Ireland's call was costly for Connacht Rugby

By JIM CARNEY IT should be a cause of great celebration in the Connacht rugby camp at Galway Sportsground â€â€ three of the West's top players making the news at international level â€â€ but there are mixed feelings about it. A bad defeat in the RaboDirect Pro12 in Wales last Friday evening left the visitors to accept that they could not cope with the loss of key forwards Michael McCarthy, John Muldoon, George Naoupu and flying wing Fetu'u Moana Vainikolo. Undoubtedly, powerful men of the awesome team spirit of McCarthy and Muldoon would not have tolerated a 14-3 League defeat by the Newport Gwent Dragons, a team who were trying to avoid their 8th successive defeat and who lost to Connacht earlier in the year. But McCarthy was on Ireland duty last weekend, playing his second great game for his adopted country in three weeks; Muldoon was badly injured (knee ligaments damage) playing for Ireland against Fiji in the same Autumn series; and it was much more than merely disappointing that Connacht failed to score even one try at Rodney Parade â€â€ Fetu'u Vainikolo, a day later, had the world of rugby raving about his sensational try for his native Tonga against Scotland in Aberdeen. It was a thrilling score by the Connacht wing â€â€ it's already a worldwide Youtube hit â€â€ as he raced down the left wing and showed brilliant footwork to grab a spectacular try at a time when his team were five points up, and it clinched a shock victory. The final score was 21-15. Scotland head coach Andy Robinson described his team's defeat as 'unacceptable' and quit his job. The Scots are now outside the top eight seeds for the 2015 World Cup draw, unlike Ireland who secured their place in the second tier of seeds for the draw which will be made next Monday. Mike McCarthy's form in the Ireland second row has been superb, including the official Man of the Match accolade in the big game against South Africa, and it's come as a huge relief to the national team coach Declan Kidney after the talismanic Paul O'Connell's injury problems. John Muldoon will be a massive loss to the Connacht pack and it makes Eric Elwood's task much more difficult as he prepares to lift his team for the visit of Edinburgh to Galway this weekend â€â€ led by the former Connacht head coach and a close friend of Elwood, Michael Bradley. A boost for Elwood this week is the contract extension (to 2015) signed by prop Denis Buckley, following the recent decision by the very talented young scrum-half Kieran Marmion to stay in Galway for another three years. Born in Wales, his father and grandfather came from Loughrea. Edinburgh will provide a tough test for Connacht on Saturday evening (5.00pm), after a morale-boosting home win over defending RaboDirect PRO12 champions Ospreys at Murrayfield last weekend, 23-13. Looking further ahead, the inspirational John Muldoon will miss Connacht's busy pre-Christmas schedule including the Heineken Cup double-header against one of the leading French clubs, Biarritz.