[ad_1]
Connacht head coach Andy Friend said his team’s discipline disappointed them in a frustrating 27-18 Champions Cup loss at home to Bristol at the Sportsground.
In extremely physical competition, Bristol scored four attempts through Bryan Byrne, Ed Holmes, Piers O’Conor and Ioan Lloyd, with Callum Sheedy contributing two conversions and a penalty.
Connacht, who was just 5-3 behind at the end of a hectic first half, crossed twice through Tiernan O’Halloran and John Porch, but is out of the quarterfinals after back-to-back losses in the group.
Bundee Aki received an expensive yellow card (Bristol scored 14 points while out) and the Westerners conceded a large number of penalties.
“Disappointed, frustrated, upset, grumpy, all those,” Friend later admitted. “I just didn’t think we were playing our best football.
“We got caught in an arm fight that we didn’t want to. I think we did some stupid things.
“It’s frustrating, but at the end of the day, Bristol was the best team and you have to admit it.”
Connacht rejected a last-minute kickable penalty that could have earned them an extra losing point.
From the resulting scrum, they were denied a try in the left corner, but Friend said he supported his players’ decision-making.
“At the end of the day, you have to trust the players that are on the field and if they feel like they have momentum with things and they think they can overcome it, I will back it up.”
Bristol rugby manager Pat Lam praised his team’s mindset and application after their extra points victory over the Irish province.
“I am very happy, it is our first Champions Cup victory in many years,” said Lam, the former boss of Connacht, who has led Bristol back to the top European competition after a 13-year absence.
“We said at the beginning of the week that it was going to be difficult. We got here and saw the conditions, we said it was going to go straight to minute 80 and these guys (Connacht) will keep coming.
“So everyone had to roll up their sleeves and get going, and all 23 guys did that, which was amazing.”
Lam caught the combined impact of his forwards, who were on the rise with some major scrum penalties and a solid lineout maul.
“It wasn’t perfect, but it was a brave effort, particularly up front,” he said. “I thought the forwards were excellent. (Forwards coach) John Muldoon was excellent there and the same with (scrum coach) Alastair Dickinson with the set piece. You see the work those two guys did and it’s huge.” .
[ad_2]