Connacht 13
Glasgow 13

Rob Murphy

POURING over the bones of this contest won't be much fun for anyone on either team – management or players. There will be positives to extract from the 80 minutes, but focusing on them would be counter-productive.

Glasgow were the more dejected at full time. Niall O'Connor's last minute kick from out on the right was far from straight forward and nabbed two points off the Scottish side that they really should have sewn up minutes earlier.

Connacht celebrated that kick like a victory. Relief was the key emotion. The run without a win goes on, of course, but the ten game losing streak in league play is done.

Their record in the competition now stands at three wins, 11 defeats and one draw. Six losing bonus points in those defeats tells a tale but, on the other end of that stick, is the fact that Connacht's three wins have been by a margin of less than seven. Fine margins.

By the end of the first quarter of Saturday's contest on a cold crisp blustery night at the Sportsground, neither side had scored and the opportunities had been few and far between. Two long range missed kicks from O'Connor to be exact.

The opening core came on 26 minutes and was a brutal one to concede for the home side. Glasgow were in their 22 and threatening. A tackle had been made under the posts ten metres out and the visitors appeared to be contained.

However, loosehead John Welsh spotted a gaping hole in the fringe defence behind the ruck. Clearly a weakness identified in the pre-match video analysis by Sean Lineen and his side, and exploited in simple style.

George Naoupu, Eoghan Grace and Niall O'Connor were in the vicinity but not minding the back door. Whose job it was, or whether anyone was assigned to it in that split second will no doubt be worked out in team meetings this week. A basic error and one which would repeat itself.

Glasgow held a 7-0 lead heading into the closing stages of a half where Connacht had offered very little in attack. They were shut down on most of their possession, losing yards from phase to phase consistently, with slow ball from rucks and being ponderous in possession compounding matters.

Just before the break, O’Connor struck a fine penalty from near the touchline, a score that came against the run of play and was a considerable lift to a home side looking flat and off kilter from their more concerted effort away to Cardiff the previous week.

Surprisingly, Connacht didn’t push on after the break and after a scrappy opening ten minutes, Dave Moore was introduced at nine. He offered pace but it took a while to transfer and through the boot of Ruairidh Jackson, Glasgow stretched their lead to 10-3.

For more, read this week's Connacht Sentinel.