Connacht - 42 Borders - 19 Michael Bradley is not one for beating his breast or dancing victory jigs in the locker room. As Connacht swept to their fifth win from six matches, the coach leaned back against the wall and declined to party.
With the squad performing a murderous rendition of The Fields of Athenry having racked up 42 points in the Sportsground, Bradley steadied the boat, added a calming voice to the celebrations.
Five tries and a bonus point, their first of the season, against Scottish side The Borders and facing into a match against struggling Leinster in Donnybrook on Friday, Bradley's team may have exceeded the expectations of those looking on but they have rallied to meet their own.
"We're delighted with the results but we can't live and die on those. It would be pretty treacherous to do that," he said.
"We set ourselves a target when we went away on a goal-setting trip to Sligo in August, of winning five of our first six matches. That came from the players themselves. That and that we'd perform well at home and we've won two out of two there. The way we see it is that it's something achieved already."
For Leinster, the task is probably bigger than it has ever been before. While Connacht faced up to The Borders pack, punched holes all over the park and also tormented them out wide through Wayne Munn and Matt Mostyn, the Leinster side again unravelled.
Much as Bradley may dislike the idea, Connacht will arrive in "Fortress Donnybrook" as favourites with Mark McHugh's winning kick last year a reminder there is nothing pre-cast when the two meet .
"This is always a big game for Connacht. I saw the Leinster game and I know they were well beaten in the end by Cardiff but they played good rugby, particularly the first 50 minutes.
"They weren't able to convert chances and picked up a few nasty injurie. But as a one off game we're delighted to say it's going to be 50-50," said Bradley.
Connacht will go into the match with their pack fuelled with four of the five tries scored - by blindside Paul Neville, hooker John Fogarty, openside Tom Carter and second row Andrew Farley - Carter's a beauty - and right wing Mostyn scored the other.
Although The Borders did mount credible attacks and intermittently competed well, they were hammered in the loose and for Neville's first try which came from the back of a line out, they were sloppy.
Neville gathered from a John O'Sullivan take five metres out and hit fifth gear before reaching full back Gareth Morton, who was gleefully bounced a full two metres over his own try line.
The closest the Scots got to reaching the home side was during a fertile period around the half hour when flanker Andy Rennick bundled through the midfield defence for 17-14.
But three points was as close as they got. Connacht displayed mountainous confidence and during a 90-second phase deep in the first half McHugh attempted two drop kicks from 10 yards inside his own half.
Eric Elwood tried another, the province finally extending the gap at the break to 24-14 before closing out the match just before the hour, a McHugh penalty taking the score to 37-14.
Scoring sequence: 5 mins - M Mostyn try, Elwood con 7-0; 13 mins - P Neville try, Elwood con 14-0; 22 mins - K Utterson try, Morton con 14-7; 29 mins - Elwood pen 17-7; 32 mins - A Rennick try, Morton con 17-14; 36 mins - J Fogarty try, Elwood con 24-14. Half-time. 44 mins - T carter try, Elwood con 31-14; 49 mins - Elwood pen 34-14; 57 mins - M McHugh pen 37-14; 63 mins - Morton try 37-19; 70 mins - A Farley try 42-19.
CONNACHT: M McHugh; M Mostyn, D Yapp, S Moore, W Munn; E Elwood, M Walls; R Hogan, J Fogarty, F Boiroux, D Browne, A Farley, P Neville, T Carter, J O'Sullivan. Replacements: D Hewitt for Elwood, B Jackman for Fogarty (50 mins); J Muldoon for Neville, A Clarke for Boiroux (57 mins); M McCarthy for Farley (75 mins); C O'Loughlin for Walls (77 mins); T Robinson for Munn (78 mins).
THE BORDERS: G Morton; C Moir, J Stuart, K Utterson, C Murray; C Laidlaw, G Armstrong; K Todd, S Scott, C Dunlea, S McLeod, C Stewart, A Rennick, D Kane, C Feather. Replacements - C Cusiter for Armstrong (40 mins); D Weir for McLeod, T Walker for Kane (56 mins); G Cross for Dunlea (69 mins)
Referee: D Davies (Wales)
