To put Connacht’s deserved 15-10 win at the Kingspan Stadium on Friday night into perspective, it was only Connacht’s third against Ulster in Belfast since 1960. They ended their 58-year wait with a 22-15 success in October 2018, although Ulster would gain revenge with a 21-12 home win in the quarter-finals, and backed that up with a victory in the Rainbow Cup.
Away wins aren’t exactly commonplace in the Kingspan Stadium generally, and this was Ulster’s first defeat in the knock-out stages of this competition, as well as Connacht’s first away from home.
So, after none in 58 years, Connacht have beaten Ulster in Belfast three times under Andy Friend’s watch, but he agreed this was easily the most meaningful “because in 2018 I wasn’t aware of all the history”.
“That’s our third win in the five years I’ve been here, but it’s probably the most pleasing one, for a few reasons. But the main reason being it tips us into a semi-final, which is brilliant.
“For the club, I couldn’t be prouder of the blokes and happier for the club going forward. But we’re not prepared to stop at s semi-final either. We want to keep going.”
Of course, a defeat at home by Connacht did not go down well with the natives, and puts a downer on what had been an improved campaign, with Ulster achieving a top-two finish, both nine points more and a place higher than last season.
After reaching just their second semi-final ever, Friend agreed it was a statement win, but put a more balanced slant on it.
“I had a coffee with Dan [McFarland] this morning. He said to me ‘oh, everybody is saying you’ve got a free shot and you jumped on that bandwagon.’ I said: ‘Of course I jumped on that bandwagon mate because I wanted to put that pressure on you. But it is sort of a free shot but it’s not. Like, there’s enormous pressure on us to, ‘cos you don’t get to a quarter-final and be happy with that.’ We wanted to go to South Africa.
“But my other message to Dan was: ‘The disappointing thing with this game is if we lose everyone was going to expect us to lose it. If you blokes lose the game you’ve had a bad season. And you haven’t had a bad season.’
“He’s a hell of a football coach, they’re a hell of a football team, but it’s probably going to be written that they’ve had a bad season. That’s just where we are as a sport at the moment. Every game, one coach is meant to be good and the other coach is meant to be a donkey. Well, that’s not reality.
“So, I feel for Dan tonight, I feel for Ulster tonight. They’re a really good rugby side. They’ve been incredible over the last few years.”
