By LDTT
September 26 2006

Connacht were held to a 22-all draw by Edinburgh Gunners on Friday night in Galway. Mark McHugh popped over a penalty from halfway as he secured two points with the last act of the game. But it was the referee who will be remembered, for all the wrong reasons.

MAGNERS LEAGUE: Friday, September 22

CONNACHT 22 - EDINBURGH 22

The Sportsground, Galway

What a difference a week makes! At this stage last week Connacht fans were dissecting a thumbing handed out by a Llanelli team full of international stars. Then Connacht were almost mundane, they looked short on ideas in attack, and seemed anonymous in defence.

Against an Edinburgh side full of internationals, Connacht looked hungry. In defence they were organised and closed down their opponents with some fierce determination. In attack they were running breath taking lines, popping out of the tackle and rucking hard. They were a different side. The man of the moment, Dan Riordan, had a massive impact. He ran some excellent lines and looks like the speedster that Connacht badly need.

The benefit of these new lines were felt early in the game as Matt Mostyn gathered a pass on the second attempt to score underneath the posts. Connacht had built a number of phases and Mostyn had come in off his wing to take a pop from McHugh after a final ruck 5 metres out. The conversion put Connacht 7-3 up after Paterson had given Edinburgh an early lead.

Where Connacht came short, was at the breakdown where the tackled player having made significant ground, became isolated from support which usually led to a turnover or a penalty for Edinburgh. Dan Riordan found himself in this situation on a number of occasions, with the Welsh referee correctly pinging him for not releasing the ball. Worse for Connacht was the inconsistency this ref showed by not calling up Edinburgh for the same offences.

Edinburgh secured two kickable penalties and took them both to snatch the lead before securing their only try of the game. On one of the few occasions Edinburgh secured their own lineout, they worked a wonderful wide move and for once the Connacht defence was at sixes and sevens, which ultimately saw Chris Patterson, run in under the posts unchallenged.

McHugh had the last say in the first half score with another long range penalty to bring Connacht back within six. At this point, Edinburgh weren't worth their lead. Connacht were shipping soft penalties, and while they were playing some great rugby, their runners were being isolated after breaking the line.

Mostyn left the action to be replaced by Darren Yapp, and he didn't have the best of nights by any standards. He seemed indecisive with the ball in hand a sheepish in the tackle. Yapp has been one of the most consist Connacht performers of the last few years, but last night will be one to forget for him.

The second half started with Connacht showing their usual post break ferocity. They earned a penalty in the Edinburgh half for McHugh to reduce the deficit to 3 points. The referee then correctly sin-binned David Gannon, for coming in from the side. Edinburgh converted the penalty to take the score out to 13-19. It was around about this point that the Welsh ref started to lose both control and respect.

The Munster touch judge on the stand side wasn't at the races either, when an Edinburgh penalty kick to touch clearly went out over the dead-ball line, he indicated it went out before the flag. The ref briefly over ruled him and called a scrum for Connacht until the linesman said he had been abused by a Connacht player and the ref award Edinburgh a 5 metre penalty.

Ultimately the Connacht defence was too well organised and in the end, a turnover helped the westerners to clear their lines. And subsequently Alistair Dickson was binned and McHugh converted a kick for 16-19. Then Ross Rennie was given a ten minute cool off period and unfortunately McHugh missed a fairly straight forward goal kick (admittedly only by his standards).

Cue the intervention of the ref again to bin Scott Murray and give Connacht yet another chance to level the scores, and McHugh obliged with a fine kick from the ten-metre line. 19 a piece and Connacht were 14 players to 12 to the good. However this didn't last long, as Matt Lacey caught an Edinburgh across the chest, the ref saw a high tackle and put another man in the bin. Hodge kicked the penalty to restore Edinburgh’s lead, and with only minutes on the clock and Edinburgh players coming back on to the pitch, Connacht looked in trouble.

The Scots were picking and driving. Going nowhere but trying to wear down the clock. Connacht were going to need something special, and John Muldoon who smartly lined up an Edinburgh forward, attacked the ball, forcing the Scot to the ground and earning a penalty for not releasing the ball. The crowd no doubt assumed the ref would be sending someone in the bin but instead indicated that the resulting kick would be the final kick of the game. One last monster boot from McHugh salvaged a deserved draw.

Connacht have now had only one defeat in their last five competitive games. With Munster and Leinster having such poor starts to the season, Connacht will have to look for an improvement on last season and to take some points from next week’s fixture against the Donnybrook team. With the big names in Leinster’s side coming back next week, the clash should be a popular one.

The crowd was noticeably smaller than the previous two weeks against Ospreys & Llanelli, a pity considering the entertaining rugby that Connacht are playing. But then again, it must be asked how many people are simply not able to make these early kick-offs?