In the first of a regular column for JOE, Connacht forward Johnny O’Connor reflects on a bruising encounter against Bayonne and looks forward to running in to some old friends against Leinster this weekend.
It’s Tuesday evening at this stage and I’m still feeling sore after the Bayonne game on Friday night. Most games are quite physical these days, but this one just happened to be very, very physical. The close encounters were quite tough; there were so many collisions.
That seems to be the case all the time these days. The ball is in play so much and when the opposition hit you, they’re coming at you with serious pace and power. It’s not a case of someone hitting you from a standing start, they’re actually running straight at you and there are some really big hits going in.
A comedy of errors
We needed to win and to get back on track straight away after the defeat to Cavalieri the weekend before. We just didn’t play well in Italy; some things just went wrong for us. They’re a team we could have put away but we didn’t; sometimes games just turn into comedies of errors when you’re trying too hard and that’s what happened on the day.
In fairness, the coaches came in and they realised as well that it was just one of those days. The coaches have a lot of playing experience; they understand the situation and they would have been in a similar situation before in their career. We’re not the first team it has happened to and we won’t be the last – whatever sport it’s in – and it’s not nice.
We went through it and we parked it and we talked about what we wanted to do against Bayonne and that took over for the rest of the week. We’re not hiding the fact that it did happen, but if you get too down about every single defeat, then you’d easily get very depressed.
You can get hooked on rugby sometimes – even when a game is dull, you’re just drawn to it and you know it’s bad and you know you should turn it off, but you go through the whole 80 minutes and you say to yourself afterwards: ‘What did I just waste my day doing!’
It was unfortunate, but we got back on track against Bayonne. It wasn’t pretty; they were probably one of the most physical sides we’ve played this year. But we grinded it out and thankfully we got a win in the end.
In terms of qualifying from the group, we’ve made it more difficult for ourselves but we still think it’s doable. We think we can beat Bayonne away and we can take on Harlequins. We’ve left ourselves a lot to do but I think the group is wide open in terms of everyone having lost a game.
With Halloween fast approaching, Johnny (right) does his best to scare Bayonne scrum-half Julien Audy
Personally, I’m feeling absolutely fine. I had a few weeks out; I broke three vertebrae in my back which was quite sore, but I’ve got two and a half games under my belt now – I don’t think a ten-minute pre-season game counts! It’s nice to get back on the field; the slog of sitting in the gym and just doing weights just takes a bit out of you.
Rugby-free zone
I didn’t tune in to the Heineken Cup games this weekend; I don’t have Sky Sports in the house for the reason that I can’t watch it. If I had it, I wouldn’t leave the house, I know the way I am. It’s not that I wouldn’t be interested, but you do so much analysis, you see so much rugby during the week that sometimes you don’t want to spend all weekend watching rugby.
If I have the weekend free, I know my wife wouldn’t be too keen on me sitting down watching a rugby game… again. It’s a self-imposed ban really to be honest, unless it’s a big game like a Munster v Leinster game that you just know is going to be a cracker. You can get hooked on rugby sometimes – even when a game is dull, you’re just drawn to it and you know it’s bad and you know you should turn it off, but you go through the whole 80 minutes and you say to yourself ‘What did I waste my day doing!’ But I try to avoid those sort of situations.
We’re coming up against Leinster this weekend and like any derby – whether it’s Ulster or Munster or Leinster – there’s always an added edge to the game. I suppose the edge is there because of the familiarity over the years and because of all the lads you’d know on those teams, but they’re always enjoyable games to play in.
I really enjoy playing against Leinster; they’re a really good side. People were writing them off at the start of the season after they had a couple of losses, but I’m sure that come the business end of the season Leinster will be there or thereabouts.
Old friends reunited
I’m looking forward to coming up against Eoin Reddan in particular. I’d be very good friends with him, he was groomsman at my wedding. I’ll try and get a hold of him on the pitch, but he’s too fast for me to be honest. You’d try and have a bit of craic on the pitch sometimes, an odd comment here or there, but nothing too much. It’s hard because you’re so involved in the game. I’m sure I’ll try and get a bit of craic out of Reds but he probably won’t give me anything to be honest!
Lastly, I’d just like to congratulate my Connacht team-mates Sean Cronin, Gavin Duffy and John Muldoon on their call up to the Irish squad for the November internationals. Some of the other guys in our squad, the likes of Fionn Carr and Jamie Hagan were doing very well and pushing for selection, but the competition is so strong.
We’re lucky that we’ve a pretty strong national side; we’ve so many strong players in every position. The lads are only missing out by a small margin, but in fairness, the lads that are in there are of a very high calibre and I’m sure the boys will get a chance again in the future.
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