STUART LANCASTER SAID that three yellow cards in the opening half left Connacht with a mountain to climb in this Challenge Cup quarter-final in Montpellier.
Montpellier led 26-8 at the break with the French scoring all their points when Connacht had men in the bin.
And Lancaster said that Connacht’s numerical disadvantage for such a large portion of the first half ultimately proved costly, with Connacht unable to quite claw back the deficit despite a promising start to the second half.
“I think, obviously, the first half was the problem in terms of the three yellow cards,” said the Connacht head coach. “That obviously put us under huge pressure. So to go in at 26-8, we still had a lot of strong belief that we could come back and obviously get the try early in the second half, 26-15.
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“But the try in the corner to make it 33-15 was a big moment, I thought. Then you’re chasing the game, I thought Montpellier defended well, I think they’re a really good defensive team. But we created so many opportunities, but it was either a last pass or a knock-on. And the cards.
“And that’s a lesson we’ve got to learn, that at the highest level, you’ve got to nail every moment matters, from the first maul, you know, to the last tackle,” Lancaster added.
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Lancaster laments yellow cards as Connacht's winning run is snapped in southern France
STUART LANCASTER SAID that three yellow cards in the opening half left Connacht with a mountain to climb in this Challenge Cup quarter-final in Montpellier.
Montpellier led 26-8 at the break with the French scoring all their points when Connacht had men in the bin.
And Lancaster said that Connacht’s numerical disadvantage for such a large portion of the first half ultimately proved costly, with Connacht unable to quite claw back the deficit despite a promising start to the second half.
“I think, obviously, the first half was the problem in terms of the three yellow cards,” said the Connacht head coach. “That obviously put us under huge pressure. So to go in at 26-8, we still had a lot of strong belief that we could come back and obviously get the try early in the second half, 26-15.
“But the try in the corner to make it 33-15 was a big moment, I thought. Then you’re chasing the game, I thought Montpellier defended well, I think they’re a really good defensive team. But we created so many opportunities, but it was either a last pass or a knock-on. And the cards.
“And that’s a lesson we’ve got to learn, that at the highest level, you’ve got to nail every moment matters, from the first maul, you know, to the last tackle,” Lancaster added.
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