Connacht's season concluded in South Africa with a loss to defending URC champions DHL Stormers, but having achieved one major ambition - to qualify for Champions Cup rugby next season.
In finishing in the top half of table, seventh of 16, and advancing to the tournament's semi-final, ensures the 2022/23 season has been a huge fillip for Connacht and Irish Rugby.
It also signals the end of Andy Friend's coaching tenure in the west where Connacht's DNA has been successfully developed without a host of marquee players. Without drama, but with good humour, Friend has now overseen the most successful season since their title-winning PRO12 win over Leinster in 2016.
Importantly, he hands the reins to his reliable lieutenant Pete Wilkins with a squad that boasts some experienced heads, exciting youngsters, and will be bolstered next season with two Ireland Sevens players, outhalf and Australian Liam McNamara and winger Andrew Smith, experienced campaigners in Bristol lock Joe Joyce and Argentinian winger Santiago Cordero, two Irish qualified players from New Zealand, backrow Sean Jansen (Leinster ) and hooker Declan Moore (Ulster ), in addition to scrumhalf Michael McDonald and backrow Sean F O'Brien from Leinster.
They will also bid farewell to several notable players, including the now legendary scrumhalf Kieran Marmion who moves to Pat Lam's Bristol after 11 seasons in Galway, having played some 229 games for Connacht, while winning 28 Irish caps. Talented and athletic hooker Shane Delahunt (29 ) has retired, as has winger Alex Wootton, who scored 18 tries in his 40 appearances since joining in 2021. Sean Masterson, younger brother of Eoghan, Leva Fifita, Ciaran Booth, Conor Fitzgerald, and Adam Byrne are also departing the Sportsground.
That Connacht bowed out in the semi-final against the Stormers by 43-25 was disappointing, but the reality was a deserved win by the South African side.
It was always going to be tough ask to turnaround and travel to South Africa, and the odds were stacked against Connacht from the start. Yet there remain some regrets - a lack of composure and the inability to put points on the board with some 70 per cent of possession. Nor did the scoreline do justice to Connacht's effort.
Andy Friend acknowledges that right up until the 77th minute and six points behind, he thought Connacht could "sneak it".
"Certainly the Stormers were nervous from the outset, but they found their mojo and we got into a bit of a lull. It was tit for tat, but in the end the best team won.
"It was a brilliant occasion for our blokes - for many it was their first time on a big stage, and we ran them close. The scoreline was not reflective - the last try hurt the scoreline, but the best team won."
"It was a massive stage and a massive experience for some fellas so Connacht will be better for that experience, and there is going to be frustration. We knew before the game when you have some 40,000 plus people here, there is additional pressure. At the same time I can never doubt the effort, the desire to win that game, and with three minutes to go we were within as score to steal what most would have said to be an amazing victory. We didn't do it, but we certainly put ourselves in with a chance."
Friend says Connacht do not want to be the team that loses a game and everyone pats them on the back, and says "you're good little fighters".
"We are more than that and I think the way the club is going, it's a matter of time when it does start to win these games. At the moment the plaudits feel hollow, but we have grown as a team and will continue to grow with Pete Wilkins, and the coaching staff, we have. I think there is enormous opportunity to keep growing and one day, in the not too distant future, they will hold a trophy."
Connacht delivered the ideal start and were 8-0 up thanks to a Jack Carty penalty and Mack Hansen try. The pack had done their job in the scrum five metres out, but it was Carty's delivery that provided Hansen with the finish.
However it soon took a different turn - the home side taking control of both possession and territory. From the 15th to the 39 minute they produced 24 points with three converted tries and a penalty, all coming from man of the match and outhalf Manie Libbok, bar the opening try from Agelo Davids.
However, Friend's side gave themselves a much-needed fillip with a try from Conor Oliver, and when Connacht's find of the season, Shamus Hurley Langton, added a second, converted by Carty, after the break, there was real hope Connacht could turn the game around. Unfortunately denying the power game of the home side was an exhausting task for the visitors, who added three more tries. In between Byron Ralston gave Connacht hope with a 74th minute try, but it was never enough to stop a home side boasting players such as Libbok and influential Ulster-bound Steven Kitshoff on the day.
Stormers Scorers: Tries: Angelo Davids, Manie Libbok (2 ), Paul de Wet, Marcel Theunissen. Conversions: Manie Libbok (4 ). Penalty: Libbok. Connacht: Tries: Mack Hansen, Conor Oliver, Shamus Hurley-Langton, Byron Ralston. Conversion: Jack Carty. Penalty: Jack Carty.
STORMERS: D Willemse; A Davids, R Nel, D du Plessis, L Zas; M Libbok, H Jantjies (P de Wet 62 ); S Kitshoff, J Dweba (A Vermaak 60 ), F Malherbe (N Fouche 60 ); BJ Dixon, R van Heerden; W Engelbrecht (M Theunissen 76 ), H Dayimani, E Roos (C Evans 74 ).
CONNACHT : T O’Halloran (B Ralston 36 ); J Porch, T Farrell, B Aki, M Hansen; J Carty (T Daly 70 ), C Blade (K Marmion 64 ); D Buckley (J Duggan 64 ), D Heffernan (D Tierney-Martin 64 ), F Bealham (J Aungier 64 ); J Murphy, N Murray (O Dowling 47 ); S Hurley-Langton, C Oliver (J Butler 64 ), C Prendergast.
Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland ).
