Friend left to rue missed Connacht opportunities

Connacht boss Andy Friend admitted his side were second best as they bowed out of the BKT URC at the semi-final.

Surprise winners over Ulster in the quarter-final, the Westerners fought bravely but eventually fell to a 43-25 loss to the DHL Stormers, who will host Munster in the final in two weeks' time.

Connacht led early on, scored four tries, and were within a score with five minutes to play, however, the hosts always looked the more likely and were let off the hook by numerous errors by the visitors, including two penalty touch kicks that were missed.

The defeat ended Friend’s five-year tenure at the club.

"It’s not the way we wanted it to finish and I thought we could have sneaked it at the end but the best team won," said the 54-year-old Australian.

"We ran the defending champions pretty close, the scoreline didn’t reflect it.

"We will be better for it and the players will reflect on it and you can never fault their desire and effort.

"I’ll curse the opportunity. We don’t want people patting us on the back and saying we’re good little fighters.

"We can become a win a team to win games like this one, there is enormous growth in this team and I have faith that this team can win a trophy in the near future."