skip to main content

Jack Conan insists Leinster must get 'hell of a lot better' after victory over Bath

Jack Conan scored Leinster's third try
Jack Conan scored Leinster's third try

Leinster scored seven tries, topped pool two and are odds on for a top seeding in the Champions Cup knock-out stages but Jack Conan insists they must be a "hell of a lot better".

Leo Cullen's men trailed 14-0 after seven minutes and 21-19 at half-time against Premiership leaders Bath on Saturday evening but scored four unanswered tries in the second half to run out 47-21 winners.

They will now wait until the final pool stage matches on Sunday evening to see who they face at Aviva Stadium in the round of 16.

Conan, who captained the side with Caelan Doris on the bench, told RTÉ Sport: "Credit to Bath, they came quickly out of the gate.

"I think we were slow to start, a little bit. We didn’t panic, we were nice and calm. We said we’ll stick to the process and we’ll get there.

"I’m pretty proud of the lads. I thought big RG [Snyman] and the second-half skipper, Caelan, were pretty good off the bench, lads made a huge impact, same with Ross [Byrne] and Lukey [McGrath], all the lads made a real impact and gave us the lift we needed.

"We finished nice and strong, but we were probably a bit loose in first half, chasing things. We need to be a bit more calm, bring them through the phases.

"They are a quality team, Bath, top of the Premiership for a reason and very difficulty to break down."

Leinster’s defence was much praised after last weekend’s 16-14 win at La Rochelle and Conan was happier with how the attack functioned against the English side.

"We’re conscious of [attack] every week," added the Ireland back row.

"We were pretty disappointed last week against La Rochelle, how our attack performed, just wasn’t clicking, wasn’t smooth, putting us under a bit of pressure, that was needless.

"Same tonight, myself included, in the 22 there, pulling one of the balls out the back and it was a poor pass, little errors like that stop momentum. We’ve got to be a hell of a lot better."

Meanwhile, Leo Cullen (above), whose side had also beaten Bristol and Clermont in the pool, was happy with the day’s work.

"Seven minutes in, 14-nil down, not exactly the way we planned it but the score was pretty good after that, 47-7, if you take out the first seven or eight minutes.

"There was lots of good stuff in the game, the start was not part of it. Bath showed really good attacking intent, they came to play.

"We were chasing our tails a little bit but we showed good composure on the flip side of that to get back into the game.

"We’d plenty of pressure, maybe just forcing things a little, which led to a few turnovers at different stages.

"[Second-half], we probably had better balance in terms of playing through Bath versus trying to play around them the whole time and scored some good tries.

"We are delighted to get the win."

Bath boss Johann van Graan (above) was pleased with his team's effort and felt Snyman’s introduction at the start of the second half had a huge bearing on the result.

"Firstly, again some game of rugby," said the former Munster head coach, whose side had prop Beno Obano red-carded in the 60th minute.

"I thought we started this game incredibly well. We planned for a fast start because specifically against Leinster if you fall behind it's very difficult to come back, specifically the way they defend.

"Going in 21-19 I thought we handled the first few minutes well until we got 14 on 15. Then RG came onto the pitch. You all know how highly I rate him as a player.

"Somebody that I signed at Munster and he's now at Leinster and I thought he was phenomenal. Leinster are a very good side. You can see why they've got 23 out of the 36 guys in the Irish national team.

"I'm dsappointed because we came here to win but extremely proud. Proud of the fact that we've got absolutely no regret in the change room."

Read Next