Connacht could have been left counting a heavy cost for individual errors were it not for Saturday's thunder and lightning storm that caused their Guinness Pro 12 fixture with Zebre to be abandoned.
Down 22-10 at the break, Connacht were facing an uphill battle after three Zebre tries, all scored from turnover ball and defensive errors. Although coach Pat Lam believes Connacht would have recovered, he says his side is paying the price for players’ mistakes.
“There was some really good stuff out there, but we all pay the price if someone makes a mistake. Of course it is disappointing, you want players to execute, but you can’t beat a player up, you have to lift the guy back up. Ultimately people make mistakes and for us it’s about us getting it fixed.”
For the second time on their Italian travels Connacht’s Pro 12 campaign has fallen foul of the weather. Easter 2013 produced heavy rain which waterlogged the pitch in Treviso, and on Saturday evening an unusual thunder and lightning storm with heavy hail prevented the teams taking the pitch for the second half of this third-round fixture.
While the Italians may feel it was a get-out-of-jail-card for the champions, Lam is confident the second half would have been a different story.
“Rugby is an 80 minute game. We made a couple of errors, but I was still confident we would come back. Unfortunately, through no fault of ours or Zebre, the game got called off, and we can’t control that.
“We scored a great try through Tiernan [O’Halloran]straight off the training park, and that’s what we aim for. I am confident we would have produced a better performance in the second half.”
Captain John Muldoon put his hand up for helping to concede one of those three tries, which were scored by centre Tommaso Boni, and backrow players Maxime Mbanda and Jacopo Sarto.
“A combination of everyone making small mistakes is costings us. It was me this week - I got a bit too wide and left too much of a hole. Sometimes you can make a mistake and someone covers your back, but unfortunately we keep making them and getting punished really hard. If you miss a tackle and they get in behind you, then it’s back foot, and they scored three tries from three attacks, so that is disappointing.
“But we just have to take it on the chin. In the bigger picture, the game plan is right and we trust in it, and, if we cut out the individual errors, we know we will be back winning. We’ve been in this position last season - losing to Ulster, Leinster, Scarlets, and Brive - so we know what we need to change.”
Muldoon said safety was the priority in referee Ian Davies’ decision to abandon the game.
“We knew before kick off there were big storm clouds brewing and in the last 10 minutes it was getting worse. When we got into the changing room, let’s just say that we didn’t need any lights. It’s all about a safety.
“Zebre might feel let down by this act of god, but you have to look after people. With the amount of lightning, you just could go out on a pitch like that.”
Although Connacht’s 100 per cent record over Zebre remains intact, Muldoon says they are a team on the rise.
“We’d like to continue our good record, but they are getting better, and Conor O’Shea is more hands-on and has been helping them. Obviously we were disappointed they scored early, but we were not panicking. We knew we would have opportunities in the second half, but we can’t go back there now.
“We are now looking forward to Scarlets They are a bit like us, playing good stuff and getting punished. There are a lot of good teams in this league, and it just shows how good we were last year and how finely tuned we were, but we are not going to panic. We are getting better every game, we’re highlighting things to fix, and we will continue to improve.”
Scoring sequence: 7 mins T Boni try 5-0;14 mins, 14 mins T O’Halloran try, Carty conversion 5-7; 16 mins M Mbanda try, Canna conversion 12-7; 22 mins Carty penalty 12-10; 29 mins Sarto try, Canna conversion 19-10; 40 mins; 40 mins, Padovani penalty 22-10.
ZEBRE RUGBY: E Padovani; G Di Giulio, G Bisegni, T Boni, G Venditti; C Canna, G Palazzani; F Ruzza, J Sarto, M Mbanda; G Biagi (capt), Q Geldenhuys; P Ceccarelli, O Fabiani, A De Marchi.
Replacements: T D'Apice, B Postiglioni, G Roan, G Koegelenberg, D Minnie, C Englebrecht, T Castello, M Pratichetti.
CONNACHT: T O'Halloran; N Adeolokun, B Aki, E Griffin, C Kelleher; J Carty, C Blade; D Buckley, T McCartney, JP Cooney; L Stevenson, A Browne; E McKeon, J Connolly, J Muldoon (capt).
Replacements: D Heffernan, R Loughney, C Carey, U Dillane, R Maloney, K Marmion, S O'Leary, M Healy.
Referee: Ian Davies (WFU).
