Veteran Andrew Browne stresses need for Connacht to build on Pro 12 triumph

The sea of green and wall of noise which greeted the arrival of the Connacht squad before the game through the fans' "village", fittingly located outside the West Stand, had to be seen and heard to be believed. It was replicated afterwards, as thousands congregated around the team

bus and from all the available staircases to serenade each player individually.

For the new breed of Connacht player, they have come in to a team with a new-found confidence and winning mentality as well as a new-found skills' set, but the older, indigenous guard such as John Muldoon, Ronan Loughney, even Tiernan O'Halloran and Andrew Browne, this seemed almost impossible to comprehend.

“Even at Christmas I would have had doubts in my mind about whether we could do it,” admitted Browne when asked if he believed this was possible two or three seasons ago. “It just hasn’t sunk in yet, it’s a bit surreal.

“Counting down those last few seconds, I am a little bit lost for words, it’s an amazing feeling. You can see what it meant to the players, at the end of the game you can see what it meant to the people of Connacht.

“It’s unbelievable out there. Driving in before the match, I nearly had tears in my eyes, the reception we got, it was just an incredible feeling.”

The 29-year-old Galway-born product of Galwegians and the Connacht Academy has been playing with his native province for nine seasons, and was intent on enjoying the celebrations. “I remarked during the week, we’ve been through enough tough times. I’ve been at a lot of away days and nights at the Sportsground where it’s been very hard coming in on the Monday.

“Today is incredible and if anyone deserves to enjoy it then it’s this Connacht team.

Jealous

“I read Mul’s comments when he was asked if he was jealous of the other provinces and he said ‘yeah, of course I’m jealous’. It’s hard looking on when you see the Irish teams having the success they’ve had but again that drives us. What can I say, it’s incredible, we’ve got to that point now and we’ve got to stay here and perform again. Come in and have a good preseason and focus the minds.”

Either way, Connacht were intent on enjoying the occasion. “Pat said that in our pre-match talk, it’s a celebration, win, lose or draw, it’s a celebration of how far we’ve come in the last few years and that’s what it is.”

And Connacht played true to type and form, with Browne admitting it was tough to keep a lid on his emotions when watching the first half from the bench. “In the first half the lads came out and they were unbelievable. Some of the play, we were remarking on the bench, it was some of the best of the season, we were trying not to get too excited on the bench and you had to calm yourself down and reserve your energy a little bit so that you made an impact when you came on.

“It would have been real easy to get carried away with the occasion, but we talked all week about keeping our heads, do the same thing we’ve done all season and I think we did that today.”

Three belting tries from their quicksilver outside trio fittingly not only embroidered the win but sewed it. “They were unbelievable, but the lads have been doing that all season so it’s no surprise. Niyi (Adeolokun) was unbelievable finish to take it on the volley on his left foot as well. It was quality, the same with the rest of the lads, Tiernan and the rest of the lads.”

Ripple effects

The ripple effects of this seismic season throughout the five counties of Connacht could be long lasting.

“Hopefully it can have a massive effect,” said Browne. “We talk about grassroots to greenshirts so this can only have a positive impact on that, we want to build the game around the province, to every corner, so this can only go to increasing the number of young players playing the game and having more indigenous players lining out for Connacht and going on to represent Ireland in the future.”

Connacht have arrived, and they don’t intend going away any time soon.

“We celebrated after the match but in the changing room Pat talked, Mul talked, and it’s about backing that up next year. We can’t just be one trick ponies.

“We know it’s going to be a tough task next year but if we want to progress in the way we’ve talked about the way we know Connacht can then we have to show up next year.”