ANDY FRIEND HAS expressed his pride in the support Connacht received from a capacity Sportsground crowd last night, as the province ended the year on a high by recording their sixth win in seven outings.
Connacht produced the perfect response from last week’s agonising inter-pro defeat to Leinster at the RDS by powering past Ulster 21-12 in Galway on Friday, as they leapfrogged Munster into second in Conference A of the Guinness Pro14.
While the hosts were unable to find a fourth try to clinch all five match points on offer, Friend was left more than satisfied with his side’s performance as they completed a first-ever seasonal double over their northern neighbours.
First-half tries from Shane Delahunt and Bundee Aki set Connacht on their way, before Caolin Blade added a third score shortly after the break to give the strong home crowd of over 8,000 a late Christmas present.
“It wasn’t the prettiest but there was a lot of good stuff in there too,” Friend told RTÉ Sport afterwards.
“In order to win inter-pros and championships you need a forward pack that’s working, and ours is currently working really well.
“There’s a lot of belief in the group. We were bitterly disappointed with last week’s result but we knew the areas we needed to fix. This was about saying,’listen let’s park the bits we didn’t get right, let’s look at the things we did do right, we’re still a very good football team, so let’s go out there and play’.”
“It is a tight conference. Every point matters.”
With confidence high out west, Connacht will look to begin 2019 as they ended this year when they welcome Munster to the Sportsground next weekend.
“We get an extra day this week,” Friend added, looking ahead to the final inter-pro of the festive period.
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Connacht celebrate Blade’s try. Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO
“We’d a six-day turnaround after Leinster; this one’s an eight-day turnaround. We’ll be well rested for that. We know it’s going to be another big occasion and a massive challenge for us.