The day before the biggest game of the season is an understandable time for excitement to be high. The heart beats a bit faster, the body runs a bit hotter and it's hard to sleep at night. The problem for Connacht is that this is being caused by an outbreak of the flu, and not nervous tension, and the virus has certainly cast a shadow over the build-up to the rematch with Toulouse.
Twelve players are showing symptoms, some in a worse state than others. However, we won't know the true extent of the problem until the team is named today, or perhaps not even until the latter stages of the game itself. We can only hope for the best, so for the rest of this preview I will write in that vein - I'm not a doctor but if you know one, send them to the Sportsground.
There's no doubt that last Sunday's win in Toulouse was one of the most special days in the club's history, and forever I will be honoured to say I was there. While the supporters were by and large ecstatic with the win, what impressed me is how quickly the players moved on and looked to make it into the beginning of something more. While the post-match celebrations were enthusiastic, they weren't excessive and as soon as Monday evening Gavin Duffy was speaking of the need to back it up in front of the home fans.
And what support there will be.. after already-healthy sales, tickets began flying out the door of the Connacht branch office shortly after the full-time whistle. Extra capacity was installed, and even those tickets have been sold out now. It will be the best pre-match build-up to any game since the last time Toulouse rolled down College Road.
At that time, the excitement was of the unknown, and of the new - now it is of the opportunity. Connacht are in the reckoning for a knockout place - their case would be even stronger had they got the ball over the line in the last few minutes against Saracens. A win this weekend and we're looking at a winner takes all match in London in the New Year.
And there is reason to be hopeful. Connacht were fortunate at Stade Ernest-Wallon but you'll need that luck against a team that had only lost there once in the previous three-and-a-half years. Last ditch defence kept us in the game from the off, but it's not as if we were under the kosh throughout. It was Connacht, not Toulouse, who had a try called back and better kicks from hand by Dan Parks could have made the defensive efforts much easier, though keeping the ball in play had to be a designed tactic, if even a perplexing one.
In short, there is room for improvement but it will be desperately needed against a Toulouse team with revenge in their nostrils, and one which welcomes back Medard, Fickou, Nyanga and Tekori from their week off. So can Connacht do it? The odds are certainly stacked against them, but then again, we've already seen that's not necessarily an obstacle. No matter the result, it will be a truly memorable occasion for the Connacht faithful... The West will well and truly be Awake.
