John Muldoon Reveals What Drove Connacht To Their Famous Win Last Night

“It shows how far we have come as a team since the last time we played them three years ago, and we expect to win as a team based on the work we do,” said Lam, following his side’s winning start to Champions Cup Pool Two.

“We are a representation of the west of Ireland, and people deal with adversity all of the time. This is just a proud day for us and our supporters. We are all about inspiring our community, that is the purpose of Connacht Rugby and there was more great inspiration tonight.”

It took a 67th-minute try from man of the match Bundee Aki to put the PRO12 champions in front for the first time in the match, and they held out in the final minutes when the visitors were pressing deep in the Connacht half.

“The biggest thing is the character of these guys,” said Lam.

“We went down 9-0 on the basis of making errors and giving away (scrum) penalties, and then a soft try before half-time. But what sums us up the most is the last two minutes of the game.

“To stand up after all that physical work against guys who were massive, to close them out, knowing that if they gave away a penalty, they win, but they had the faith to go through it and nail their jobs – that probably sums up this team.”

Connacht captain John Muldoon revealed however that the home support at the Sportsground was worth an added 5% in performance level and had this to say about their win.

There’s belief in ourselves, there’s belief in our ability, but when you’ve 9,000 crazy western people shouting at you, it’ll give you that couple of percent that you need.

“Thankfully it was a sold-out crowd, and I don’t think there’ll be too many teams looking forward to travelling to the Sportsground. The harder we can make it on them the better.”