Connacht’s hopes of reaching the Heineken Champions Cup knockout stages for the first time died in Galway after they were outgunned by French champions Toulouse who finished with 13 men.

A grim night for the visitors to the RDS. And it could have been much worse.

Andy Friend believes his players let themselves down after they missed a golden opportunity to move into the PRO14 play-off places by slipping to a narrow defeat against the Cardiff Blues in Wales.

Jack Carty crowned a glorious week as he celebrating his call-up to the Irish squad by scoring the match-winning try three minutes from time to send Connacht into the quarter-finals of the European Challenge Cup.

Connacht have given themselves a good chance of reaching the knockout stages of the Challenge Cup for the 11th time after securing a bonus point win at Stade Aime Giral.