{"id":13044,"date":"2022-11-17T17:10:11","date_gmt":"2022-11-17T17:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/?p=13044"},"modified":"2022-11-17T17:10:11","modified_gmt":"2022-11-17T17:10:11","slug":"connacht-to-regroup-for-huge-pro14-run-in-after-disappointment-against-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/?p=13044","title":{"rendered":"Connacht to ‘regroup’ for huge Pro14 run-in after disappointment against Sale"},"content":{"rendered":"

Murray Kinsella reports from AJ Bell Stadium<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

THOUGH THE game ended in fiery fashion, with Dave Heffernan questioning whether referee Mathieu Raynal was going to do his job, Connacht will fly home this afternoon with regrets at failing to fire enough shots against Sale Sharks.<\/p>\n

There will also be frustration that the shots they did fire were generally off target.<\/p>\n

Connacht thank their travelling support at AJ Bell Stadium. Source: James Crombie\/INPHO<\/p>\n

There was a litany of errors in the 20-10 defeat, but one prime example was Kyle Godwin \u2013 once again called on at out-half after an injury to Jack Carty \u2013 firing a second-half penalty intended for the left corner over the dead-ball line.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to back the boys and we\u2019ve done that all year and will continue to do that,\u201d said Connacht boss Andy Friend afterwards. \u201cI know Kyle\u2019s not trying to miss that kick but he did. That was compounding the errors that crept into the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had Sale under pressure and we just released it too easily.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Friend naming a much-rotated team underlined that the Pro14 is Connacht\u2019s number one priority, but the hope was that even with changes, they could record a statement away win in this Challenge Cup quarter-final and push on for possible silverware.<\/p>\n

Instead, they were wholly outplayed in the first half, leaving themselves 20-3 down at the break.<\/p>\n

Even with Sale taking their foot off the pedal after the interval, Connacht couldn\u2019t grasp their opportunity to build a comeback.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had way too many errors early on and we paid a penalty for 40 minutes,\u201d said Friend. \u201cIt definitely wasn\u2019t clinical.<\/p>\n

\u201c20-3 at half-time, we knew we had a fight on our hands in the second half and I thought we did fight better in the second half. But in finals football, you can\u2019t make that many errors and expect to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dave Heffernan squares up to Sale’s Jono Ross. Source: James Crombie\/INPHO<\/p>\n

Friend rejected the notion that the 12 changes to his starting team after last weekend\u2019s win over Benetton in the Pro14 had contributed to the high error count, but several players who were handed opportunities will feel they missed them last night.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are trying to build a squad as well,\u201d said the Connacht head coach. \u201cYes, it\u2019s about today and we did want to make a semi-final, we wanted to get to the final, but there\u2019s also a long game there where you\u2019ve got to give players opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to challenge players, give them their chance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cSome take it, some need a bit more time. So that\u2019s something we\u2019ll assess when we sit back and look at that game, but we are building a squad. I love the energy of the players, they never gave up there but, definitely, our skill execution wasn\u2019t where it needed to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Connacht must move on from their European disappointment swiftly, with the Pro14 run-in now occupying all thoughts.<\/p>\n

The western province currently sit third in Conference A, therefore in the play-off and Champions Cup qualification spots, but are ahead of Cardiff Blues only on points difference, and six points at that.<\/p>\n

Friend\u2019s side face a trip to Zebre next weekend\u00a0before Cardiff come to the Sportsground a week later and then they conclude their regular season with a visit to Munster on 27 April.<\/p>\n

Connacht\u2019s destiny is in their own hands.<\/p>\n

Connacht’s Peter McCabe leaves the pitch last night. Source: James Crombie\/INPHO<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all disappointed with that tonight but I know there were some positives out of it,\u201d said Friend. \u201cOur fight, we didn\u2019t give up. We are a team that\u2019s building and growing. Sometimes you\u2019ve got to take losses, it can\u2019t always be forward momentum.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get knocked, you\u2019ve got to make sure you learn from that and step up. That\u2019s happened to us throughout this year. We had that disappointing loss to Glasgow and the next week we played one of our better games of football, so there\u2019s resilience within the team, which is good.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to make sure we lean on that this week and come out ready for Zebre.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cNext weekend is a huge one for us away from home, so we need to regroup after this loss and make sure we get to Parma with a team that can win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Subscribe to our new podcast, The42 Rugby Weekly, here:<\/p>\n

Click Here: london gaa jerseys<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Murray Kinsella reports from AJ Bell Stadium\u00a0 THOUGH THE game ended in fiery fashion, with Dave Heffernan questioning whether referee Mathieu Raynal was going to do his job, Connacht will fly home this afternoon with regrets at failing to fire enough shots against Sale Sharks. There will also be frustration that the shots they did … <\/p>\n

Read more “Connacht to ‘regroup’ for huge Pro14 run-in after disappointment against Sale”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13044\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}