CONNACHT HEAD COACH Pat Lam expressed pride in his players after they were beaten 33-32 by Grenoble in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals.
Robbie Henshaw at the final whistle. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
The western province scored four tries in a superb attacking performance, but Bernard Jackman’s Grenoble were resilient in forcing their way to victory with a 75th-minute drop goal from out-half Jonathan Wisniewski.
Connacht’s players looked heartbroken on the pitch afterwards, receiving a standing ovation as they left the turf, and Lam underlined that his players had done him proud.
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“We’re obviously very disappointed we didn’t get the result, but I’m extremely proud of the guys,” said Lam post-match. “I sat in the changing room with the guys, I was obviously deflated and then I just started to reflect on the week we’ve had.
We had a lot of last-minute changes, the travel, all of that, and I thought, ‘Jeez, I’m proud of these guys.’ A few guys out of position and we’re down to the bare bones in a few positions.
“We’ll be disappointed when we look back on Monday, because there were a couple of details we didn’t nail and there’s an opportunity when we’re 13 points up and we didn’t execute what we’d done at training.
“When we saw it, we would have scored a couple. At 13 points up we just needed another score to kill them off and fair play to them. I said before the game that the two teams with mindset, they’ll keep coming back and they’ve got some real quality there.
“Boys are out on their feet trying to keep them out. Obviously the yellow card [for Denis Buckley] didn’t help us, but when they went ahead with the drop goal there was a lot of composure. I thought we should have kept the ball at the end there. Everyone always tells us to kick it out, but we kicked the ball out and they scored, so that’s maybe backing it when it really counts.”
Grenoble celebrate their victory. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
Connacht must now turn their attention to next weekend’s visit of Munster to the Sportsground in the Guinness Pro12. Currently sitting second in the league with three regular season fixtures remaining, Lam’s men will be keen to seal their play-off place.
The former back row said this defeat in Grenoble, and the manner of it, will not linger any longer than tonight.
We’ve had these situations before, during the Christmas break,” said Lam. “The boys have already talked about it – we’ll just take our learnings from it. This competition is now over, we can’t bring it back.
“We’ll dissect the game, take what we can from it and look forward to Munster. We’re looking forward to it in the Sportsground. We know we’ve got three games now to make the top four and we will get over this and get back into it.”
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'I'm extremely proud of the guys' - Lam lauds Connacht effort in Grenoble
Murray Kinsella reports from Stade des Alpes
CONNACHT HEAD COACH Pat Lam expressed pride in his players after they were beaten 33-32 by Grenoble in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals.
The western province scored four tries in a superb attacking performance, but Bernard Jackman’s Grenoble were resilient in forcing their way to victory with a 75th-minute drop goal from out-half Jonathan Wisniewski.
Connacht’s players looked heartbroken on the pitch afterwards, receiving a standing ovation as they left the turf, and Lam underlined that his players had done him proud.
“We’re obviously very disappointed we didn’t get the result, but I’m extremely proud of the guys,” said Lam post-match. “I sat in the changing room with the guys, I was obviously deflated and then I just started to reflect on the week we’ve had.
“We’ll be disappointed when we look back on Monday, because there were a couple of details we didn’t nail and there’s an opportunity when we’re 13 points up and we didn’t execute what we’d done at training.
“When we saw it, we would have scored a couple. At 13 points up we just needed another score to kill them off and fair play to them. I said before the game that the two teams with mindset, they’ll keep coming back and they’ve got some real quality there.
“Boys are out on their feet trying to keep them out. Obviously the yellow card [for Denis Buckley] didn’t help us, but when they went ahead with the drop goal there was a lot of composure. I thought we should have kept the ball at the end there. Everyone always tells us to kick it out, but we kicked the ball out and they scored, so that’s maybe backing it when it really counts.”
Connacht must now turn their attention to next weekend’s visit of Munster to the Sportsground in the Guinness Pro12. Currently sitting second in the league with three regular season fixtures remaining, Lam’s men will be keen to seal their play-off place.
The former back row said this defeat in Grenoble, and the manner of it, will not linger any longer than tonight.
“We’ll dissect the game, take what we can from it and look forward to Munster. We’re looking forward to it in the Sportsground. We know we’ve got three games now to make the top four and we will get over this and get back into it.”
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