VIDEO: 'We're in the land of physicality now'
Connacht arrived in South Africa in a defiant mood, determined to fight fire with fire and keep their trophy hunt alive.
In the wake of a heartbreaking (40-43) loss to Racing 92 in a Challenge Cup quarterfinal at the Sportsground this past weekend, they will look to pick up the pieces with a two-match United Rugby Championship tour of the Republic – facing the Stormers in Cape Town this Saturday and the Lions in Johannesburg a weekend later.
The growing list of injuries is not helping their play-off bid – Ireland stars Mack Hansen and Bundee Aki, joined on the sidelines by Caolin Blade, Josh Ioane, Shamus Hurley-Langton, Denis Buckley and Finn Treacy.
The Westerners, 13th on the URC standings with 33 points, are part of a chasing bunch that includes the Stormers (35 points), Scarlets (33), Ospreys (33) and the Lions (30).
Three teams – Benetton, Edinburgh and Cardiff, all on 36 points – are within striking distance.
Connacht’s last two league matches ahead of the play-offs are Edinburgh (in Galway) and Zebre (in Parma).
It makes the South African safari a vital venture.
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Connacht Scrum & Contact Coach Colm ‘Cullie’ Tucker remains optimistic his squad can get the job done in what is traditionally a tough environment.
“That is the nature of the URC this year, all the teams are quality,” Tucker said.
He added that they must “embrace” the challenge.
“What are we expecting from the Stormers? Brilliant individual players, their offloading game is very, very impressive, very strong set piece, very strong scrum and they are a very cohesive and attack-minded team.
“But at the same time, the contact zone, both sides of the ball will be key to the game.
“We’re in the land of physicality now, so we have to power up and be ready for it.
“They’ve been strong around both sides of a ruck, so we have to be accurate, really physical there.”
He added that they will continue to play their ‘tempo’ game against a Stormers team they often like to ‘cut loose’.
(WATCH as Connacht Scrum & Contact Coach Colm ‘Cullie’ Tucker speak about the URC crunch encounter with the Stormers in Cape Town on Saturday….)
“We like to play with tempo, we like to play on top of teams, so we certainly won’t be waiting for the last 10 minutes.
“You know, that’s been indicative of the way we have played. We don’t wait for the last 10 minutes.
“We’ve had some lulls in games, but I think we’ve started the games very, very well over the last while, put our structures in place and scored points.”
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