Leinster 20

Connacht 12

By JOHN FALLON at Aviva Stadium

CONNACHT head coach Pete Wilkins has urged his men to use the utter frustration of their loss at Aviva Stadium to maximum impact when they host Ulster at Dexcom Stadium on Saturday night.

They returned home with nothing to show for their joust against the runaway leaders and while Mack Hansen gave full vent to his frustrations in an astonishing diatribe about the quality of the match officials, Wilkins said the hurt from this defeat runs deep.

It’s a fifth loss in eight URC games this season with Leinster maintaining their 100% start despite fielding a second/third string side, the presence of two World Cup winners in RG Snyman and Jordie Barrett notwithstanding.

But a full strength Connacht side still returned home from Dublin with not even a bonus point to show against a Leinster outfit that started with one-third of their side being academy players.

Now the pressure is on Connacht to deliver a result against an Ulster side in freefall and Wilkins wants them to channel the disappointment of this latest loss to Leinster into a big inter-pro derby display on Saturday.

“It is an incredibly important game. It is about finding a balance for us and dealing with that nagging frustration and ‘what if’ that we will carry out of this game.

“For us it is important that we don’t let go of that and that, while we might have ran out of minutes, that we pick up where we left off and unload some of that frustration on our next opponents.

“That said, we also can’t spend half of the next week processing, we have to get over it pretty quickly because we train Monday and Tuesday, couple of days off for Christmas and then in for a captain’s run.

“As I said to the players there, remember that frustration. We certainly don’t lack for fire in the belly in those contests with Ulster and nor do they in return. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves.”

Jordie Barrett, whose hit on Bundee Aki was one of the issues raised by Hansen in his claim that the match officials did not investigate Leinster’s transgressions as much as Connacht’s, hailed Leo Cullen’s young guns as they held off a spirited Connacht comeback to maintain their perfect start to the season with a tenth straight win in all competitions.

Pictured: Connacht’s Shane Jennings who scored their second try in Saturday’s United Rugby Championship defeat to Leinster at the Aviva Stadium.