CONNACHT COACH PETE Wilkins said the manner in which they carved out a 22-20 over Ulster win that takes them top of the URC table will serve them well as they now prepare for three tough away matches.
His men came from 17 points adrift early in the second-half to maintain their winning start to his reign as they chalked up their third win in a row at the Sportsground.
But with a trip to Edinburgh next weekend to be followed by tough matches in South Africa against the Sharks and the Bulls, Wilkins knows tougher days lie ahead.
That’s what made this win against a depleted Ulster side so important as they got their act together and secured victory in a performance that leaves plenty of room for improvement.
“We said to the lads, there are days when you play great rugby and are entertaining everyone and you earned the right to win in that way, and there are other days when you have to dig in and show a heck of a lot of character to come from behind, and that’s what we did,” said Wilkins.
“If we can do those things when they’re required, the lads will be a good match for anyone.
“I’m really proud of the lads, and I think we deserved the win, albeit in a different way to the previous weeks,” he added.
Ulster, with out-half Jake Flannery scoring all 13 points, looked set to maintain their winning start despite a dozen changes from their win over the Bulls when they led 13-3 at the break and then scrum-half Dave Shanahan got in under the posts within two minutes of the restart.
But Connacht fought back with tries from centres Cathal Forde and Tom Farrell getting them back into contention before skipper Jack Carty set winger Diarmuid Kilgallen up for the winner six minutes from time.
Ulster were unable to respond but coach Dan McFarland said that while he was disappointed his men did not hold on for victory against his former side, he was proud of the display produced by his depleted side.
A hamstring injury to full-back Will Addison in the warm-up meant he was without 20 players and started only three of the side which saw off the Bulls in Belfast the previous week.
But with URC champions Munster coming to the Kingspan Stadium next Friday for another derby clash, he knew he needed to manage his resources.
“We had 20 guys unavailable this week and we’d always decided that this was two six-day turnarounds in a row, so certain guys were going to be brought in to freshen things up and get opportunities, and also because they’d been doing well over pre-season.
“I thought we were excellent in the first-half defensively. We’ll be gutted in the end that we had opportunities to win that game ourselves,” said McFarland.
“Coming into this game I watched Connacht, I thought they were playing some of the best rugby in the league at the moment.
“They had nearly as strong a team as they could put out, minus a couple of guys back from the World Cup. We knew it was going to be a big test for us.
“We’ve come up here in the same situation in previous years and won, and we were confident that that was possible, and proved that it was possible, we just didn’t get it over the line,” added the Ulster coach.
