Edinburgh offer shot at redemption

image: thejournal.ie

CONNACHT coach Eric Elwood admitted he was hugely disappointed with his side’s flat performance against Glasgow on Saturday. The province needed a last gasp penalty from Niall O’Connor to salvage a draw after a very poor opening half.

“We were disappointed with our performance particularly in the first forty minutes and we spoke again at our meeting about that. The good thing is that we made improvements in the second half, we did apply pressure and we got ourselves back into the game,” he said.

However Elwood was looking for the positives out of Saturday’s match, as the draw put an end to the team’s ten match losing streak in the league. ”The most pleasing thing of all, taking those two things out, is that we got two points out of a game that we felt at half time we didn’t look like we were going to get. To get something out of the game and to play as poorly as we did is a huge positive for us.”

The next step for Connacht is to get a win under their belts but to do this they will have to work on putting in a performance for the entire game and to eradicate the silly penalties which have blighted their season so far.

“The key for us now is to take it forward to this weekend where we can get the performance, the intensity and the tempo levels up in our game and get the four points which we are ultimately looking for this weekend,” he explained.

Elwood dismissed speculation that the return of Edinburgh coach Michael Bradley to Connacht for the first time since he left would overshadow the game or impinge on his side’s preparations for their crunch tie on Friday night. Winning against Edinburgh is their only motivation.

“The key for us is the four points. I know its very clichéd but that is the key. We need to put those two things together to put in a big performance and ultimately a good enough performance that is capable of winning the match. It is a big opportunity for four points,” he said.

Elwood anticipates a massive try scoring threat from Edinburgh. Dutch star Tim Visser is the league’s top scorer for the third season and he and younger brother Seb offer a huge threat on the wings. Connacht will have to shackle both of them to win.

“They have scored a hell of a lot of points and they have scored a lot of tries because that’s the nature of their play. They haven’t deviated from that, even with personnel missing. They will play a wide expansive game for sure.

The match gives Connacht the opportunity to move up the league table. Victory over the Scottish side on Friday night, would mean that Connacht would over take Edinburgh and move up to ninth, enhancing their chances of remaining in the Heineken Cup. Elwood fully believes in his team’s ability to do just that.

“We know we are capable of beating them. We do have a good record against them and we would like to continue that on Friday. We leap frog Edinburgh if we beat them at the weekend so there’s a start and that’s what we are looking for.

We are not looking any further. All that matters is Edinburgh. If we beat Edinburgh on Friday we jump ahead of them,” he added.