A PERFECT DAY, six tries, none conceded, and a bonus point victory secured. And yet less than an hour after the final whistle, Andy Friend, the Connacht coach, was looking ahead, not just to Leicester next week but beyond that.
Never before has a Connacht team progressed to the Champions Cup knock-out stage. Now they are probably just one win away from doing so and even if that doesn’t arrive next week in Welford Road, two more opportunities will arrive in January.
“It is really important for us to qualify,” said Friend afterwards. “We have a tough test ahead of us next week but at the same time if we want to be that team that gets through, we have to learn to go away from home, to front up and to get wins. We will see what next Sunday brings.”
Today brought glory but only after a scrap. Believe it or not Connacht did not play as well as they have done previously this season. Then again, there is a sizeable difference between Stade Francais and Ospreys.
“Our captain, the man sitting on my left (Jack Carty), had a major role to play in that win as did Oisin Dowling, our line-out leader, I thought he was outstanding,” said Friend.
So were others, Niall Murray and Cian Prendergast in particular. And they had to be, Connacht coming into this game on the back of setback after setback. As many as eight first-teamers were absent for one reason or another.
“We talk as a team about being adaptable, and we needed to be this week because we had a lot of things thrown at us. We still managed to get a good 23 out there; some of the more familiar names were missing but that is the beauty of what we have got at the moment, we have some really good depth, so to have that 23 to turn up and do that to a team like Stade makes it really pleasing.”
“We have three words that we use to describe ourselves, relentless, fast and adaptable; I was really pleased how relentless we were, the game was won but we got two late tries, even at the 80th minute mark, for Cian Prendergast to score, it just shows the fight, the hunger and the relentlessness that we have.”
Next up is a double header with Leicester. “We are under no illusions about what lies ahead, at same time we get a lot of confidence out of that, and they are just another footie team. We know what is coming from them and they have a fair idea about what is coming from us but it should be a good contest.”
