Oct 21,2024
Connacht second row Joe Joyce believes next Saturday's meeting with the Dragons has the potential to be a season-defining game for the province’s season.
The visit of the Welsh side will mark the one-third point of the BKT United Rugby Championship regular season, with Connacht winning two and losing three of their first five, all three of those defeats coming in Interpros.
The province have earned praise so far this season for their attractive style of rugby, but the vice-captain believes that praise counts for very little if they finish the first block of games with just two wins to show for it.
"You can play nice rugby, which we have before tonight, but it’s a results game, isn’t it?" Joyce said after Saturday’s 33-12 defeat to Leinster.
"So if we go in next week, play beautiful rugby and don’t get a result then you look at the table and think: 'What was that for?’ I think in many ways next week is huge for our season."
While Pete Wilkins’ side are coming into this week following back-to-back defeats in grueling Interpros, their meeting with the 14th place Dragons will be their final league game until 30 November due to the international window.
And Joyce (above) says the upcoming break means they can put all of their efforts into finishing the opening block off on a high.
"If you win that game, and there’s four weeks you can enjoy it and go again. If you lose again, then you’ve got four weeks to wait to put it right.
"And it’s Bulls next after the break. You don’t want to be losing a game and then waiting four weeks to put it right.
"Yeah, we’re down now but we’re in on Monday and you’ve got a chance to put it right. A game before a break you don’t want to lose that."
Inconsistency has been Connacht’s biggest issue in recent seasons, and Wilkins is already on record this season about how they have often struggled in the week after a big Interpro.
And the province’s head coach has reiterated the need for his players to quickly move the dial ahead of a huge week in their season.
"After a disappointing result like tonight where there is that frustration and the guys feel like the opposition deserve the win but at the same time we could have shown a bit more, there is a lull in energy. We acknowledge that," Wilkins (above) said on Saturday night.
"There's only so much you can say as a leader in that room. But I made sure to remind them that the Dragons are coming. That is a big game for us.
"It's a massive game in the context of our season. It's a massive game in terms of leading into November break and the Dragons will be targeting this. They're playing some good rugby this year with some ambition about how they're attacking, some physicality about how they're defending, they've always had a good kicking game with Rhodri Williams there at 9.
"They're going to be dangerous and if we're any way off our game in attack, defence, set-piece then we'll be found out pretty quickly.
"We've had a couple of those occasions here at Dexcom Stadium where that's been the case so we can't afford to be anything other than 100% next week."
