We are in only the fifth weekend of the Celtic League and already for Connacht the signs are worrying. They are sitting relatively pretty in fourth place in the table, have hosted three games at The Sportsground, two of which have been exciting victories, but still the supporters are staying away. Not for the first time we have to wonder about the whereabouts of the so-called Friends of Connacht.

You might remember that earnest crew. When the IRFU moved to put Connacht out of business a few years back thousands of them vented their spleen and marched on Lansdowne Road. It was incredible how many people suddenly developed heartfelt support for the province. And it worked. From the setting of the sun to a bright new dawn. Connacht lived. A capacity crowd of 6,000 turned up to watch them play Harlequins in the Challenge Cup semi-final second leg last season and 4,500 appeared to get a glimpse of Jonny Wilkinson in pre-season. Compare those numbers with the ones from the bread and butter of the Celtic League and you realise why Gerry Kelly, the chief executive of the Connacht branch, is not sleeping easy in his bed.

The vastly improved facilities at The Sportsground – the best by far of all the provincial grounds — would have given rise to some hope of better crowds this season but they haven’t come. The figures show that at this admittedly early stage Llanelli, Munster and Ulster draw the biggest numbers with Connacht 10th of the 11 Celtic League teams. They’re averaging 1,696 supporters per game (and that includes all those let in free on Ladies Day last Saturday) with only Borders below them on 1,625. Considering Connacht need at least 1,500 to 2,000 paying customers to be viable on match day the margins are perilously tight.

The Friends of Connacht might also do well to remember that the Borders will probably go out of business at the end of the season. Time to mobilise the troops — wherever they are.

Youngsters show the way in Ulster

Nobody should doubt the efforts of the Ulster branch to spread the word. Their deployment of development officers in non-rugby areas and the introduction of an U-16 county championship featuring all nine northern counties are impressive statements of intent. A fortnight ago some of that work seemed to be paying off in what has been described as an historic youth inter-provincial between Ulster and Connacht. The sharpest memories in the province cannot recall a single instance when the nine counties were represented on any rugby team in the north. Well, it happened against Connacht with Clogher Valley of Tyrone, Enniskillen of Fermanagh, Donegal Town, Monaghan and Virginia of Cavan all represented alongside players from strong rugby counties. They won, too. Fair old achievement, that.

Ballymena field reduced to three

Tony Darcy, the current Ballymena coach, heads home to Australia to take charge of the New South Wales Academy at the end of the month. His successor is not expected to be named until shortly before Christmas but the list has been shortened to three relatively high-profile candidates. They are Steph Nel, once of Connacht, Adrian Thompson, former Australia A coach, and Tom Barker, the assistant coach at the ACT Brumbies. ‘Interviews are on-going by telephone and by video-link, ’ said Jonny Millar, the club’s PRO, which is not how they did it three years ago when Darcy was appointed. Back then there were also three southern hemisphere candidates and all three were flown in for interview. You could say it paid off because Darcy seems to have wisened up the club a little, winning a first AIL but, more importantly, persuading them to concentrate their energies on youth structures. ‘Tony put the club on the right footing,’ said Millar. ‘We’ve got our priorities right now.’

Penalty kick adds insult to injury time

Nigel Owens, the Welsh referee with a great fondness for injury time, has been the talk of Netherdale this past week. Steve Bates’ Borders team were undone by Connacht last week when Owens awarded the westerners what turned out to be a match-winning penalty in the ninth minute of injury time. A few weeks earlier he played 10 extra second-half minutes in the match between Munster and Connacht, having allowed more than five extra minutes at the end of the first half. Paul Burke landed an equalising penalty with the clock approaching the 100th minute. Bates said: ‘We are now going to start training for 90 and 100-minute rugby matches because we don’t know when he will be refereeing us again. Better get ready now.’