CONNACHT HEAD COACH Andy Friend says he was disappointed with how his side managed the second period after watching his team surrender a five-point half-time lead at Welford Road.
The province delivered a strong first half performance against Leicester Tigers, dealing with the home side’s threats while striking for opportunistic tries from John Porch and Jack Carty.
However the Tigers took control in second period, dominating the scrum and scoring 14 points when Finlay Bealham was sent to the bin.
Carty hit a drop goal at the death to secure a losing bonus point, but Connacht will travel home thinking this 29-23 defeat was a big opportunity let slip.
“Really important to us,” Friend said of the losing bonus point.
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“I thought it was probably just in the end, but life isn’t fair sometimes. We managed to get that but we didn’t come here to get a losing bonus point, we came here to win.
“The win was out of our reach when we went to that last lineout but to get the losing bonus point was a compliment to the team and to Jack Carty for having the ability and wherewithal to get the ball over the posts. We will take it, but not what we came here for.
“The scrum was the key but also to me it could have been a different if we executed some of the opportunities we created. Now, we didn’t, and we have to get better at that. But when you are only eight points up and there are 25 minutes to go at Welford Road the one thing you can’t be giving them is territory, yellow cards because that hurts you and that’s the penalty we paid.
“We will take a lot of positives out of that, but it’s not what we came for.”
Connacht could have been even further ahead at the break, but failed to convert some good territory into scores.
“We created a great line break off a launch and the ball goes into touch,” Friend continued.
“We had other opportunities where balls were put down but, listen, that’s all learnings for us. This is probably one of the biggest stages some of the blokes have played on, so potentially some nerves there but what I would do know is we have got the game-plan that can hurt teams and we just have to keep working on that and believe in it.
“I think coming to Welford Road and picking up a bonus point is something a lot of teams would be happy with. On reflection to get six points from our opening two (Champions Cup) games is not a bad outcome. It’s not what we wanted, we wanted more but it sets us up and we are in an okay position.”
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'We didn’t come here to get a losing bonus point, we came here to win'
CONNACHT HEAD COACH Andy Friend says he was disappointed with how his side managed the second period after watching his team surrender a five-point half-time lead at Welford Road.
The province delivered a strong first half performance against Leicester Tigers, dealing with the home side’s threats while striking for opportunistic tries from John Porch and Jack Carty.
However the Tigers took control in second period, dominating the scrum and scoring 14 points when Finlay Bealham was sent to the bin.
Carty hit a drop goal at the death to secure a losing bonus point, but Connacht will travel home thinking this 29-23 defeat was a big opportunity let slip.
“Really important to us,” Friend said of the losing bonus point.
“I thought it was probably just in the end, but life isn’t fair sometimes. We managed to get that but we didn’t come here to get a losing bonus point, we came here to win.
“The win was out of our reach when we went to that last lineout but to get the losing bonus point was a compliment to the team and to Jack Carty for having the ability and wherewithal to get the ball over the posts. We will take it, but not what we came here for.
“The scrum was the key but also to me it could have been a different if we executed some of the opportunities we created. Now, we didn’t, and we have to get better at that. But when you are only eight points up and there are 25 minutes to go at Welford Road the one thing you can’t be giving them is territory, yellow cards because that hurts you and that’s the penalty we paid.
“We will take a lot of positives out of that, but it’s not what we came for.”
Connacht could have been even further ahead at the break, but failed to convert some good territory into scores.
“We created a great line break off a launch and the ball goes into touch,” Friend continued.
“We had other opportunities where balls were put down but, listen, that’s all learnings for us. This is probably one of the biggest stages some of the blokes have played on, so potentially some nerves there but what I would do know is we have got the game-plan that can hurt teams and we just have to keep working on that and believe in it.
“I think coming to Welford Road and picking up a bonus point is something a lot of teams would be happy with. On reflection to get six points from our opening two (Champions Cup) games is not a bad outcome. It’s not what we wanted, we wanted more but it sets us up and we are in an okay position.”
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Andy Friend Champions Cup Connacht let it slip Leicester Tigers