CONNACHT CAPTAIN Joe Joyce lamented his side’s naivety and lack of “street-smarts” as they missed an opportunity for a notable away win at URC champions Glasgow.
The Galway-based province closed to within five points early in the second half at 17-12 with a second try from centre David Hawkshaw before JJ Hanrahan missed a penalty and Warriors then scored a third try to make it 22-12.
But even then Connacht had two lineouts close to the Glasgow line in the final quarter, inaccuracy on both occasions costing them points.
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A late converted Piers O’Conor try brought them to within three with two minutes left, but Jack Carty carelessly conceded a penalty to allow Glasgow to maintain an unbeaten regular-season home record in the URC stretching back to October 2021.
“It is a frustrated changing room,” said Joyce. “We felt we had to work incredibly hard for all our points and some of the tries we gave them were soft.
“In that second half with 20 minutes left, we should have got excited. We had an opportunity to come here to the champions and win, but we tensed up, we were a bit naïve and made too many mistakes.
“Credit to Glasgow, they are a tough side and make you work at every collision and test you at every breakdown. But we need to grow in the big moments. We had a 100% lineout (from 15 throws) but in the big moments, we had two mauls on their line and we dropped the ball in the maul.
“So [we were lacking] a bit of street-smarts there. We lost the big moments so had to work incredibly hard and we didn’t get the win.”
A fourth straight URC defeat, and a sixth in seven league matches stretching back to early October, was a comedown for Pete Wilkins’ side after impressive European Challenge Cup wins over Lyon (52-14) and away to Cardiff (28-19) in the past fortnight.
“We have shown the last two weeks we have it in us,” Joyce added. “It is about putting that out all the time. The top teams show their personality and their top game every week.
“We have showed it the last two weeks and then we have dropped off again. We have got a break now and when we come back, it is about putting our best selves out there.”
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Joyce laments lack of 'street-smarts' after Connacht loss
CONNACHT CAPTAIN Joe Joyce lamented his side’s naivety and lack of “street-smarts” as they missed an opportunity for a notable away win at URC champions Glasgow.
The Galway-based province closed to within five points early in the second half at 17-12 with a second try from centre David Hawkshaw before JJ Hanrahan missed a penalty and Warriors then scored a third try to make it 22-12.
But even then Connacht had two lineouts close to the Glasgow line in the final quarter, inaccuracy on both occasions costing them points.
A late converted Piers O’Conor try brought them to within three with two minutes left, but Jack Carty carelessly conceded a penalty to allow Glasgow to maintain an unbeaten regular-season home record in the URC stretching back to October 2021.
“It is a frustrated changing room,” said Joyce. “We felt we had to work incredibly hard for all our points and some of the tries we gave them were soft.
“In that second half with 20 minutes left, we should have got excited. We had an opportunity to come here to the champions and win, but we tensed up, we were a bit naïve and made too many mistakes.
“Credit to Glasgow, they are a tough side and make you work at every collision and test you at every breakdown. But we need to grow in the big moments. We had a 100% lineout (from 15 throws) but in the big moments, we had two mauls on their line and we dropped the ball in the maul.
“So [we were lacking] a bit of street-smarts there. We lost the big moments so had to work incredibly hard and we didn’t get the win.”
A fourth straight URC defeat, and a sixth in seven league matches stretching back to early October, was a comedown for Pete Wilkins’ side after impressive European Challenge Cup wins over Lyon (52-14) and away to Cardiff (28-19) in the past fortnight.
“We have shown the last two weeks we have it in us,” Joyce added. “It is about putting that out all the time. The top teams show their personality and their top game every week.
“We have showed it the last two weeks and then we have dropped off again. We have got a break now and when we come back, it is about putting our best selves out there.”
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