Connacht 14

Lions 38

JOHN FALLON AT DEXCOM STADIUM

IRISH winger Mack Hansen said he was ‘shell-shocked’ after watching Connacht suffer a six tries to two mauling from the Lions at Dexcom Stadium.

The shock loss to a side who had never won in Ireland and only scored one victory outside South Africa in the past year, puts a big dent in Connacht’s URC knockout hopes and qualification for next season’s Champions Cup.

Hansen, out with a shoulder injury since January, was on pundit duty with RTE and was typically forthright in his comments after seeing his side go down heavily to a Lions side who played more than three-quarters of the game with 14 men.

“I’m a bit shell-shocked to be honest. It looked like every time the Lions had the ball they were cool, calm and collected. We looked like we were trying to push the envelope when we didn’t have to and they fairly flipped the script.

“They were actually the ones who were speeding up the game at some points, spreading it wide. They were throwing the ball around with ease. It was a great win for them and the fellas weren’t just up to it today really.

“The Lions looked so comfortable out there and when a team is that comfortable and putting pressure on you, you end up chasing the game and that’s what happened us and that’s never a good place to be.”

Connacht have now slipped out of the top half of the table heading into the final third of the campaign and face another crunch eight/ten-pointer away to Benetton in Treviso next weekend, and Hansen believes there will be a response.

Pictured: Connacht’s Andrew Smith on the attack against the Lions during Saturday’s URC clash at Dexcom Stadium. Photo: Joe O’Shaughnessy.