LONG READ ‘No-one was expecting us to win’: How Cape Town heist crowned Connacht comeback

“We said in the huddle beforehand that no-one in the stadium and no-one outside of us was expecting us to go out and win.”

As 14,000 South Africans filed out of DHL Stadium in Cape Town last Saturday, a pocket of around 110 Connacht supporters delivered a rousing rendition of ‘Fields of Athenry’. Harry West, Hugh Gavin, John Devine and Sam Illo sang along, while Cathal Forde raised his left arm in triumph (his right arm was in a sling). The Westerners and their merry band of followers were revelling in a break-neck 33-24 win over the Stormers.

On the other side of the pitch, as players headed down the tunnel, more Connacht fans waved flags and posed for pictures. There were familiar faces down near the front. Former Connacht and Ireland full-back Tiernan O’Halloran was there with his wife Emily and two children, passing on his congratulations.

Back in the ‘away’ changing room, the party was only getting started. “There were a few supporters over,” said Connacht forwards coach, John Muldoon. “Some of them managed to find their way onto the field, and into the dressing room, which was quite nice. It was some of the close family. That’s great for them and the lads as well – to have some of their parents in there.

“There was a great buzz and speaking to some of the younger fellas, they felt it was the biggest and best game they’ve ever been involved in. They were asking a few questions at the end – if that was the energy and buzz in our dressing room, what was it like when we won (the league title, in 2015-16)? Some were talking about us going over and winning in Toulouse (in the old Heineken Cup in 2013). For those young lads to go out and perform how they did, it bodes well for the future.”

It was a highly charged day in Cape Town, as the Stormers came together to pay tribute to Christopher ‘Chippie’ Solomon, their late team manager. Chad Solomon, Chippie’s son and a former Stormer, brought out the match ball, accompanied through a guard of honour by family members. Stormers director of rugby John Dobson did not even try to hold back the flood of tears. He was not the only one. Just before kick-off, Ruhan Nel, Scarra Ntubeni and Deon Fourie jogged over to embrace the Solomon family. Connacht paid their respects to Chippie before and after the match. For 80 minutes though, they did well to detach themselves from that stark reminder of reality and focus on their URC play-offs pursuit.

I haven’t had too many big wins for Connacht in my career so far, so that one was the best, by a mile. I absolutely loved every second of it.

Muldoon, who revealed those team huddle comments,  was aware there would be an opening Stormers flurry. “We knew it was a very emotional day for the Stormers and that they’d have a lot of energy, early on,” he said. “We talked about trying to weather that. We were delighted with the result. There were some big moments from some very young players. You could see, as the game went on, the energy they brought was clear to see. It was great to have a lot of young players on the pitch at the end, especially home-grown players.”

Eight of Connacht’s match-day squad last Saturday hail from the province, with three more having come through their academy system. There was certainly a nod to that ‘grassroots to green shirts’ mentality on Tuesday, when the province put Mayo and Galway lads, Harry West and Hugh Gavin, up for media duty.

“It’s certainly the biggest win of my career, by a good bit,” said Gavin, a former Galway minor footballer. “I haven’t had too many big wins for Connacht in my career so far, so that one was the best, by a mile. I absolutely loved every second of it, especially as there were so many lads there that I came up through the academy with. In the grand scheme of things, not many Connacht sides have come down to South Africa and won… it was massive.”

It is put to Muldoon that the last time Connacht won six league games in a row, they went on to lift the league title. That was a decade ago, when Pat Lam was head coach, and ‘Mul’ was captain. Muldoon laughs when that statistic is brought up, but acknowledges the Westerners have built up a nice head of steam. “If you look at some of the bigger days in Connacht’s history,” says Muldoon, “and some of the big away days, it’s certainly up there… we won against Sharks in Durban, three years ago, and it was a bit of a smash-and-grab.”

With three rounds of the regular season to go, five teams are already out of the URC play-off picture and Ospreys and Sharks also look too far back – 10 points behind Connacht – at this stage. That leaves nine teams fighting for eight spots in the knockout stages. Champions Cup qualification is the added bonus. Connacht lie ninth, but only four points separate them from fourth-place Lions, who they face at Ellis Park on Saturday. It has been a remarkable comeback for a side that back in late January had only won two of their first nine league games.

