Aly Muldowney
may not register on the try count all that often but when he does touchdown, his tries tend to be remembered. He did three seasons ago in his
Exeter
days, when he bundled his way under the posts for an 80th minute score that earned his club a famous victory over Gloucester.
And on St Stephen's afternoon, he stepped up to earn Connacht a bonus point against Ulster in Ravenhill. Connacht lost the match but it was the first time they had ever taken anything out of Belfast: the Christmas journey back to Galway didn't seem quite so long and within a week, Connacht rebounded by beating Munster.
"Well, it is just the way we have been training from the start and the way our analysis has been going," said the laid-back English man of Connacht's approach to the season. Muldowney will renew acquaintances with his former Exeter team-mates in the European Challenge Cup on Sunday and is optimistic that the team can progress in that competition.
“There is a lot of stuff going on in the background here, from extensions to improving the ground. There is a sense that everything is growing. And it does have a big knock-on effect on the team and as training gets better, we play better and we start winning those games that maybe we used to lose knowing we could have won. So it is about learning as you go and keep on improving.”
Consistent excellence
Connacht have so many players operating with consistent excellence this season that the rangy, secondrow can be placed in the choir of unsung heroes. But since joining the province from Exeter for the beginning of the 2014 season, he has become a crowd favourite.
He had played in Galway just twice before signing: a heavy defeat with Glasgow was followed by a swift departure but a pre-season match with Exeter in Athlone was rounded off with a pleasant night out in the city. The memory helped him in his decision to commit to Connacht.
“The place reminded me of games in France, where a lot of the rugby towns are very nice and it is like that here in Galway. Really nice atmosphere, lots of places to eat and drink. And that does help because it is not just about me . . . I am moving my whole family here: My wife . . . We have three kids. And we have three dogs. I have two older step-children of 16 and 15 and then a two-year-old.
“The little one just loves it here because we live near the beach and if you let him out of the house, that’s where he breaks for. The older two love their school and the area so that really has made it a lot easier for us to settle.”
Muldowney is as laid-back as they come in conversation and gives a brief history of his rugby life as if describing a happy accident. He was talented but hardly obsessed with sport, playing English league basketball with Stoke Steelers as a centre – "6'5" is too small to play inside in basketball but I was the tallest in their side so that's where they had me" – and was at the cinema watching Lord of the Rings when a friend called to ask him to fill in at a local rugby match.
Route in rugby
He agreed and one game and place seemed to lead to the next: a match for Staffordshire against British Police led to an invitation from
Neil Mitchell
to join Stourbridge and then he signed with Moseley, where he was spotted by Glasgow and that, in turn, led to Exeter and the Premiership.
He left basketball behind but reckons the skills he acquired with Stoke are “very transferable” for his life as a secondrow. But once he got a sniff of elite rugby, he was deadly serious about making it and has worked hard at his game.
He has brought that combination of easy-going approach and absolute commitment to Connacht. That he has joined the team during a period when they are playing expansive rugby has added to the adventure.
“It was never an aim to end up here . . . I feel as if I just got lucky really. The way we have been playing too, we are playing some nice rugby and getting our hands on the ball.”
His season was interrupted by a concussion which left him frustrated for six weeks.
Headaches
“That wasn’t the best time. It was the frustration and also even just trying to walk the dogs or anything like that was giving me headaches. And you feel like a spare tool around the club because you can’t do anything.
I have injured my ankle before so I used that time in the gym doing lots of weights. There are things you can do to help yourself. But with concussion, you just can’t do anything.”
His return added considerable momentum to Connacht’s impressive December drive. Sunday brings an appetising match against his former club. Muldowney admits that the October return to Sandy Park was “surreal.” “Going through the gates and into the away dressing room.”
Exeter ran in five tries in a 33-13 win: motivation enough for the home dressing room on Sunday. Most of Muldowney’s former team-mates are still with the club and he hopes to show them the hospitable side of Galway afterwards. But the match is a chance to extend Connacht’s new-found sense that anything is possible.
