Connacht reignited their Challenge Cup hopes with a hard-earned 22-10 defeat of Perpignan in dreadful conditions at the Sportsground.
The win howled and the rain lashed down as Andy Friend's men chalked up a fourth win on the bounce.
It made up for the 34-13 loss at Sale Sharks last time out, and lifted the Westerners up to second in Pool 3.
It was dark and gloomy in Galway, a day that required real character. Connacht had that in spades but their French visitors - rooted to the bottom of the Top 14 table - never lay down.
The hosts started with the wind behind them and bossed the first half. David Horwitz missed an early penalty but then atoned for that with a grubber kick that pinned Perpignan back. Sustained pressure eventually led to Darragh Leader darting over in the tenth minute. Horwitz converted.
In teeming rain, Connacht kept turning the screw, Bundee Aki's try stretching their lead 20 minutes in with Horwitz again adding the extras.
That's how it stayed as they went in at the break and, with Perpignan second row Yohan Vivalda in the bin for a 37th-minute yellow card, Horwitz's 44th-minute penalty kept the home team in control.
Three minutes later Jonathan Bousquet finally got the visitors on the scoreboard off the tee and things heated up when Manu Leiataua burrowed over for a try that Bousquet converted.
Perpignan smelled blood but Manu Leiataua's yellow ten minutes from dampened their fire and Kyle Godwin's 76th-minute try extinguished it to give Connacht a sweet win.
