Once more into the breach then for Connacht, in an end-of-season run-in that doesn't stop giving or taking.
Saturday's wonderfully wild and wacky rollercoaster ride in the Stades des Alpes might have left most teams drained. But Pat Lam's side will simply dip into the well again for another mammoth derby at home to Munster on Saturday.
Down to the bare bones in some positions, relatively inexperienced – certainly regarding games of Saturday’s magnitude – Connacht management and supporters alike could take huge pride from the thrilling way they took this Challenge Cup quarter-final to their like-minded hosts.
Outscoring Grenoble by four brilliant tries to three, not since Leinster beat Toulouse in the 2006 quarter-final with their try from the end of the earth has an Irish side played with such ambition abroad.
But having led for an hour, at times by 16 and 13 points, and then again from the 73rd to the 76th minutes, that only made the dramatic end-game defeat to Jonathan Wisniewski’s 76th-minute drop goal all the more traumatic. Yet they will also use missing out on a home semi-final against Harlequins to redouble their efforts to reach the Pro12 semi-finals.
Go and nail this
“Mul [John Muldoon] spoke about it out on the field and said it again in the changing room: ‘Now this is gone and we can’t change it.’ We focus now to just go and nail this next week, against Munster,” said Lam. “We’ve just got to make sure we recover well. And making sure we have got a good squad available.”
To that end though, their fourth-choice outhalf Shane O'Leary suffered "a bang on the head" and "a shiner" which compelled Robbie Henshaw to play the last dozen minutes at 10. While O'Leary is a doubt, only one of their three absentee outhalves, Jack Carty, is potentially in line for a return this week, having resumed light training.
Danie Poolman was also forced off in the first half with a leg injury. At least they will have a break after the Munster game but Connacht's likelier route to a first trophy has eluded them. "We knew if we got to the semi that'd be the big one," said Lam, who nonetheless remained phlegmatic.
“Now we are in a situation where we know that the top six is not guaranteed yet mathematically. We just need one more win to get that and two wins to get a semi, and three wins to get a home semi. That’s all we can control.”
After this virtually non-stop exhibition of running rugby in ideal floodlit conditions, Lam conceded that their approach might have to be tempered by next Saturday’s conditions.
“And certainly they defended well against Leinster but, again, we have to ask questions of their defence. We’ll build nicely but certainly the mindset will be the same. If we can open up, we’ll go for it.
“Connor Murray’s kicking game is a crucial one too we need to nullify. I think the biggest one will be around making sure that we work at the conditions and then have a good week.”
Allowing for the match-winning performance of Wisniewski, who also landed six from six and jinked through for a try in a 23-point haul, the game's stand-out performer was Matt Healy. The one-time Irish under-20 player was a sensation in only his second outing at fullback; creator in chief of three tries and opportunist scorer of their fourth.
Back the call
“It’s important that we use our strengths and that we create opportunities for Mattie. There’s a confidence that if any of those guys decide to go, we go. If we decide to kick it, the boys just back the call.
“Certainly Matt at fullback opened up a lot of possibilities. He got a lot more time with ball in hand. The biggest thing is that we will take a lot of confidence out of this. It’s not an easy place to go, it’s probably one of the best atmospheres that we’ve had. It was a great game. It was just a pity we didn’t get over the line.”
A terrible pity indeed.
