Ulster Rugby vs Connacht

NO FOOLING AROUND TONIGHT! Spring has definitely sprung, the smell of freshly-cut grass more pungent by the day, the importance of every Ulster game until the end of the season more acute.

Last weekend’s defeat in Glasgow was particularly galling in so many ways: the side played some smart, clever rugby, scored two cracking tries, then somehow contrived to concede 18 points without reply as the Warriors delighted in, first, an unlikely win, and in denying Ulster even a losing bonus point with Stuart Hogg’s last-gasp, long-distance penalty. Ulster could justifiably do a little pondering about the forward pass which set Hogg in for a try which sparked the Scots but, more worryingly, referee John Lacey decided that, at the breakdown, the men in white persistently offended. Les Kiss says, quite rightly “It’s done, we move on,” but he clearly wasn’t happy about some of the interpretations and wryly hoped that – like Glasgow last Friday – his team might concede just four penalties against tonight’s impressive visitors, Pat Lam’s Connacht, the PRO12 leaders. That Sunday lunchtime defeat in February by the Scarlets at Kingpsan left many scratching heads, not about the talent clearly available, but at a frustrating inability to perform with genuine consistency, that capacity Ulster has always shown to ‘edge’ a result when not exactly firing on all cylinders. Tonight, on the second week of the ‘race to the line’ and the Top Four semi-finals in the PRO12, the test of how steeled the side is for a run-in which could really give Ulster Rugby supporters some reward for holding fast – despite the odd mid-season ‘wobble’ – to the belief that this panel of players will make the next few years very special for players, coaches and those who pack the tournament’s finest stadium to the rafters week-after-week. It would be stupidly one-eyed not to have been concerned that three of the last four PRO12 outings have been defeats, that Ulster has slumped from top-of-the-table five weeks ago to fifth, outside the play-off placings and with Glasgow on the same points total, and with a game in hand. Kiss is right when he says that so tight is the battle at the top that sides are going to take points off each other, and he cites the clashes of Welsh clubs as important, but not as important as his own squad staying focussed on the season’s primary

It’s the first day of April, a day for japes and jovial conceits, but for the home side nobody wants to be an April Fool, there will be only a deadly serious approach to the sternest challenge possible, surprise but deserving table-topping Connacht. And it’s a game in front of a Kingspan Stadium crowd which needs to shed its doubts and concerns about recent form and urge its favourites to what is now a critically-important victory. The Six Nations is now consigned to the memory bank, some familiar faces are restored to the squad, and there’s added electricity in the return to fitness after long-term injuries of key players. Iain Henderson’s appearance against Glasgow last week was one of the year’s most heart-warming sights, a hugely gifted forward who’d have been missed in any company demonstrating that he’s back to his intimidating, foraging, barrelling best. Tommy Bowe is on the cusp of putting up his hand to help secure something tangible from the Guinness PRO12 campaign, his absence since the World Cup keenly felt by fans and by the team-mates who appreciate the skillset – and the stardust – he scatters on all in a white jersey. Gradually – and without any complaint – Les Kiss and Head Coach Neil Doak have navigated Ulster through a roller-coaster of a season which started with the inevitable disruption of an autumn World Cup, the subsequent injury toll which kept Bowe, Jared Payne and then Henderson on the sidelines. Added to that were fitness problems for Darren Cave, Peter Nelson, Luke Marshall, for the stoic Stuart Olding, the luckless Dan Tuohy, for Wiehahn Herbst, Alan O’Connor and there was a plethora of other setbacks for experienced players. Very much on the ‘plus’ side were the emergence into the spotlight of prop Kyle McCall, winger Rory Scholes, and the spectacular rise of yet another Ulster midfield ‘gallactico’, Stuart McCloskey, yet another to graduate swiftly to the Irish side. Ulster’s season has been one which has, at times, raised the spirits – witness the crushing defeats in Europe of Toulouse – and also managed to stall rising hopes just when faltering form seemed to have come out of ‘rehab’ successfully.

ROD NAWN

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