CONNACHT HEAD COACH Pete Wilkins believes their first victory at Cardiff in seven years is a sign of the “growth” in his team.
The men from Galway overcame an error-strewn display to edge out their hosts who had centre Rey Lee-Lo sent off early on.
Lee-Lo was dismissed after just 15 minutes for making contact with the head of Shayne Bolton, who was forced off following the collision.
Connacht came from 12-6 down when replacement prop Peter Dooley barged over on 62 minutes to clinch a first win in the Welsh capital since 2017.
Wilkins said: “We never really got going but we’re delighted to win because we know from experience how tough it is to win at Cardiff.
“For seven years I’ve been coming here and not won, and only won once with Edinburgh.
“The weather in the first half made it difficult for both sides and we knew the occasion was big for Cardiff with the tributes beforehand to Barry John given the respect he has here, as well as all over the world.
“Then the red card added even more fire to their bellies and we had to manage that.
“That doesn’t excuse the opportunities we missed or that we gave them.
“A lot of our game was frustrating and we certainly weren’t at our best. We weren’t consistent enough in attack in the first half.”
Cardiff led at half-time through centre Ben Thomas’ try before number eight Lopeti Timani scored after his yellow card that saw the hosts down to 13 players either side of half-time.
But Connacht gradually ground out a win with Dooley’s try and 11 points from the boot of fly-half JJ Hanrahan.
Wilkins said: “We stayed in the fight and given Cardiff have a record of scoring most of their points in the first half, we knew at 7-6 the ledger was pretty even and that gave us a platform to build a win in the second half.
“We spoke at half-time about our body language and not letting that frustration with the first half show. It’s about the mindset to look for the next opportunity.
“We backed our fitness and when we needed to, we showed another way of winning to throwing the ball around.
“That’s a sign of the growth of this team because we probably wouldn’t have come away with that result in the past.”
