Andy Friend's message to Connacht squad: 'Let us be the first to get out of pool stages'

'If the last 18 months has taught us anything it is just to live for the moment'

Connacht head coach Andy Friend: If the last 18 months has taught us anything it is just to live for the moment. Picture: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Champions Cup week is still a bit of a novelty around the Sportsground as it is just Connacht’s seventh season in Europe’s premier competition, so they don’t have to dig deep to find a target to achieve something in this campaign.

They have held their own since finally joining the big boys for the first time a decade ago, but they have rarely looked and never managed to get out of the pool. So when Andy Friend and his coaches sat down to plan this one after a fairly hectic URC campaign so far, it wasn’t difficult to find a watermark that they could aim for.