Connacht are playing for high stakes this week in their bid to take a necessary two wins and hopefully seal a United Rugby Championship (URC) top-eight position.
A win against Edinburgh at home on Saturday evening, followed by a trip to Parma to face Italian side Zebre, might still not be enough given their current 14th position in the table.
But Connacht’s interim head coach, Cullie Tucker, says the mathematics is simple: two bonus-point wins will put Connacht in the best position to challenge for that vital top eight.
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“We know we need certain teams doing us a favour, which is the reality, but what we can control is how we perform, so we have to go for it with everything we have,” he says.
Connacht may be only six points off the current top eight, but it has become a crowded table with six teams battling to break that barrier, including Munster and Saturday night’s opponents Edinburgh, who, in 10th spot, have a four-point advantage.
“It’s a dogfight between both teams now to put themselves in the position to be in contention for the last game,” Tucker says.
“So an incredibly tough challenge ahead. But we feel we have trained well, and we’re looking forward to it.
“Over the last couple of weeks we’ve taken our learnings, and eventually I think those things tell, but I’ve said constantly once our effort is there and once we’re creating you know at some stage it does have to crack for us.”
Tucker admits it has been a frustrating season, including the loss of head coach Pete Wilkins.
“Fifteen bonus points all season tells the story in itself, including a number over the last couple of weeks, and two tries at the death that were chalked off,” he says.
“All those things lead to frustrations and disappointments in the group. And then, there has been Pete’s situation as well. It’s just a scenario you wouldn’t normally face. So there have been challenges.”
Connacht continue to be without Ireland star Mack Hansen, who underwent an ankle procedure last week, while Colm Reilly (knee), Shane Jennings (shoulder), Byron Ralston (knee) and Josh Ioane (hand) also will be absent for the final two fixtures.
Reilly suffered a dislocated kneecap in the 26-7 Lions away defeat in the URC and will be sidelined for eight to 10 weeks, while Jennings dislocated his shoulder in the same game and will be out for 12 weeks following surgery this week.
However, key players Bundee Aki, Caolin Blade and Denis Buckley are fit to play, having missed the South African trip, while Seán O’Brien, a long-term absentee, is also available, having recovered from a hamstring injury.
And good news for the province is outhalf Jack Carty has renewed his contract for another season. Having made his debut in 2012, Connacht’s record points scorer penned a new contract this week.
Now aged 32, Carty has scored 1,277 points in his 220 appearances. Carty has won 11 Irish caps and was a member of the 2019 Rugby World Cup squad.
