CONNACHT COACH PAT Lam said he is proud of the way his men rescued their Challenge Cup campaign and secured a quarter-final clash in April away to Grenoble.
Their opponents in the last eight were confirmed on Saturday night when Grenoble edged out Edinburgh 34-23 at Stade des Alpes and Lam will bring his side there in April for a clash with Bernard Jackman’s men.
Lam said they would now turn their attention to the Pro12 but he was pleased with the way they responded to last week’s error-strewn clash in Brive, which jeopardised their qualification hopes.
“I really wanted a response and we did it on the basis of understanding how to win. It’s great to get the win, getting our basics right and playing as a team.
We played some good rugby and put them under a lot of pressure and to get the four tries in the first half was good.”
Robbie Henshaw was among the try scorers on his return from injury with Matt Healy getting a brace along with efforts from Tiernan O’Halloran, Denis Buckley, Danie Poolman, Tom McCartney and Caolin Blade.
Lam praised the impact made by the replacements as he emptied the bench.
The first part of our season was very successful because the bench came on and made a difference but in the last few games we haven’t made the same impact,” he added.
The focus will now turn to the Pro12 but they will have a ninth Challenge Cup quarter-final to look forward to on the second weekend in April.
“We can now park this and when it comes back there will be better conditions, harder ground but for now we can leave this competition and concentrate on the Pro12,” added the Connacht coach.