“THAT’S FIVE GAMES in the comp and we’ve had two wins and three losses. We’ve played some really good rugby, but we’ve also seen some of our shortcomings.”
Connacht’s head coach Andy Friend didn’t shy away from the 3-20 home loss to Leinster and the reasons for it.
Many coaches could have walked in and fumed at referee John Lacey, perhaps hone in on a potential first-half tip tackle — an instance when Scott Fardy’s gentle lowering of the tackled player appeared to save him a lot of grief — instead, Friend looked back on a game where his side threw the kitchen sink at Leinster, but were continually frustrated and shunted back.
We tried a lot, mate. We tried to go around them, we tried to go through them, tried to sneak around rucks and go short side, but they seemed to have an answer for everything we threw at them.”
At times on Saturday, Connacht were exhilarating to watch in attack, but a half-time penalty count of 9-3 (15-10 by the end) will be the first red flag dealt within the team room today.
“We asked the question down there: ‘is it fatigue, fellas? Is it lack of awareness? Or is it just pressure and something we’ve got to get better at?’
“We’re going to get some answers on that, we’ll have some good discussions this week.”
Nursing an ankle injury that took him out of the contest early in the second half, stand-in captain Dave Heffernan was on the same mournful hymn-sheet:
“They’re a top side, they showed that last year,” said the hooker.
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“We put it up to them for large parts of that game today, there was probably just a few instances when we switched off and discipline killed us. If we don’t give away some of those penalties it changes the whole picture of the game.
“It didn’t feel like we were a million miles away out there today at all, but discipline cost us. That’s why they win tournaments. Because they don’t make the mistakes. We have to learn from that.
“We did a lot of good stuff, we just shot ourselves in the foot a bit with the penalty count.”
Heffernan gets to grips with Sexton. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
All in all though, feeling the full brunt of Leinster’s front-line XV (and the considerable impact offered off their bench) will be an experience to aid Connacht’s progression under Friend.
“We’ve played some really good rugby, but we’ve also seen some of our shortcomings. Predominantly that’s our ability to stay on the game for 80 minutes and our discipline.
“It’s good to learn that this early in the competition because that’s something we can work on and address out here on the training field.”
Reading Connacht’s season in black and white terms as three losses out of five can be misleading. As crushingly convincing as Leinster were, this was a performance for Connacht to rank alongside their narrow opening round loss to Glasgow. Last week’s win over Scarlets remains the benchmark, but they continue on in a positive direction.
Friend and Heffernan were speaking before Ulster were fully put to the sword in Limerick, so they weren’t aware of the backlash the northern province will require this Friday night in Kingspan Stadium.
The western province have a poor record in Belfast, but they are intent on correcting course on discipline and reloading the kitchen sink to hurl Ulster’s way.
“Next week’s a big game for us. It’s important we head to Ulster and we don’t worry about history at all, worry about making sure that with every game we’re getting better,” said Friend.
“I thought today, it’s not a backward step, they’re a quality side and we did a lot of good things out there today, but we now know exactly what it is we need to do if we want to be a team trying to get some silverware this year.”
James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
“We’ve a bunch of blokes who are really hurting down there. We honestly went into that game thinking if we did everything right we can win the game. We didn’t do everything right.
“I know they’re going to come in on Monday, look after themselves and we’ll be in the best shape we can be going up there.”
Heffernan added: “History up there isn’t great, but we’ve had a chat about it downstairs already. Everyone’s going to switch into it straight away. It’s a six-day turnaround for us.
“A win up there would be huge for us, I don’t see any reason why we can’t.”
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'It didn't feel like we were a million miles away at all, but discipline cost us'
“THAT’S FIVE GAMES in the comp and we’ve had two wins and three losses. We’ve played some really good rugby, but we’ve also seen some of our shortcomings.”
Connacht’s head coach Andy Friend didn’t shy away from the 3-20 home loss to Leinster and the reasons for it.
Many coaches could have walked in and fumed at referee John Lacey, perhaps hone in on a potential first-half tip tackle — an instance when Scott Fardy’s gentle lowering of the tackled player appeared to save him a lot of grief — instead, Friend looked back on a game where his side threw the kitchen sink at Leinster, but were continually frustrated and shunted back.
At times on Saturday, Connacht were exhilarating to watch in attack, but a half-time penalty count of 9-3 (15-10 by the end) will be the first red flag dealt within the team room today.
“We asked the question down there: ‘is it fatigue, fellas? Is it lack of awareness? Or is it just pressure and something we’ve got to get better at?’
“We’re going to get some answers on that, we’ll have some good discussions this week.”
Nursing an ankle injury that took him out of the contest early in the second half, stand-in captain Dave Heffernan was on the same mournful hymn-sheet:
“They’re a top side, they showed that last year,” said the hooker.
“We put it up to them for large parts of that game today, there was probably just a few instances when we switched off and discipline killed us. If we don’t give away some of those penalties it changes the whole picture of the game.
“It didn’t feel like we were a million miles away out there today at all, but discipline cost us. That’s why they win tournaments. Because they don’t make the mistakes. We have to learn from that.
“We did a lot of good stuff, we just shot ourselves in the foot a bit with the penalty count.”
All in all though, feeling the full brunt of Leinster’s front-line XV (and the considerable impact offered off their bench) will be an experience to aid Connacht’s progression under Friend.
“We’ve played some really good rugby, but we’ve also seen some of our shortcomings. Predominantly that’s our ability to stay on the game for 80 minutes and our discipline.
“It’s good to learn that this early in the competition because that’s something we can work on and address out here on the training field.”
Reading Connacht’s season in black and white terms as three losses out of five can be misleading. As crushingly convincing as Leinster were, this was a performance for Connacht to rank alongside their narrow opening round loss to Glasgow. Last week’s win over Scarlets remains the benchmark, but they continue on in a positive direction.
Friend and Heffernan were speaking before Ulster were fully put to the sword in Limerick, so they weren’t aware of the backlash the northern province will require this Friday night in Kingspan Stadium.
The western province have a poor record in Belfast, but they are intent on correcting course on discipline and reloading the kitchen sink to hurl Ulster’s way.
“Next week’s a big game for us. It’s important we head to Ulster and we don’t worry about history at all, worry about making sure that with every game we’re getting better,” said Friend.
“I thought today, it’s not a backward step, they’re a quality side and we did a lot of good things out there today, but we now know exactly what it is we need to do if we want to be a team trying to get some silverware this year.”
“We’ve a bunch of blokes who are really hurting down there. We honestly went into that game thinking if we did everything right we can win the game. We didn’t do everything right.
“I know they’re going to come in on Monday, look after themselves and we’ll be in the best shape we can be going up there.”
Heffernan added: “History up there isn’t great, but we’ve had a chat about it downstairs already. Everyone’s going to switch into it straight away. It’s a six-day turnaround for us.
“A win up there would be huge for us, I don’t see any reason why we can’t.”
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assess the damage Connacht Inter-pro Leinster pro14