Bradley suffers in his going and his coming

Keith Dugganon how the bad weather has hit Connacht harder than most, and just as they had hit some decent form in this, their coach's final season at the helm

IF THE opening days of the year have highlighted anything in Irish sport, it is surely that life must be that bit more difficult for Connacht rugby club. Throughout the week, they trained as usual for their match against Newport-Gwent Dragons while the club stewards faced a race against the clock to thaw out the home field.

The match was called off on Wednesday morning, leaving the team in a limbo period of three weeks leading into a defining night in their season when Montpellier visit the Sportsground next Friday.

A victory against the French would secure top spot in their Amlin Cup group, a placing few would have predicted when the draw was made.

The remarkable back-to-back victories against English Premiership side Worcester Warriors added new momentum to what had been an uneven season that had been framed around the low-key announcement that coach Michael Bradley would leave the club.

The revelation was not exactly a shock but after seven years lit by notable successes and characterised by predictable struggles, it presaged a significant change for the Westerners.

In any professional sports club, knowledge that the boss will be vacating the premises can have an unsettling effect on players. But assumptions that Connacht would simply play out the rest of the season and wait for the new broom were proven wrong through their storming of Worcester and subsequent home win.

They provided a timely reminder that Connacht, in Bradley’s time, always had the capacity to concoct audacious results in the European competition. But the bread and butter requirements of the Magners League have proven more troublesome for them. This year is no exception. Promising as their European position is, they lag at the bottom of the Celtic table, with nine points from nine games.

“Well, at least we have Leinster in hand so that should be a handy five point banker if you include the bonus point,” quipped Bradley in the offices of the Sportsground early this week. “When you look at it that way, it is not too bad.”

This was after an afternoon training session. Outside, it was dark, the pitch was still covered, a constant reminder that Connacht’s preparation for the Montpellier game had not gone according to plan. The decision to rest some senior players for the St Stephen’s Day visit to Thomond Park had inspired an unsympathetic response from the Munster men.

Last Saturday’s postponement against Leinster meant that instead of needing rest in the approach to the Montpellier match, the team suddenly needed games. The doubt hanging over the Dragons game – followed by the inevitable cancellation – has deepened the sense of frustration.

“We have had to be creative in that we don’t have access to grass pitches so thankfully the development of all the all-weather behind us here has facilitated us,” Bradley acknowledged.

“So with a bit of adjustment we were able to get full sessions in and get a lot out of them so match preparation has not been affected too much. You don’t want this to go on for too long – you can’t control nature but hopefully it will break next week. It is more mental than physical. Ironically, in this situation the players are well rested. Such a long break from physicality can be difficult and the players are getting anxious themselves for a hit out. Keeping them on track mentally is the thing but we hope we can get them in the right state of mind in terms of the game plan.”

The Connacht game plan may vary tactically from game to game but it is based on the fundamental requirement to outfox teams with deeper resources and to always, always put their bodies on the line. Frequently, that commitment is not enough to gain them results. They are still smarting from the way they played against Munster: even allowing for the relatively inexperienced first 15 they fielded, they failed to live up to the promises they made to themselves.

“The key aspect against Munster was that we kicked away far too much ball against them,” Bradley said.

“Like we went down there last year and in our debriefing afterwards, we had a note that we took ourselves out of that game, we just didn’t play. And we went down there this year and did the same again. It was very disappointing. We kicked 16 times in the first half against the wind when there wasn’t a significant kick on. And it was the reverse stats for Munster – they kicked half that against the wind. So we didn’t play it smart and it is an area that we are very conscious of.”

That defeat was a heavy reminder of where Connacht stand in the pecking order of Irish rugby. Ulster, Munster and Leinster have all won the European Cup in what has been a glistening decade for the Irish game: Connacht have yet to participate in the competition. The Connacht philosophy has always been about against-the-odds defiance attached to professional obligation.

It could be argued that Bradley holds the toughest job in professional rugby: almost always, his teams are the underdogs. There have been times when Connacht have played out of their skins under his watch and earned results they had no right to. There have been other times when they looked down and out.

Bradley and the team have come in for criticism and too frequently are regarded as an afterthought in Irish rugby. The Connacht coach has said little about his impending departure but when asked about it during the week, he maintained the mid-season announcement did not disrupt the pattern of the season.

“I don’t think that it made any difference, really. These are all professional players and they are used to getting on with the job in hand. And it was always going to come at some point or other so we just got on with things.”

Between now and Friday night, Connacht can only train and hope they have summoned up sufficient match sharpness to cope with Montpellier. The deferral of the Leinster and Dragons games has created what Connacht CEO Gerry Kelly describes as “ a disastrous cash flow situation.”

They can but hope that the cold snap eases over the last six days or they will have to seek an alternative venue for the Montpellier match, with the vacant Thomond Park a possible option. For Bradley, the enforced delay at least improves the chances of fullback Gavin Duffy and prop Brett Wilkinson being declared fit prior to next Friday evening.

But the season’s worth cannot be defined by the European competition alone. Playing the deferred Leinster and Dragons games during the Six Nations series will keep Connacht busy through what is traditionally a frustrating period of activity. It may also enhance their chances of securing wins in both games.

Bradley noted Connacht have a habit of picking up wins late in the Magners League season but grimaced when he reflected on the chances that have gone a-begging.

“See, we have played inconsistently in the Magners League but have actually played well in some matches. We have managed to cough up winning situations and then tripped over trying to hang on for bonus points as well. And we have to start knocking a couple of those over. We have to start with bonus points, if needs be, and build from there. Because I think everyone is very conscious of our home form. You can see the investment in the ground and the fans are arriving and the demand is there. It is becoming as it is for many French teams, where home form is absolutely critical.

“We have struggled in the dressingroom after some games trying to figure how we didn’t win them or at least get something out of them. But we are getting very close. We are becoming annoyed and disappointed with it but we are not worried about it because we know that if we do what we can do well, have done at home and in the Amlin ,then we well get the wins.”

Victory against Montpellier would leave Connacht with a home quarter-final in April and, after the frustration of the last three weeks, the bonus of a couple of games during the international season. John Muldoon, the team captain and a totemic figure in the club over the last few seasons, admitted he has gone through cabin fever and is counting the hours until the Montpellier game.

“I have compared it to the FA Cup before,” he says of European competition.

“It is a break from the grind of the Magners League, playing teams all the time. Then you go down to Montpellier and it is different, it is a beautiful city, the crowd boo everything, whether they are kicking or down taking a bloody break, anything.

“Same when you go to England, it is a different atmosphere and we do enjoy that. You rise to that, the bigger the game. So it is nice to get away from the Magners League but I also think that that league is stronger than a lot of people give it credit for. Some people in Sky Sports build up the Premiership and that but I don’t think we give ourselves enough credit: it is a bloody good league and that was our first win against an English side in my time here.

We were all delighted coming off the field against Worcester and I know we might have been lucky to get a couple of tries. But they gave us no credit and the made us that bit angrier when they came over here.”

That Worcester win was on December 19th. The Sportsground has been quiet for almost a month since. A big night beckons on Friday night and a victory would set Michael Bradley up for a memorable farewell season.