Connacht collapse but still look good for last 16 place

Leicester Tigers 29

JOHN FALLON AT THE SPORTSGROUND

A heartbreaking defeat for Connacht which could have seen their hopes of making the knockout stages of the European Champions Cup go up in smoke, but in the end all it has done is delay their progress by a week.

Connacht need a solitary bonus point in Paris on Sunday to guarantee their passage to the last 16, but their progress will be confirmed on Friday night unless a disinterested Castres side somehow score a bonus point win over English champions Harlequins at The Stoop and that ain’t go to happen.

So, while it will be noteworthy to make the knockout stages for the first time, perhaps the bar needs to be raised a notch or two and only really celebrate if they make it to the quarter-finals. After all, these four pool games have just reduced the 24 participating teams to 16.

Andy Friend and Connacht would, naturally, have loved to achieve it at the Sportsground on Saturday in a remarkable game that highlighted all that is good about this competition. Leicester scored the opening ten points, then Connacht hit them for 28 without reply, only for the Tigers to respond with 18 unanswered points. Go figure.

Friend said this heartbreaking defeat was hard to take after they were caught at the death after blowing an 18-point lead in a rip-roaring contest at the Sportsground.

Leicester struck in the final play to score in the left corner and deny Connacht a famous win in a nine-try thriller, leaving Friend nursing one of the worst defeats of his long coaching career.

“I probably can’t think of a more disappointing one to be honest. Oh so close, but not the win. It’s very disappointing.

“We showed our character, we rallied; we came back from ten points down to be up 14-10 at half-time. We came out after the break to get two very good scores, to be up by 18 points.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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