Wilkins says Connacht will need to park Leinster disappointment

PARK AND MOVE ON: Connacht’s JJ Hanrahan, Paul Boyle and Conor Oliver dejected. Pic: ©INPHO/James Crombie

Connacht coach Pete Wilkins said they will need to quickly get over their bitterly disappointing late 24-22 loss to Leinster and turn their attention to Bordeaux-Bègles in the Champions Cup next weekend.

His men, having come from eleven points down with 16 minutes left to take a 22-19 lead into the dying moments, were stunned at the finish when they lost a lineout with the clock in the red and paid the price when Leinster countered and Ciaran Frawley got in for a try to snatch it.

“You know, we’ve talked all season about you getting what you deserve,” said Wilkins. “Yeah it's really frustrating. I think rugby is a game like that where there’s that many small moments and blocks in the game that if you get enough of them you come out on the right side of it.

“But you know what, I thought we deserved it, and I thought just the way we responded to Leinster’s positive periods of momentum, the way we responded to the yellow cards, the way we responded to the scoreboard when we went behind on that.” 

Connacht led 8-7 at the break with Mack Hansen, back from World Cup duty, twice involved in setting up replacement David Hawkshaw for the opening try after nine minutes.

JJ Hanrahan added a Connacht penalty while they had centre Cathal Forde in the bin for a high tackle but an understrength Leinster side struck before the break when Charlie Ngatai scored.

Leinster dominated the third quarter as Connacht’s lineout disintegrated and they hit the front after 51 minutes when Jason Jenkins crowned his 28th birthday with a try after Connacht prop Peter Dooley was binned for not retreating and Leinster added a third from hooker Ronan Kelleher after a grubber from Ngatai bounced kindly for him to lead by 19-8 after 56 minutes.

Connacht got a lifeline 15 minutes from time when replacement Paul Boyle, back from injury for his first action of the season, put Forde away in midfield and he had his captain Caolin Blade on his shoulder to sprint home, with Hanrahan’s conversion reducing the margin to 19-15.

They hit the front ten minutes from time when a good turnover by Boyle saw Hansen produce more magic to break from deep down the left, draw the cover before sending Diarmuid Kilgallen through for his fifth try of the campaign. Hanrahan converted to make it 22-19 to Connacht.

That should have been enough to see it out but Connacht lost a throw with the clock in the red after clearing their lines with a penalty and Leinster made them pay with a flowing movement which ended with full-back Frawley, who had hardly touched the ball until then, running a superb line on the right before cutting inside to score the winning try and net a bonus point as well.

“I felt like we had done enough,” added Wilkins. “I think the biggest frustration is that we bounced back so well from those challenging moments within the game, not to get one final go of bouncing back, and that’s obviously the nature of the game but that’s something we’ll have to process. But incredibly proud.

“We’ve two huge games coming up in the Champions Cup so we’ll be disappointed but we’ll have to move on.”