemed to be losing conviction as he spilt the ball when tackled by Elwood close-in.

So much for that theory. Availing of a rare lack of Connacht organisation, suddenly Keane cut through from further out, the pack driving on before Keane crashed through again off recycled ball and tacked on the conversion.

"If at first you don't succeed," he explained modestly. Fair play to him though, for ultimately his willingness to try and try again was probably the winning and the losing of the match.

The watching Warren Gatland could be forgiven private disappointment with his old charges' defeat, and his less than euphoric reaction.

"I think both sides looked a little bit rusty. The quality wasn't anywhere near the Ulster and Leinster match, and I thought both sides cancelled each other out a bit. The downfall of the Connacht team was probably because their line-out was so disappointing, their throws and timing didn't help them at all. They scored a nice try and Munster just ground out the win with a typical Munster performance really."

"It was hard work," admitted Declan Kidney, sighing as if he'd been playing himself, and repeating the mantra of the Munster players, "it was very phsyical. Connacht are a big, strong side".

Giving a slightly contrasting view to Gatland, Kidney maintained that: "I think a lot of things were tried. A few passes went astray but at least we're now willing to try things and I'd much prefer to be where we are now than where we were last year."

The saving graces for Kidney were primarily "our set-piece play - we won all our own set-piece play - and we defended well when we had to. We also won a number of their line-outs which were a big help".

As Kidney admitted, utilising Halvey at the front of the line on the Connacht throw had its flip side. "Eddie is an excellent footballer and he's a very good number seven. He's a huge asset to the squad in a number of what might be termed non-orthodox ways."

Herein lies the rub, for once more in front of a watching Irish coach, Halvey was in part a victim of his own versatility. "He usually sacrifices himself for his team in doing a number of jobs like that," Kidney said.

Dominic Crotty counter-attacked well all day, while O'Meara took on responsibility more than anyone else, and certainly more than he's generally credited for.

His talent and excellent pass have rarely been disputed, but here, three incisive breaks in the first 15 minutes quickly established him as the most potent back on view. Looking mustard keen, this was an improved benchmark for his own season ahead.

"Brian is coming on all the time, it's just a question of getting him used to a few new things, such as the back-rows staying down in the scrum," said Kidney.

Whereas Kidney was delighted with the win, and satisfied with the performance, the bottom line with Glenn Ross was that they lost.

"A losing performance is never a good performance.

"We're still struggling in that first 15 minutes. We have to compete with a little bit more competitive arrogance from the start. We defended very well, which kept them in the game till half-time, but we never grabbed the initiative like we should have.

"We were caught playing noman's rugby. We didn't seem to be sure whether we should take them on up front, through the middle or out wide. We were a little bit indecisive."

Ross bemoaned at length the loss of so much line-out ball, which in turn meant Connacht conceded the majority of the scrum feeds.

"We're a game or two short," he admitted, a fair observation given Gatland's departure and Ross's arrival "caught everyone on the hop a bit", primarily because no warm-up games had been arranged.

Connacht were, perhaps, a step or two behind the others for the seasonal kick-off and will, assuredly, improve. But then again, so, presumably, will everybody else.