WE’RE IN ANDY POSITION
DESPITE this derby defeat Connacht coach Andy Friend says he is happy that his side are still in the PRO14 fight.
The Westerners trail conference leaders Munster - who inflicted a 31-24 loss on Saturday night - by just seven points and still fancy their chances of securing a play-off slot.
Connacht’s next four PRO14 games are all against conference rivals, a run that will likely define their season, but first up is Challenge Cup games with Bordeaux and Sale, where they are also well in the hunt.
Friend’s side twice led Munster, but a disciplined territorial gameplan and the superior power and experience of the Munster squad proved crucial and Johann van Graan’s side left with a bonus-point win and top spot in Conference A.
Friend (inset) said: “Second half we were much, much better. But the way they controlled the territory was outstanding.
“You look at those ifs, buts and maybes, and we’d loved to have won it and loved to have gotten a bonus point and be sitting up there in second spot but we didn’t.
“I’ll give credit to
Munster, I thought they were really good. They are top of the table now and they are the ones we’ve got to chase,” said
Friend.
“I never set a mark as to how many points we wanted at this stage of the year, it was all about every game. I can see we’re improving, we’re building.
“As a squad we had some big things happen during the week, different players pulling out. But I believe as a group we’re improving.”
All focus for Munster now switches to the Champions Cup, but putting the PRO14 to one side for a fortnight, van Graan’s side are in great shape.
The introduction of internationals CJ Stander, Dave Kilcoyne, Stephen Archer, Billy Holland, Sammy Arnold and Conor Murray made a massive difference for Munster as they closed out the win, and according to the irish scrum-half his side are in good shape ahead of a vital couple of weeks.
“You never get the perfect game but it’s a really good performance to build into Europe, I think,” said Murray, who now has six games under his belt since his return from a neck injury.
“Those three inter-pros over Christmas, and rotations in the squad, a lot of lads who are close to the team get a bit of game-time.
“Who knows what will happen next week with selection, with injuries or whatever, so I think the Christmas period was really beneficial for our squad.”
This was far from a straightforward win for Munster, but two Dan Goggin tries and one each for Peter O’mahony and Joey Carbery proved sufficient.
After watching on for 50 minutes and closing out the game Murray thought the team performed well.
He added: “Yeah, I’m impressed with what I saw. It can be a tough game against Connacht because they do attack a lot. They like to counter-attack, they’re dangerous.
“I thought coming on, just to fit in and get into our system (was the aim), but there was a good calmness about us, especially when we went under pressure late in the game.
“There was just a good clarity and we knew what we were about and we executed a lot of what we were trying to do pretty well.”