Having kept an even keel after five defeats in a row, Cian Prendergast says Connacht won't be getting too ahead of themselves after an impressive victory against Munster.
Pete Wilkins' side put on a set-piece clinic against the URC champions, forcing turnovers on seven of Munster's 16 lineouts, while in the final quarter of the game they got dominance in what had been an evenly matched scrum contest.
It saw the province pick up a first win since their defeat of the Sharks in Durban back in November, and sees them leapfrog Munster into ninth place in the URC table.
"We expect to win every game," Prendergast insisted.
"I think we were a little bit more relieved, so that's probably why you saw that outburst of emotion. We're well aware it's been tough, we've been on the s**t side of a couple of results.
"It was more relief than anything and hopefully we can springboard and get momentum.
"We'd been on the bad side of a couple of games, but we weren't in as bad of a place as the results dictated. The Bordeaux game was a bit of an anomaly, just a poor performance, the Saracens game was a lot of controllables we let go of. Either side of those, the Interpros, we just needed to be more precise. We were in a better place than the results said, so we just wanted to show that."
The province showed real steel in the final quarter of the game, in stark contrast to some of their recent defeats where they shipped 50-plus points to the Bulls and Sharks, as well as 41 points to Bordeaux-Begles.
And Prendergast says much of that credit goes to the coaches, who made sure they took a cold approach to analysing their defeats.
"The coaching staff, they really took the emotion out of it. They said, 'this is what we have to work on but also this is an opportunity to grow'.
"We can get better at this because ultimately we're not the finished article. We had three good results at the start of the season but weren't the finished article. It allowed us to be a little bit more cold and precise going onto this game tonight."
The foundation for the win was at the lineout, where the province caused Munster to lose seven throws, while they came close to disrupting three more.
Connacht's lineout defence has been among the best in Europe in the last two seasons, with lock Niall Murray making more lineout steals than any other player across the URC, Premiership and Top 14 in 2023.
And Prendergast says the coaching ticket have given them licence to go after opposition throws when they feel the time is right.
"I think we're all aware of our strengths in the room. You have Niall [Murray] who is super, you have Oisín [Dowling], Joe Joyce, Darragh [Murray] is super as well and I think we just have a policy and trust it. It's a very player-led thing.
"Mul [John Muldoon, forwards coach] has empowered us to have a look at things, read it, decide on it, and he'll say if he doesn't agree on it, but he's given us the freedom which we developed under Jimmy [Duffy] and Dewald [Senekal]. I think we don't spend a tremendous amount of time on it, but we have a policy and we're pretty certain on that.
"Ultimately, we want to be aggressive, but we have our plans in the week around when we want to compete and different areas of the field where we think we can be a bit more aggressive. Tonight, conditions played a part in that, we could be a bit more aggressive than if it was bone dry.
"It's about reading the situation, reading the positions and trusting the lads. With Niall and Oisin and Darragh, you just want to get them in the air, because it's awful to throw into.
"If you asked Heff [Dave Heffernan], Dylan [Tiernay-Martin] or Eoin de Buitléar or Tadhg [McElroy], every session having to throw into that, they say it's horrendous. It's just about bringing that strength to the forefront."
While the tight five forwards did a job on the Munster lineout, Prendergast led their work on the ground. Having struggled to stay on the right side of referee Chris Busby in the first half, the province caused Munster huge disruption at the breakdown, which helped them turn a 9-6 deficit into a 22-9 win in the final 23 minutes of the game.
"We have a phenomenal back row group in Connacht. Paul Boyle been unlucky with injury, he's been really good any time he's played, Sean O'Brien's been superb, and then you have lads like Sean Jansen and Oisín McCormack, a lot of good players there.
"I wouldn't necessarily say there's a stronger balance to the group, ultimately we've got to figure out a way to play with each other, whether it be myself, Conor Oliver, Shamus [Hurley-Langton], or Jarrad [Butler], Conor Oliver, Shamus, Sean Jansen comes there, Conor Oliver, Sean O'Brien comes in there. It's about us figuring out a way to be as effective as we were tonight."
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