Pain of Alps fall cuts to core as Connacht cliffhanger goes west

It was after midnight by the time the few hundred Connacht fans walked back into the centre of Grenoble from the splendid Stade des Alpes, the silence and the shaking of heads telling its own sorry tale. Matthews and Short knew what a win would have done for Connacht, as former players they had a lot of good friends playing in it and they knew the pain of this one would cut deep.
The new supporters just felt the harsh disappointment, the more seasoned ones knew this is the best rugby Connacht have ever played and just how close it had got them to the Holy Grail ... a home semi-final against Harlequins, a final against Montpellier or Dragons. All winnable even in the old days, these times you could nearly bank on the outcome. All that was needed was to get over Grenonble. At 19-3 in the opening half they were on their way; even when Bernard Jackman’s men hit back, Connacht pulled away again and at 29-16 they would surely hold out.