Stuart Lancaster vows there will be no Connacht 'hangover' after grand reopening ends in defeat to Leinster

The atmosphere was electric as their new stand was used for the very first time but they eventually slipped away in the final quarter as Leinster hit them for three tries in a 34-23 win.

Connacht head coach Stuart Lancaster after the game. Pic: ©INPHO/James Crombie

Stuart Lancaster insists that Connacht will not be feeling sorry for themselves after their big night at the refurbished Dexcom Stadium was spoiled by Leinster who claimed an eleven-point URC win in the rain.

The atmosphere was electric as their new stand was used for the very first time but, while the hosts gave as good as they got for long periods, they eventually slipped away in the final quarter as Leinster hit them for three tries in a 34-23 win.

It leaves Connacht 14th in the league table, albeit just five points off the last of the playoff places where Ospreys currently sit in eighth. Next up for the westerners is a visit to Zebre which is a very different proposition to this visit of Leinster.

“Well, you roll your sleeves up and you don't allow anyone to feel sorry for themselves for a start.,” said the head coach. “And you impress on the players that we're not here just to compete. We want to win. So, I'm not interested in putting on a good spectacle.

“We want to win rugby games and we have to have that mentality and, if that comes from me, then that comes from me and I'll drive that within the group and make sure that they have that mindset going into Zebre away.

“It's a critical game for us now because our goal is to come top eight and ‘nearly’ is not good enough.” The game was level at 20-apiece with an hour gone when Charlie Tector tore through the Connacht midfield for a first-phase try off a lineout. This was just the blink of an eye after RG Snyman’s converted try had erased a positive Connacht start to the second period.

It was a crushing moment for the hosts and Lancaster admitted as much.

“The game changed in, probably five minutes, but it was two tries in a very short space of time and ultimately that cost us.

“That's something I've spoken about in the changing room over the last few games, really, where that consistent application of doing the fundamentals consistently under pressure for the full 80 minutes is the step we need to take as a team.

“It was a privilege to be part of the occasion and I thought the boys in the week leading into it, everyone at Connacht Rugby put so much effort into it, so it's absolutely gut-wrenching to not come away with a win.

“Obviously you've got to give Leinster credit for nailing those big moments when they happened.” His opposite number could face the press on the back of a tenth straight win stretching back to their loss to Munster in Croke Park in November. Like so many of those, this was one where they squeezed the life out of the opposition and the game.

“We knew it was going to be a huge occasion because it's been in the calendar here for a long time. We know we're coming down to a pretty hostile environment against a team that's going to be hugely motivated against a lot of lads that know the group well.

“Even Stu would know the group well as well. So we knew it was going to be challenging.” Cullen spoke about how his team has had a lot of moving parts in recent months and that they had “taken a bit of flak” at the start of the season as they tried to reintegrate their British and Irish Lions contingent post-summer.

So wins like this are sweet.

“It’s great when you come away from home, hostile environments, all the rest, and you get a bonus point win.” The one down side to the night for Leinster was the injury to starting loosehead prop Jack Boyle after 20 minutes. The province already have Andrew Porter and Paddy McCarthy out injured and, therefore, so do Ireland.

Boyle had been the most obvious starter for Andy Farrell in the Six Nations opener in Paris next Thursday week. The only other two looseheads in the prop for now are Munster’s Jeremy Loughman and Michael Milne.

Boyle, said Cullen, “looks like being out for a while”.