Confirmation from European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) that Connacht should not have been allowed to take a lineout from a penalty to touch during Saturday’s pulsating and dramatic Champions Cup game at the Sportsground will have done little to soften Wasps’ pain.
The Aviva Premiership team looked set for victory when they led 18-13 with time almost up. And then events took a dramatic twist, when Niyi Adeolokun, the Connacht wing, forced a turnover and won a penalty inside the Wasps 22.
By then the clock had gone past 80 minutes but immediately John Muldoon, the Connacht captain, was in the ear of Mathieu Raynal, the stand-in referee, requesting that his side should be allowed to go to touch with the penalty.
Raynal had taken over from the injured Jérôme Garcès seven minutes earlier and indicated that Connacht could go to touch – however, this new law does not come into use in the northern hemisphere until next August. While EPCR confirmed last night that Pat Lam’s side should not have been allowed take the throw, as time had elapsed, they also stated the result will stand.
Naulia Dawai, the Fiji back-row forward, crowned his debut with the equalising score from this contentious lineout before Jack Carty, who went into the contest with a 45 per cent kicking rate in Europe this season, kept his nerve to land the touchline conversion from the right wing and seal a dramatic win.
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“I’m thrilled for him and so proud of him,” Lam, the Connacht coach, said about Carty. “He works so hard and we saw that this week, especially, when he did plenty of extra work.
“That is the sort of culture we have. We understand we are in a performance industry and the only currency the boys have is the performances they are judged on. But the performance comes on the back of the work.
“Guys are going to make mistakes. I have watched Jack develop since the day he arrived here and I see he takes it to heart if something goes wrong - but there is only one way you can go, to just dust yourself off and get up.
“There is no point feeling sorry for yourself. It’s just using that motivation to drive you more at training.”
Connacht’s motivation on Saturday was simple. After going down 32-17 at the Ricoh Arena to their English pool rivals the week before, they knew they had to win to keep their European hopes alive.
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After a topsy-turvy contest, they came from behind on two separate occasions to register a crucial victory — one which left Joe Launchbury, the Wasps captain, bitterly disappointed.
“Connacht are a great side,” Launchbury said. “So while we’re really happy with the way the squad fronted up, to lose in that manner, is tough to take.
“Yet, we always knew, no matter what happened on Saturday, that our fate was always going to be determined in the last two games in Europe; you’ve never got your group sewn up at this stage.
“So as thing stand, it’s very exciting. You have three teams on 13 points and we have Toulouse coming to us next. That is a massive game.”
As was this.