Munster’s hopes of reaching the Guinness Pro12 play-offs were dealt a hammer blow at the Sportsground and head coach Anthony Foley admits they will need all their resolve to secure Champions Cup qualification.
After taking an early 14-6 lead away, the visitors had no answer to the pace and power of Pat Lam’s side, conceding 29 unanswered points, aided by yellow cards to Billy Holland and James Cronin.
While Pat Lam described it as a "wonderful day" for Connacht, it was another miserable result for Munster in a season with more ups than downs.
With the top six qualifying for the Champions Cup, Foley’s side are in a real battle to stake their claim next season's competition.
"It’s hard to fathom it to be honest"
The two-time European champions occupy seventh place in the table with two games in the regular season remaining, level on points with Edinburgh who they face next time out in Cork.
The 42-year-old admitted afterwards that Connacht were “full value” for the 21-point success, but admitted some of the calls by the match officials were “hard to fathom”.
James Cronin was sent to the bin just after the half-hour mark, and under increased pressure at the scrum, Billy Holland was also yellow carded as Munster entered the break with 13 players and a six-point deficit.
“We got 14-6 ahead playing into a stiff breeze, we were well in control of the game,” Foley told RTÉ Sport.
“Then one or two things happened, you concede a penalty try and a yellow card and you are wondering where it all went.
The yellow card to the Munster prop in particular was a big call in the encounter. After a collapsed scrum, referee Ben Whitehouse consulted with his touch judge who deemed Cronin the offending party and Munster failed to score for the remaining 48 minutes in the contest.
“You wonder how you change it," he conceded.
“You can’t change Gary Conway touch judge’s decision on the side of the pitch. He sees red pulling the scrum down where green have overreached and are flat on their face on the ground.
“It’s hard to understand at times how that call can be made. It’s hard to fathom it to be honest.
“We’ll get on with it and see where it takes us.”
Edinburgh travel to Cork in two weeks before the regular season concludes against the Scarlets and Foley remains bullish of their chances of securing a top-six finish.
“It’s very clear what we need to do now. Is it achievable? Yes it is, but it’s going to take hard work. It’s important as a group we stick together and make sure we get out the backend of it.
“It’s hard. You look around at the changing room and everyone is looking down at the floor. It’s not the lack of effort.
“Just sometimes you need to experience stuff like this. It’s now about revealing the character within the group.”
