 |
| Fletcher: 'No Excuses' |
 |
| Director of rugby, John Fletcher |
| 7 December 2007, 11:28 pm |
|
| Falcons director of rugby, John Fletcher, had no time for excuses on Friday night, having watched his side fall 16-13 to Irish province Connacht by virtue of an injury-time penalty. |
Resisting the urge to blame some controversial refereeing decisions or the inclement Galway conditions, Fletcher said: “Tonight was extremely disappointing and we got exactly what we deserved, which was pretty much nothing.
“Connacht were the better side and we were possibly fortunate to even get the bonus point.
“They just had a bit more dog than us, and only a handful of our players played to their potential tonight which obviously isn't good enough. They were the best side on the night, no excuses.”
Delving deeper in to the reasons for the defeat, he added: “Connacht seemed to have more urgency about them, which was massively disappointing, and we didn't cope with their pressure.
“We kept giving them fuel by knocking it on, losing our shape, conceding penalties and all that sort of stuff. We needed to keep the ball and play with intensity, but we only managed that twice all night so a lot has been said in that changing room after the final whistle.
“At 10-7 up at half time we were fairly pleased with the position and we knew what we had to do against the wind in the second half, but we just didn't do it.
“Credit must go to Connacht, they stayed very patient and put us under an enormous amount of pressure in that second half in particular. They stuck to their gameplan, executed it well and the better team won.
“At 10-0 up had we scored again I think that would have been it, because Connacht are not a team that scores lots and lots of points, but what they are always going to do is grind away and gradually build pressure.”
With his side's European Challenge Cup ambitions now hanging by a thread, Fletcher said: “What it now means is that next Sunday's rematch against Connacht is basically us fighting to save our European campaign.
“Teams have qualified for the quarter-finals in the past despite losing two pool games – we did it ourselves last season – but we know the reality is basically lose next weekend and we're out.
“The players are hurting, and rightly so after that performance, but we now have a long week to build up to the rematch and prove some points against the same team on the back of a very poor performance.” |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
