Elwood counting cost of Ospreys defeat
Taking on Heineken Cup champions Leinster at the RDS was always going to be a serious test for Eric Elwood’s Connacht side, but their mounting injury list has rendered the task even harder.
Connacht enter Saturday evening’s contest on the back of their first defeat of the RaboDirect PRO 12 season having gone down 26-21 against the Osprey’s at the Liberty Stadium last weekend.
Conversely, Leinster have hit their best form of the domestic season with several players returning from injury and three wins in a row to their name after a disappointing defeat to the Ospreys in their opening game.
Connacht’s backline resources are particularly stretched going into the first all-Irish clash of this year’s RaboDirect PRO 12 and Elwood is hopeful some of his walking wounded will recover in time for Saturday’s match.
"We're limited as to what we can do this week with the number of injuries we have carried over from last weekend,” the coach admitted. “We didn't train on Monday to give the guys an extra day’s recovery and we'll have to see what we have to work with during the week.
"Gavin (Duffy) and Tiernan O'Halloran have both been down to Ennis to the cryotherapy centre there to help accelerate the healing following bangs.
“James Loxton is going to see a knee specialist. He took a knock last weekend and is unlikely to be available for selection for this match.
"Mark McCrea returned to training following an ankle injury so we're hopeful he'll be available and Dave Moore also returned today. Miah (Nikora) is still out with a stress fracture to his fibula but he's making good progress and we expect him to be back in time for the Cardiff game.
"Andrew Browne took a setback in his rehabilitation, looks like he'll have to go for surgery on his Achilles so he's out for another bit and George Naoupu is hoping to be back in action for the Cardiff game.
"We're very light in the backs at the moment, we'll have to see how some of the guys pull through during the week but we've no issue going to the U20's team if we need to.
"That's a positive for us, to be able to show faith in those young lads is great. We'll have to see where we are and what positions we need cover in before making any decisions."
Despite these significant setbacks Elwood is focusing on the positives ahead of Saturday’s game and is expecting a feverish atmosphere for his players in Dublin.
"We're looking forward to playing in front of a large crowd, Leinster are a well supported team, the European Champions and the Inter-Provincial matches are always an exciting game. The RDS is a nice place to play rugby, it's quite tight no doubt well have a bit of extra support for Connacht there this year."
