URC: Emirates Lions 26 Connacht 7
A difficult season, on and off the pitch, has not helped Connacht to deliver its ambitions to be a playoff team.
After losing to Emirates Lions by 26-7, Connacht captain Cian Prendergast says the team just needs to “stick together like we’ve done all year, and take it in our stride”.
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Since losing head coach Pete Wilkins, Connacht have lost four consecutive games in the URC, which currently sees them 14th on the table. With just two games left to play, time is slipping away – similar to their season. Now achieving those seasonal ambitions looks beyond them.
It has been a difficult time for the squad, having lost head coach Pete Wilkins, who officially stepped down after missing four games through illness.
Prendergast said “the outside world doesn’t realise what this group has been through throughout the whole year.”
“It’s just disappointing because we stuck together through it all, and not to get a performance is extremely disappointing, because we wanted to make this a memorable tour.
“But I think just the realisation of how much we’ve been through, and we’ll stay together through it all, and we still have 10 points to play for, we will get back to Galway and dig deeper.”
Prendergast maintains Connacht is a “playoff team”.
“You see the talent in our group, you see the age profile of our squad, you see even some of the players who were missing through injury today. We’re more than just a playoff team. We want to compete with teams in the top four, and it’s just disappointing with the inconsistency on this trip and in previous games this year.”
Prendergast says little slip-ups are costing the team results.
“We were just inaccurate in areas. Like, I made a break down the touch line, and I should have just held on to the ball when it was a 50-50 pass, and that gave them an in to the game. Little slip ups like that. That’s what costs you games at high altitude, and when you’re playing against teams that can counterattack as well as they can.”
However, the 25-year-old captain says Connacht need to front up.
“I know it’s out of our control, but we can control our performances, and how we show up when we get back from South Africa and build into Edinburgh.”
That loss in Johannesburg was Connacht’s worst away defeat of the season, dominated by the Emirates Lions pack. Connacht, with few opportunities to attack, were unable to make a dent on the scoreline as they struggled on an unusually heavy pitch in the Highveld and were behind by 11-0 at the break.
Connacht looked to have turned the corner when hooker Dylan Tierney Martin touched down from a driving maul, but the try was denied due to a technical infringement in the preceding maul.
Still scoreless and struggling in the conditions, Connacht leaked a second try, stretching the home side’s lead to 19-0. Although Eoin de Buitlear scored a late effort, it was little consolation as the hosts completed the victory with a Van Der Merwe try.
Emirates Lions: Q Horn, R Kriel, H Van Wyk, B Mills, E Van Der Merwe, K Wolhuter, M Van Den Berg; M Naude, J Visagie, A Ntlabakanye, R Schoeman, R Delport, JC Pretorius, R Du Plessis, J Cairns.
Replacements: PJ Botha, for Visagie and RF Schoeman for Ntlabakanye (both 67 mins), D Landsberg, I Esterhuizen, N Steyn for Van Den Berg (56 mins), R Jonker for Van Wyk (63 mins), L Dobela for P Jonker.
Yellow card: R Du Plessis (49 mins).
Connacht: P O’Conor, S Bolton, D Hawkshaw, C Forde, S Jennings, J Carty, M Devine, P Dooley, D Tierney-Martin, J Aungier, J Murphy, J Joyce, C Prendergast (capt), C Oliver, S Jansen.
Replacements: P Boyle for Jansen (14 mins), S Cordero for O’Conor (HT), H Gavin for Carty (46 mins), O Dowling for Joyce and S Illo for Aungier (52 mins), E de Buitlear for Tierney-Martin and Duggan for Dooley (61 mins), C Reilly for Forde (66 mins).
Referee: Hollie Davidson (Scotland).
