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Connacht may be finding their first season of Heineken Cup rugby a baptism of fire but they will relish the prospect of tackling west country giants
Connacht may be finding their first season of Heineken Cup rugby a baptism of fire but they will relish the prospect of tackling west country giants, Gloucester, in Galway.
The Irish province has still to record their first victory in European rugby’s premier competition after two Pool 6 defeats to reigning Challenge Cup winners Harlequins and four-times champions of Europe Toulouse.
Connacht, who have played 100 games in European rugby, have still to register a point in the Heineken Cup and will be looking to put that right against the Premiership outfit.
Gloucester will know they need back-to-back victories over Connacht, after their defeats to Harlequins and Toulouse, if they are to stand any chance of keeping their slim chances of a quarter-final place alive.
The Premiership side has lost its last four games but will hoping to take advantage of a Connacht side which has failed to register a win and lost they last eight games in all competitions.
Heineken man of the match Luke Narraway comments after Gloucester come from behind to beat Ospreys 26-18 and set the pace in Pool 2 - 16/11/2007 23:20
Gloucester made it third time lucky in Europe as they edged Connacht out in Galway as the Irish Province’s wait for a first Heineken Cup win goes on.
In a nail-biting encounter at the Galway Sportsground it was the boot of Freddie Burns that proved the difference. The fly-half slotted two penalties before James Simpson-Daniel grabbed the opening try.
Gavin Duffy hit-back for the hosts to close the gap to 11-7 at the interval.
Niall O’Connor cut the deficit to a point with a well-struck second-half penalty but that was nullified by Burns as Gloucester hung-on for their first Heineken Cup Pool Six win of the season.
Connacht started the clash with plenty of endeavour, but with a strong win at their backs Gloucester got the scoreboard ticking after just six minutes thanks to a Burns penalty.
O’Connor had the opportunity to level the scores on 14 minutes but was off-target with a relatively straight-forward penalty.
The Cherry & Whites fly-half stretched his team’s lead with another penalty on 16 minutes, just moments after missing a previous shot at goal.
Gloucester then grabbed the game’s first try to open up a commanding lead. Following several phases the ball was spread wide and Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu drew two men and offloaded to Simpson-Daniel for the try.
But the visitors shot themselves in the foot moments later as Duffy pounced for a crucial try. Burns and Narraway hesitated under a high-ball and the Connacht captain collected it on the bounce, before stepping passed Olly Morgan and racing clear. O’Connor added the simple conversion to cut Gloucester’s lead to 11-7.
The English club almost snatched a second try just before the interval following a Henry Trinder chip but the ball beat Sharples over the dead-ball line.
O’Connor struck with a penalty within three minutes of the restart of play to cut the deficit to a single point.
A deadlock ensued for the next 28 minutes as both sides were let down by mistakes in the final-quarter. Mark McCrae thought he had snatched a crucial interception as he raced clear from his own twenty-two but Neil Paterson called play back for an earlier offside offence and Burns stretched Gloucester’s lead to 14-10.
Both sides squandered opportunities in the closing stages but the Cherry & Whites had done enough in the first-half to clinch the victory.
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