Connacht count cost of injuries after beating Brive

Connacht 21 Brive 17: Connacht remain top of their European pool but have been left counting the cost of injuries ahead of their meeting with Munster on Saturday, having taken a heavy hit on personnel during their victory over French visitors Brive in the Sportsground on Saturday.

“We are on the back foot again against Munster,” says Connacht coach Pat Lam. “They [Munster] have had a week off and this is probably the biggest hit we have taken injury-wise, but we have to learn from what we have been through, not just in the last couple of weeks, but through this season and last.”

With openside Nepia Fox-Matamua now out with a knee injury, Andrew Browne having had hand surgery immediately after the game, and lock Ben Marshall and Eoin McKeon undergoing concussion protocols, Connacht’s task in Thomond Park has became that much harder.