Leo Cullen, captain of defending Heineken Cup champions Leinster, has admitted his side needs to build greater momentum and rhythm into their play if they are to stay on track to compete for an historic three titles in a row.
Having lost their last three matches, and four of their last six in November and December, Cullen is calling for a revenge mission against Connacht at RDS on Saturday.
The west coast side humiliated Cullen's men earlier in the season with a massive 34-6 PRO12 triumph in Galway. The return fixture will be Leinster's last home outing before they face the Scarlets in a must-win home Heineken Cup match on 13 January.
Having been beaten 27-19 by Ulster in the run-up to Christmas the European champions know they have to rediscover the winning formula if they are to reach the last eight in the Heineken Cup for a fifth successive season.
Back to back defeats against ASM Clermont Auvergne left the Frenchmen in control of Pool 5 before Christmas with 18 points from four successive victories. That has given them an eight point lead over the defending champions with even a draw at home in Round 5 against Exeter Chiefs good enough to book them safe passage into the last eight as Pool winners.
Cullen's side know they will have to pull out all the stops in the new year to even get into contention for a runners-up spot if Clermont maintain the form that has seen them unbeaten in their last 50 games at Stade Marcel Michelin.
"We have to try and build some momentum coming into a busy next few weeks which will go a long way to defining the rest of the season. We need some big results and we need to try and get more rhythm to our play," said Cullen.
"Against Clermont in the Aviva, we gave away too many kickable penalties and Morgan Parra kicked seven out of eight of them. Then, against Ulster, Paddy Jackson missed a few fairly kickable shots at goal, but Ruan Pienaar stepped up and kicked well.
"We need to be more careful about giving quality sides easy opportunities to keep the scoreboard ticking over. As 2012 draws to a close, and we move into a new year, it's still all to play for.
"My first wish is that we get a few more points on the board. When we get a few more bodies on the deck that will boost competition for places because we've been disrupted through the first half of the season and we have lacked a bit of fluency thus far.
"We need to dig deep to get back into the top four in the PRO12 before facing Scarlets at home in Europe and then traveling to Exeter Chiefs, where they have a great record at home. By the end of January we'll know our fate and we have a bit of ground to catch up on."
As well as points on the board, Leinster desperately need to find the try scoring form that brought them 19, 21 and 18 tries respectively in their past three Heineken Cup Pool campaigns. To date, they have managed a mere three in four matches this season.
Tries could be vital in determining whether or not the Dublin-based side can claim one of the two best runners-up spots to reach the quarter-finals. At present, they are only fifth ranked of the six runners-up with two games to play and can finish with a maximum of 20 points.
In four of the nine season in which bonus points have been used in the Heineken Cup, 20 points have not been enough to secure a quarter-final ticket. It means the pressure is on the champions to not only win their final two Pool matches, but also to pick up try bonus points.
How the Pool Runners-Up Stand
Team Pl Pts T Max
Montpellier 6 13 11 23
Toulouse 2 13 9 23
Castres 4 12 5 22
Racing Metro 1 12 4 22
Leinster 5 10 3 20
Biarritz 3 9 10 19
Pl = Pool; Pts = Points; T = Tries; Max = Maximum points achievable
