Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Connacht applause from Lam
CONNACHT coach Pat Lam was pleased with his side’s efforts as they withstood a late onslaught from Edinburgh and clinched a Champions Cup play-off spot at Myreside.
With three games left in the season, the reigning champions cannot breach the top six now, but are guaranteed to face either an English or French side in the play-off.
But Lam was defiant and he believes the season could have been so different if Connacht had a bit of luck along the way.
He said: “There are a whole lot of reasons. But the biggest factor for us, is when I look at the season, every single game that we lost we could have won.
“And when I say could have, I mean on genuine chances that we could have won those games.
“Ultimately I don’t round off and summarise the season because we have a few games to go and I will see where we will end up.”
Connacht led 16-0 at half-time on their first visit to Myreside, thanks to a try from Eoin McKeon and 11 points from the boot of their impressive ex-Leinster and Munster out-half Steve Crosbie.
And Crosbie continued his brilliant form into the second-half where he added two further penalties as Connacht went into a 22-0 lead before they began roll on their replacements.
But Edinburgh had lost six in a row in the league and to their credit Duncan Hodge’s rallied after the hour mark.
They began their fightback with a penalty try when Tiernan O’Halloran was yellow carded for stopping a certain try in the corner.
And further efforts from Hamish Watson and Glenn Bryce drew them within three points but Connacht held on.