We’ve got so much talent, and it is not just the 15 on the field. We’ve got 30 to 40 players.

Last September, I took a trip to Galway to see how their new-look Dexcom Stadium was coming along and to chat with head coach Stuart Lancaster and some of his players. The stadium – a significant upgrade from The Sportsground – was very much a work in progress. Spirits were high, though, and all the players I spoke with seemed to have fully bought into whatever Lancaster was selling.

Ahead of their season opener against Benetton, Sean Jansen said, “We didn’t have to bring anyone in. We have the talent here. Stu is just putting us together and we’re clicking really well. I just can’t wait for this weekend, for us to go out and show everyone what we are – we’re a top-four team and we’ve the ability to be a top-four team.”

“We’ve got three Lions,” the Kiwi back-row added. “How many boys were away with Ireland – six – last summer, how many boys were with Ireland ‘A’? We have Josh Ioane, an All Black 10. We’ve got so much talent, and it is not just the 15 on the field. We’ve got 30 to 40 players. The academy lads coming up – young Seán Naughton and Dan Ryan. We’ve so much talent. We just need to all be on the same track.”

Benetton were defeated, but losses followed against Cardiff, Bulls and Munster. Their Lions trio – Finlay Bealham, Bundee Aki and Mack Hansen – have started only 13 league games between them, playing a combined 925 minutes in the URC. Connacht were playing well for decent stretches of most games, but invariably came out the wrong side of tight encounters. There have been four losses in one-score games this season.

On 24 January, the main stand of Dexcom Stadium opened. Leinster were in town for the occasion. Three days before the match, it was confirmed an injured Hansen would miss the remainder of the season. Connacht led 20-13, when Jansen and Finn Treacy linked up to set up a sensational West try, but would go on to lose 34-23. Aki let his frustrations get the better of him, during and after the game, and copped a four-game ban for ‘verbal abuse and disrespect’ directed at the match officials.

That win over Glasgow was a real glass-ceiling moment, to build belief and confidence in the direction we’re going

Connacht’s season appeared to be spiralling out of control. Lancaster pulled his squad together to refocus on more immediate goals – win the next one. They went into the sparse Six Nations window with a league win over Zebre in Parma. But the catalyst for their late surge came in late February. Two late tries from Jansen and Josh Murphy secured a precious 15-10 victory over URC front-runners, Glasgow. “I thought the roof was going to blow off, after Sean’s try,” Lancaster remarked, post-match. “It’s such a big moment for us this season. We’ve had all those bonus-point losses and you were just thinking, ‘Oh, come on, let’s break through the glass-ceiling’. I think that win was a real glass-ceiling moment, to build belief and confidence in the direction we’re going.”

Zebre and Glasgow were the start of Connacht’s winning URC streak. Victories followed over Scarlets and Ospreys and, impressively, away to Ulster and Stormers. Captain Cian Prendergast is leading from the front, ably supported by the likes of Jansen, Paul Boyle and Ben Murphy. Fifteen of the players that featured in the bonus-point win over Stormers are aged 26 or under, with Billy Bohan (20), Sean Naughton (21) and 22-year-olds Hugh Gavin and Matt Victory the youngest of the litter. They will be boosted next season by the arrival of Bath prop Francois van Wyk and the Leinster duo of Will Connors and Ciarán Frawley.

As a squad, confidence is quite high. We’re all feeling really good. That was an unbelievable win, but you’re only as good as your next performance.

In my pre-season preview for Connacht on this website, I mentioned the temptation of chasing Challenge Cup glory after a favourable pool stage draw, but suggested the URC should be Lancaster’s priority: ‘An eighth-place league finish and knock-out rugby would be big achievements.’ Seven months on, that remains true. That being said, Connacht will be aiming higher if they can first secure one of those knock-out places.

“We’ve spoken about how, as you get towards the end of the season, the challenges just keep getting bigger,” West explained. “You are going to be playing against the best teams in the league. For us, Saturday will be another step up. This Lions team have won four on the bounce as well. We’re well aware of how big the challenge is. We’ve taken a lot of confidence from the stuff we did well, but there’s loads we can improve on, going into this game.

“As a squad, confidence is quite high. We’re all feeling really good. That was an unbelievable win, but you’re only as good as your next performance. We’ve flipped the script already to this game and we’re all really looking forward to the challenge.”