“I think it was 17 minutes and we were up 12-0 playing the sort of rugby we have been playing where we were just on top of teams and looking after possession, winning our own ball, making tackles, and then all of a sudden that seemed to go out the window.'
CONNACHT DIRECTOR of rugby Andy Friend said their failure to ‘fire a shot’ in the second-half cost them dearly as they bowed out of the Challenge Cup with a disappointing 41-19 loss away to Benetton Rugby.
A dismal defeat away to a Newcastle Falcons side already eliminated back in January put paid to that prospect and after failing to perform in Treviso the Challenge Cup final will be taking place at Aviva Stadium on 19 May without them.“It is very frustrating,” said Friend.
“The disappointing thing is at half-time we were a score and a bit behind, we were still very much in the game, but we didn’t come out and fire a shot in the second half and that was probably the most disappointing bit. Benetton, with their eight Italian internationals impressing after Six Nations duty and Connacht’s Grand Slam pairing Bundee Aki and Mack Hansen struggling to make the expected impact, continued to dominate after the restart and pulled away for an easy win to set up a home quarter-final against Cardiff next weekend.
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