PAT LAM ADMITTED his side lost the physical battle as Connacht collapsed against Scarlets — but he thinks they are far from finished this season.
Connacht were torn to shreds by Scarlets’ four-try blitz in the opening 31 minutes at the Sportsground last night, a result which qualified the Welsh region for a semi-final against Leinster or Munster in three weeks’ time.
On the same weekend Connacht will take part in the Champions Cup play-off semi-final — likely against the seventh-placed English Premiership side — in the hope of then earning a home final, but Lam knows his side have to find some form quickly against Munster in their final league game of the season.
“It wasn’t good enough, we let ourselves down. At half-time, normally I go through things we can change. But I just said: ‘boys tell me what it is. What are your thoughts?,” said Lam.
“There was a bit about game-plan, then someone hit it. We are losing the physical battle. We weren’t at the races in the first half, which is disappointing because we have set ourselves high standards.
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“We compare ourselves against what we can achieve. So I said it’s a waste of time if we don’t front up physically, start winning some break-downs, start winning some collisions. Because we were just going backwards all day.
“It was a lot better when we came out, but still not clinical enough. At least I saw a little bit more fight from the boys in the second half which was pleasing.”
Johnny McNicholl, Steff Evans (2) and Liam Williams ran in those brilliant Scarlets tries, and after Craig Ronaldson mustered Connacht’s only try after 58 minutes, Rhys Patchell’s penalty and DTH van der Merwe’s late fifth signed off a convincing display for Scarlets.
The Sportsground also bade farewell to Lam and his assistant Conor McPhillips, while several players also signed off at the venue, including club stalwart Ronan Loughney. According to Lam it was disappointing not to grace the occasions with a performance to be proud of.
“It’s disappointing because a lot of good people came out here. I am really thankful and I appreciate, we have acknowledged the boys publicly, the ones leaving. And I really appreciate the well-wishers and that.
“But we are not finished yet. The goal is Champions Cup. We have got to recover and prepare. We have got too many people who aren’t on form through one reason or another. We just have to re-group and have a big week, prepare for Munster which will be a big challenge.
“It’s about the collective. The coaches only do some part of it, then the leadership group kick in, then the players kick in. We are all responsible. We win, we all take the credit; we lose we all take the hit.
“We are a team that everybody needs to be on their job so that we can operate as a team. When we are not on our best then we are a pretty average side.
“We are all disappointed with that but we just have to move on, take the learnings and from that build to Munster and then we still build to the play-off game.”
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Connacht efforts leave Lam disappointed in Sportsground farewell
PAT LAM ADMITTED his side lost the physical battle as Connacht collapsed against Scarlets — but he thinks they are far from finished this season.
Connacht were torn to shreds by Scarlets’ four-try blitz in the opening 31 minutes at the Sportsground last night, a result which qualified the Welsh region for a semi-final against Leinster or Munster in three weeks’ time.
On the same weekend Connacht will take part in the Champions Cup play-off semi-final — likely against the seventh-placed English Premiership side — in the hope of then earning a home final, but Lam knows his side have to find some form quickly against Munster in their final league game of the season.
“It wasn’t good enough, we let ourselves down. At half-time, normally I go through things we can change. But I just said: ‘boys tell me what it is. What are your thoughts?,” said Lam.
“There was a bit about game-plan, then someone hit it. We are losing the physical battle. We weren’t at the races in the first half, which is disappointing because we have set ourselves high standards.
“We compare ourselves against what we can achieve. So I said it’s a waste of time if we don’t front up physically, start winning some break-downs, start winning some collisions. Because we were just going backwards all day.
“It was a lot better when we came out, but still not clinical enough. At least I saw a little bit more fight from the boys in the second half which was pleasing.”
Johnny McNicholl, Steff Evans (2) and Liam Williams ran in those brilliant Scarlets tries, and after Craig Ronaldson mustered Connacht’s only try after 58 minutes, Rhys Patchell’s penalty and DTH van der Merwe’s late fifth signed off a convincing display for Scarlets.
The Sportsground also bade farewell to Lam and his assistant Conor McPhillips, while several players also signed off at the venue, including club stalwart Ronan Loughney. According to Lam it was disappointing not to grace the occasions with a performance to be proud of.
“It’s disappointing because a lot of good people came out here. I am really thankful and I appreciate, we have acknowledged the boys publicly, the ones leaving. And I really appreciate the well-wishers and that.
“But we are not finished yet. The goal is Champions Cup. We have got to recover and prepare. We have got too many people who aren’t on form through one reason or another. We just have to re-group and have a big week, prepare for Munster which will be a big challenge.
“It’s about the collective. The coaches only do some part of it, then the leadership group kick in, then the players kick in. We are all responsible. We win, we all take the credit; we lose we all take the hit.
“We are a team that everybody needs to be on their job so that we can operate as a team. When we are not on our best then we are a pretty average side.
“We are all disappointed with that but we just have to move on, take the learnings and from that build to Munster and then we still build to the play-off game.”
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