EVEN IN DEFEAT, there were plenty of positives for Connacht after Andy Friend’s side took a losing bonus point from Welford Road yesterday.
Against a powerful Tigers side who remain unbeaten this season, the province rode an early wave of pressure before pouncing for two tries to take a five point lead into the half-time break.
However Leicester started to enjoy an increased level of dominance around the set-piece following the interval, and struck two quick-fire tries when Connacht tighthead Finlay Bealham was sent to the bin, before Jack Carty’s late drop goal secured what could prove a valuable losing bonus point.
And Friend feels his side can take some momentum from the game despite coming away on the wrong side of the result, as they head into a busy Christmas schedule.
“We will let others determine if this was a good result,” Friend said.
“There is a lot of frustration in the changing room because we all feel like we had opportunities that we didn’t finish off. But you have to pay a compliment to Leicester, there is a reason they are unbeaten, they got a great forward pack, they have squad depth and you see the players they are bringing off the bench, internationals, and that makes it tough to play against.
But we will take the losing bonus point, we will build again with our confidence and our growth and wait for other European games but in the meantime we have got URC to contend with.
“With every game there are little learnings in them for us and I do believe there has been growth in every performance.
“Ulster at the Kingspan on St Stephen’s Day, we know that is a tough ask. They are off the back of another good win on Friday night against Northampton and given the performance and the result we had against them at the Aviva in our home game earlier on the in the competition, they are going to be smarting from that, so it’s be a tough game as it always is against Ulster.
“But, as I have said before, I believe the squad is growing and we are looking forward to that challenge.”
Another positive was the return of Bundee Aki, the British and Irish Lion delivering a commanding display on what was his first apperance for the province in two months.
It’s his first game in a Connacht jersey for a good while. Bundee occupies opposition’s minds, we’ll put it that way. And he’s also got an air about him that gives players confidence, so it was good to have him out there.
“I think Bundee has grown massively from that Lions experience. I know in talking to him when he got back, he really enjoyed it, but it also gave him a different perspective as to where he was at with his own career.
“He’s been able to bring that into Connacht, and we’ve been the benefactors of that.”
