‘PROUD BUT DISAPPOINTED’ Pat Lam captured what everyone supporting Connacht at the Sportsground felt despite a 17-23 loss to Saracens.
The London outfit were forced to strain every sinew to secure a hard earned win in the west and Lam was also irked that several decisions went against Connacht in the closing stages.
“Some of the calls it is just the consistency”, Lam said. “In the last play when we were going for a try, the offsides and everything. The three officials are right there, but we just have to deal with it. I struggle when big calls go against us.”
Down by six with seconds on the clock Connacht’s forwards were on the verge of scoring a dramatic last gasp try, but Saracens held firm.
“We missed the opportunity because in one of the phases we could have walked it in,” Lam reflected. We have to assess the process and look at the things we can do better. Bottom line, though, I am really proud of them.
The forwards were great. Rodney Ah You and Brett Wilkinson were massive. Rodney has taken a hit over the last few years, but he was massive and I was really proud of him.
“I’m so proud of the boys, but I am disappointed for them because they deserved so much more. I knew they would be ready, but like every week we put in a lot of work on how we felt we can beat a team. We did a lot of work on Saracens, I wanted them to channel their emotion into that, and we almost pulled it off. There were some big calls out there that I was disappointed in. It has hit us really hard.”
Demonstrating grit and determination Connacht defiantly found a way back into the game despite a shaky start in which Saracens registered two tries inside nine minutes. “We made some defensive errors by shooting out of the line and at half-time we spoke about staying together, staying connected. We got that right and we were back comfortable the way we had trained,” Lam said.
Though Connacht were eventually outfoxed Lam already has Zebre on his mind. “We are on the right track, every game we have lost we have had opportunities to win. We just have to go through the process, get ready for Zebre and build again.”
