COMBINING FIGHT WITH flair is why Connacht are enjoying such a productive campaign according to captain John Muldoon.
The Portumna native contributed another hugely effective display as Connacht outfoxed Munster at 24-16 the Sportsground yesterday.
“It was physical, but we probably have a bit of extra flair which won us the game,” was Muldoon’s honest post match assessment.
“That is what we have now. We have flair players all over the pitch, especially in our backline. I suppose in the past if we want to be harsh we probably didn’t have that outside.
“We worked hard in the forwards and probably didn’t have that bit of flair, but we have it now. We just have to make sure we get good ball to them to get them going.”
Connacht played into the teeth of a strong wind in the opening period, but the above Kieran Marmion try ensured they only trailed 16-7 at the break and Muldoon was encouraged by how his team battled.
“When Munster come to town you have to physically match them to try to get the better of them. We didn’t start great and we gave them a few scores.
“The big thing for us was to get a try in the first half against that wind. To get a score was huge. There is a different perspective on the game walking in at half-time being 16-0 compared to 16-7. That gives you real hope. In the second half bar the last few minutes they didn’t get into our 22. That shows you how hard it can be. In terms of momentum the first half try was a huge, huge score.
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“We put a bit of a different structure on our game against the wind and probably held on to the ball a little bit longer. That might have drained them a little, might I say we might have drained ourselves a bit too. It was tough going against the wind,” joked Muldoon.
Having suffered narrow defeats away to Leinster and Ulster Muldoon was content that Connacht responded against Munster. “We made a lot of mistakes in the last two weeks, especially up in Ulster. That maybe prepared us for this. Even though we trained in sunshine we focused for a wet and windy night which we knew was coming. Our home record of not being beaten is still intact.”
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