CONNACHT SUPREMO PAT LAM branded his table-topping side “fearless” in the wake of their 18 – 10 defeat to Ulster on Friday night, praising the squad’s strength-in-depth and insisting their fight for silverware on the domestic and European fronts is still firing on all cylinders.
The Westerners’ first defeat in seven comes just a week before their crucial European Challenge Cup quarter-final in Grenoble, but Lam believes the spirit shown by his depleted 23 in Belfast gives a clear indication of their level of self-belief.
“We’ve lost key names like Tiernan O’Halloran,” he conceded, “who looks like he’s going to be out for five weeks, but that’s why you have a squad.”
“I thought tonight (Academy centre) Peter Robb was outstanding, and (full debutant) Shane O’Leary at fly-half did really well too. So there’s a lot of confidence in the group, and we don’t fear anyone.”
“We have an opportunity next week, if we perform well, to go into a semi-final. Every game is a big one, a final. Win and you’re through; if you lose one you’re out of the competition.”
While impressed with his side’s resilience at Kingspan Stadium, where they held a voracious Ulster at bay when reduced to 13 men in the closing 10 minutes, Lam remained level-headed and was at pains to insist there were still lessons to be learned from the display.
“We don’t talk about moral victories,” he stressed.
“The outcome is the outcome, but what we talk about is what we did well and what we didn’t do so well.
A lot of people will go back and say that was a good reflection of the character of the boys. However we’ll also go back and look at the times we ran the wrong lines. Some guys weren’t in the right place at times and we were inaccurate at the breakdown, albeit against a pretty motivated, hungry and desperate Ulster team, who put a lot of pressure on us.
So win or lose we’ll go through the same process.”
Despite the defeat Connacht remain four points clear atop the Pro12 table before this evening’s crunch interprovincial Leinster – Munster clash.
Domestic fixtures against Munster, Benetton Treviso and Glasgow Warriors remain after the European showdown, with qualification for the Pro12 play-off stage already virtually guaranteed.
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