Lam: We must learn from this

Connacht 16 Newport 11

Connacht the best team in Ireland? After a summer of unprecedented optimism in the west, it was only a matter of time before the hype reached its logical conclusion and, as the only victorious province on the opening weekend of the Guinness Pro12, the round one table tells no lies.

Head coach Pat Lam and captain John Muldoon were happy, though, that despite a thoroughly deserved win over the more experienced and physically bigger Newport Gwent Dragons, younger heads in the squad were not being swayed by such thoughts at the Sportsground on Saturday.