I Connacht Believe It: How Did ‘The Crap Ones in Green’ Win the PRO12?
Lee Calvert raises a toast to Connacht, the Irish battlers who defied the odds to lift the PRO12 trophy at Murrayfield on the weekend.
Anybody who has paid any attention to the Ireland rugby team in the past half-decade or so will have heard of a number of players involved in the PRO12 final played at Murrayfield this weekend. Jamie Heaslip, Jonny Sexton, Luke Fitzgerald, Sean O’Brien and Rob Kearney – all of them internationals and British Lions tourists, and all of them turned out for Leinster.
Here’s a few more names: John Muldoon, Tiernan O’Halloran, Matt Healy, Aly Muldowney, Kieran Marmion and Niyi Adeolokun. Unless you are into rugby on a borderline mental disorder level, then it is unlikely that these names will have pricked your consciousness. And yet it was these players, playing for Connacht, who beat their more fêted opponents 20-10 to lift the 2016 PRO12 title. It was the kind of win that left even neutral fans grinning and full of hope, feeling like our game can still be a wonderful thing.
How is this possible? Given Connacht’s resources it really shouldn’t be.
For many years, if you asked a person to name the Irish provincial teams the answer would have been something like “Munster, Leinster, er, Ulster and the other one, you know, the crap ones in green.” Connacht are from the west of Ireland, a region with little history of rugby success and a small population of which the majority prefer Gaelic Football or Hurling, with rugby featuring as a niche interest akin to Scandinavian crime thrillers or abstract modern jazz. But like fans of those two things, Connacht Rugby fans are committed, vociferous and admirably determined in the face of any and all detractors. This was a glorious weekend for their travelling army.
Their home stadium, Galway Sportgrounds (capacity 7,500), is perched next to the sea, giving the impression that they play their home matches at the end of the earth or on a more charming version of the Game of Thrones Iron Islands. As a result the gate income is like a poorly behaved child’s pocket money. The Irish Rugby Football Union also treat the province like their most troublesome offspring by giving them roughly half the money of the other three. This leaves Connacht with very little cash to splash on players, hence the fact that you haven’t heard of many of them as they either develop their own or hoover up players who have been let go by other clubs.
The Galway men nearly went out of business in 2003 after the IRFU looked to shut them down in a cost-cutting exercise, with only the actions of their vociferous fans preventing this from happening. Thus not only are they financially hamstrung, the organisation has also had to suffer as the IRFU allow and often encourage their most high profile players to leave. Internationals Ian Keatley (Munster), Sean Cronin and Mike McCarthy (both Leinster) all started at Connacht. Even after this fantastic win, their marquee player, centre Robbie Henshaw, is off to Dublin to line up for Leinster with the IRFU’s blessing.
However, there is one thing, or more specifically, one person, that has led the “F-you!” campaign against the lack of money, the IRFU’s lack of support and the tiny player base: their coach Pat Lam.
Lam has brought with him a quiet assurance and no small amount of skill and experience to give this team belief in a style of play that is equal parts bewitching and tough. This was never more evident than in the performance in the final as Connacht played with craft and verve in attack and blood and guts in defence. All over the park their players showed the best of what they are: Aly Muldowney, a tough lock who redefines the role by often playing comfortably at first receiver; Bundee Aki, the wrecking ball at 12 whose offloads defy logic; Matt Healy, an outside back cast off by Leinster who is coruscating, dazzling and often irresistible; Tiernan O’Halloran, a rapier fullback; Niyi Adeolokun, a lightning fast Nigerian-born wing who looks too wiry and thin but is stronger than a Tibetan Sherpa; and John Muldoon, the captain and lifetime Connacht man who gave all he had before weeping at the final whistle.
Leinster’s experienced internationals simply could not cope and there has never been a more popular winner than the traditional “crap ones in green.” Even Leinster fans and players were generous in their praise of their victors.
More than anything, Connacht and Pat Lam made us all fall in love with rugby a little but more, and for that we should be grateful. Many of their players will become better-known; hopefully not because they’ve transferred elsewhere. Holding this wonderful team together will be the province’s toughest battle yet.
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments