Early in the second half, while Connacht were still in the hunt trailing 13-3, Conor McPhilips hobbled off to be replaced by David Slemen.

A coach knows his luck has run dry when forced to replace a winger with an outhalf. Keith Matthews, another injury concern, went to the wing.

Hang on, it gets worse.

Three minutes later, a groggy-looking Slemen stumbled to the touchline with untried Kiwi Gavin Williams, a son of the great All Black Brian Williams, handed a European debut.

The rain seemed to pour heavier thereafter and it washed away any chances of Connacht reeling in the deficit.

"I was just talking to him a second ago and he is a lot better than we thought he was," said Michael Bradley of the concussed Slemen. "He just got a knee into the head. We lost him there for a second. He's coherent now so he is fine."

After what just transpired, the other players in the dressingroom would have gladly taken a similar dose of memory loss. With the wind at Connacht's back, Newcastle were always going to play it tight.

"We were in the game on the scoreboard but were hanging in there. We needed things to go our way in the second half. Newcastle started doing a lot of picking and driving. They ran at us at every opportunity.

"I don't think we can have too many complaints really," added Bradley. "The luck didn't even go our way but having said that they were a better side than us and played better rugby than us. We deserved to lose and they deserved to win. Credit to our guys we kept tackling away but didn't seem to own the ball at all. You can't win a game without holding onto the ball."

Mark McHugh was dripping from head to toe but also refused to make excuses after what just transpired. "It's disappointing because we got to the Challenge Cup semi-finals in the last two years but we still have the Celtic League and a lot of home games towards the end of the season. That's the focus. The Challenge Cup is gone. That's it."