Brive 24

Connacht 31

JOHN FALLON at Stade Amédée-Domenech

BRIVE may be a club in turmoil at the moment but it remains a fairly hostile place for visiting teams, so it was understandable that Andy Friend was pleased that many of Connacht’s emerging talent got a taste of that undercurrent and still emerged with a bonus point win at Stade Amédée-Domenech on Friday night.

He wasn’t pleased though with some of the high hits and neither side was enamoured with English referee Adam Leal and his officials, with the touch judges really cranking up the hostility in the stands in the crowd of just 1,679 by their adjudicating of where kicks went into touch.

Connacht made it unnecessarily hard on themselves in the end against an ill-disciplined Brive side who had one man sent off and two more binned in a Challenge Cup tie that was bad-tempered for periods.

“The most important thing is we came over to France, got the win, got the five points against their strongest team,” said director of rugby Friend.

“We definitely could have been better but we got the job done and we move on. We had a lot of frontline players rested so for those guys to come here and for most of them to have their first experience in France, with the crowd against them getting upset with the referee, and to get a bonus point win is good for them. The depth of the squad continues to grow.”

Connacht wrapped up the bonus point three minutes after the restart when they pushed 25 points clear but Brive, despite all the cards, got it down to just a converted try five minutes from time.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App

Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.

Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.

Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite  HERE.

Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.