Celtic League – Elwood Doubt For Connacht

Eric Elwood is a major doubt for Connacht as they prepare to travel to Glasgow Rugby on Friday night in search of their own Scottish treble – in the third of four successive away fixtures.

Victories over Edinburgh Rugby (11-3 in the Celtic League) and The Borders (26-21 in the Celtic Cup) have set up that potential triple in the first month of the season – but Connacht coach Michael Bradley believes there is no guide to true form being delivered so far.

“It is fair to say that the Celtic League has not settled down yet and both Glasgow Rugby and ourselves have had some good and some bad performances,” said the former international scrum half.

“Being drawn away to Llanelli Scarlets in the quarter-finals of the Celtic Cup on October 3rd means we will have had four away games on the trot so we have to take that on board – though naturally we will be giving it our best attempt in every game.

“Eric Elwood tweaked a knee ligament and we are not sure how serious that is so we will just have to monitor his progress during the week but we have tremendously enjoyed both tournaments so far.

The welcome win at Netherdale over The Borders nevertheless highlighted Bradley’s concern over Connacht’s in-and-out form.

“It was certainly an entertaining game – The Borders had a point to prove and got two smashing tries before half-time,” he said.

“We did come back to snatch it, but that was merely reflective of the way we have been playing this season.

“In the first half we were predictable, sluggish and did not play a lot of rugby. I told them to move the ball wider in the second half and we did play better. The bottom line is that it was great to win – when we could easily have lost it – and so stay in the tournament.

Meanwhile, Glasgow Rugby coach Hugh Campbell has set out his stall when he says that all home games are “must win” contests.

“Connacht have beaten both other Scots sides already this season and they are a very committed side who play for the full 80 minutes,”he said.

“They have a couple of good goal kickers in their team. You have to be on your guard so that you do not present them with opportunities to get the scoreboard ticking over. And you certainly cannot afford to take Connacht lightly – I think everyone in the Celtic tournaments are well aware of the threat they can pose.

“The Celtic Cup represents the one-off occasions, when you can go for it, as we did against Celtic Warriors last Friday.

“But a home game in the week-in-week-out demands of the Celtic League is where you have to have the consistency so this is a big game for us, a very important match.

“We have to perform, no question about that, if we are going to do anything in the League this season.
We have got a few injury problems, like at scrum half and in the centre, but I feel we have the cover in the squad to cope with those concerns.”

Glasgow Rugby produced possibly the upset of Round 1 in the Celtic Cup competition when they beat Celtic Warriors 19-9 at the Brewery Field last weekend but Campbell is only looking at the next challenge.