Athlone duo still in with a chance of Heineken Cup progress
THE flame still flickers for Connacht and their two Athlone rugby stars, Jack Carty and Robbie Henshaw, as they look ahead to their final Heineken Cup Pool 3 match at Saracens this coming Saturday.
Largely thanks to a completely shock win away to French powerhouse Toulouse in round three of the group fixtures, Connacht have stayed the pace in the race for qualification to the quarter-finals.
Unfortunately, they spurned the chance of registering an important bonus point when beating group whipping boys, Zebre, in Galway last weekend, despite two superb individual displays by the aforementioned Athlone duo.
Henshaw, who broke into the Ireland senior team panel last year, scored his first Heineken Cup try as Connacht sailed to a 20-3 victory in the Sportsground; the province’s seventh straight win against Zebre. But most observers were left frustrated by Connacht’s inability to press home their undoubted domination and secure a potentially crucial bonus point.
Jack Carty has featured in Connacht’s last few games but the South Roscommon native was making his first Heineken Cup start last weekend. It didn’t look like it, though, as Carty produced a master-class performance to fully vindicate the decision of head coach Pat Lam to give Carty his opportunity.
Connacht now have an uphill task to reach the last eight, but most rugby followers will also applaud the fact that Connacht are even still in the mix with just one group game remaining. Not too many observers would have given much consideration to such a notion ahead of the start of the competition, and had Toulouse and Saracens as favourites to run away with the pool.
Now, Connacht make the trek to London to take on Saracens knowing that a win could see them qualify, as one of two best runners-up, for the quarter-finals. Saracens though, know that a win for them will also see them in with a super chance of reaching the quarters behind the group leaders, Toulouse.
Whatever happens this weekend, Athlone rugby supporters can be rightly proud of the impact of both Henshaw and Carty to Connacht’s Heineken Cup campaign, and they will know that both players, who came through the local Buccaneers structure, have extremely bright futures with the province.