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Lee Calvert raises a toast to Connacht, the Irish battlers who defied the odds to lift the PRO12 trophy at Murrayfield on the weekend.
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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.
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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.
