It took a late comeback for Connacht Rugby but they made it through to the quarter finals of the European Challenge Cup. But it denied their fellow Guinness PRO14 side Benetton Rugby a place in the knockout stages, as the Italian club fell one point short of taking a best runner-up spot. The Irish club will now travel to the AJ Bell Stadium to face Sale Sharks, the team who finished above them as group winners in Pool 3 – despite winning fewer games. Ospreys and Zebre Rugby both lost out on Saturday, as they finished their pools with 13 and 14 points respectively. Matt Healy and Jack Carty touched down in the last ten minutes as Connacht came from behind to win 33-26 at Bordeaux Begles It followed first-half scores from Healy, Quinn Roux and Tiernan O’Halloran as the Irish club secured qualification Johnny Kotze grabbed two tries and Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler one as Ospreys fell short 26-21 at Pau, as they finished second in Pool 2 George Biagi’s try gave Zebre the perfect start against La Rochelle, before the French reeled them in, guided by 15 points from the boot of Ihaia West WHAT THEY SAID Connacht lock Quinn Roux said: “All credit to the lads, we found a way to get a win in the end away in France against a very physical team. “I’m very proud of the guys. We definitely need to be more clinical. We made a few silly errors and they got back into the game. “We found a way at the end and I’m really proud to be a part of that. “We showed some serious attitude there getting the ball back five metres out and then getting that try, that was serious character by the lads. “It was a massive effort defending our line and then we got Jack [Carty] over the line to seal the win for us. “The game was a bit slower but our pack did a good job today, but there’s still room for improvement. “We need to be a lot more clinical, especially next week where we have got a serious game against Cardiff.” Ospreys centre Johnny Kotze said: “It didn’t go our way since we left a lot of opportunities out there and made a few silly mistakes, we were in the lead but small errors came into play and we just slipped up. “It was nice scoring a couple of tries with the guys creating opportunities for me. It was my most enjoyable game for the Ospreys since I haven’t had a lot of play. “My last game (of a short-term contract) will be next week against Glasgow if selected, and hopefully I can enjoy it as much again.”
