Connacht 13 Glasgow 31
Pat Lam promises his under-pressure Connacht will finish the Guinness Pro 12 season with their pride intact as they seek to rescue their coveted sixth place. While Gregor Townsend's Glasgow are "one win away from a home semi-final", Connacht's Champions Cup hopes are perilously poised. Without the cushion that two wins against Cardiff could have provided, Connacht have dropped to eighth for the first time this season.
“Round 20, going into May, and we have controlled our destiny from September to now. We have lost that, and all we can do now is go to Zebre and get a win, and a good win, and see what happens,” said Lam.
“It’s certainly not over at all. These guys have a lot of pride. We have to pick ourselves up, we have two weeks to recover, and get over to Parma and put the pressure on the ones above us at this stage.”
Connacht may have played some of their best rugby in the opening 20 minutes, but they only led 6-0. With a dominant scrum, they left opportunities behind, including a scrum penalty on their opponents’ line which should have provided a reward for their efforts.
While Glasgow coughed up a series of penalties, Connacht's first on 22 minutes provided the visitors with their opening opportunity, and left wing Fijian Niko Matawalu made it count with the opening try.
Intercept try
The pattern re-emerged after Connacht had missed two penalties – Stuart Hogg crossed and Matawalu's intercept try established a 19-6 lead for the visitors.
“We were happy to be 6-5 down the way the opening 30 minutes went, so to be 19-6 up at half-time was fortunate,” said Townsend. “Our discipline was poor, but we looked really good in the last quarter, and the changes we made helped take away Connacht’s strength at the scrum. We defended well close to our line, but we were in that area on too many occasions,” he conceded.
The second half replicated the first – Connacht making all the moves with five successive penalties before Aly Muldowney secured Connacht's only try after Robbie Henshaw was held up on the line on 52 minutes. When Carty missed a third penalty, the gap was stil 13-19.
Glasgow, content to soak up the pressure, were happy to feed off Connacht's mistakes, and Adam Ashe and Tommy Seymour sauntered through for two more tries before the end, putting paid to Connacht's hopes of maintaining the automatic qualification place.
“Sixth place has been our goal, it’s where we want to be playing, and we have been punching above our weight,” says Lam. “We have to look at ourselves, how many chances [do we need]?
“Our energy and commitment and all of that stuff was good, but anyone can pass ball, even my seven-year-old girl can pass a ball. It’s who can do it under pressure. Everyone loves playing rugby at this time of year, but when there is a collective of experienced internationals, they can do it a lot better, and that has been the big learning for us.”
CONNACHT: T O'Halloran; D Poolman, R Henshaw, B Aki, M Healy; J Carty, K Marmion; D Buckley, T McCartney, R Ah You, U Dillane, A Muldowney, J Muldoon (capt), E Masterson, E McKeon. Replacements: J Cooney for Marmion (49 mins), A Browne for Dillane, D Leader for O'Halloran (both 54 mins), M Nikora for Cart y, G Naoupu for Masterson (both 62 mins), R Loughney for Buckley, F Bealham for Ah You (both 68 mins), S Delahunt for McCartney (74 mins). Yellow cards: T Seymour, C Fusaro.
GLASGOW: S Hoggs; T Seymour, R Vernon, P Horne, N Matawalu; F Russell, H Pyrgos; J Yanuyanutawa, F Brown, E Murray L Nakarawa, J Gray (capt), R Harley, C Fusaro, A Ashe. Replacements: R Grant for Yanuyanutawa, J Welch for Murray (both 41 mins), K Bryce for Brown (51 mins), T Swinson for Nakarawa, J Strauss for Harley (both 52 mins), D Weir for Russell (68 mins), L Jones for Matawalu (70 mins), P Murchie for Strauss (72 mins). Referee: M Mitrea (Italy).
