The silence in the Connacht dressingroom on Saturday spoke volumes after they fell to one of their weakest Pool A opponents, Racing Club de France, at the Galway Sportsground.

Even given the mathematical miracle it would have needed for Connacht to advance to the quarter-finals of the European Shield, it was an opportunity for the home side to put some pride back into their season; instead they notched their fourth successive loss.

Connacht had the opportunity to win on Saturday. Despite playing against the gale-force wind in the first half, they had considerable possession and scoring opportunities which they squandered. The two Racing Club tries came from failures to retain possession in the Connacht line - the first from centre Alexandre Chevallier, who took advantage of a breakdown between Conor McGuinness and Willy Ruane. Full back Patrick Bentayou converted. Four minutes later, with typical French flair, their backs exploited another turnover and from the ensuing line-out and drive, John Daniell claimed the touch-down.

Although it was difficult to make headway against the wind, Connacht earned a perfect scoring chance just before the break. Yet the 13-man line-out, a succession of five-metre scrums and finally a two-man overlap all failed to produce the vital breakthrough.

If wing Alan Reddan was guilty of taking the wrong option before the break, he made amends soon after, when he tidied up a poor line-out and snuck through on the blind side to score after 44 minutes. Yet surprisingly Connacht failed to capitalise on the wind advantage and although Eric Elwood put Connacht into position with some exemplary touch-finding, Connacht lacked the necessary penetration in every quarter. Three line-outs in three scoreable positions were all spurned. While in contrast, Racing Club took their sole opportunity from a similar position when replacement hooker Olivier Terryn claimed the touchdown from a line-out and drive after 59 minutes.

Connacht prop Jimmy Screene narrowed the gap with a try converted by Elwood, but it was too little too late.

Scoring sequence: 19 mins: A Chevallier try; Bentayou conversion, 0-7; 23: J Daniell try, 0-12; 44: - A Reddan try; Elwood conversion, 7-12; 59: O Terryn try, Bentayou conversion, 719; 71: J Screene try, Elwood conversion, 14-19.

CONNACHT: W Ruane; A Reddan, P Duignan, M Murphy, N Carolan; E Elwood (capt), C McGuinness; J Maher, B Mulcahy, J Screene, G Heaslip, J Duffy, J Casserly, M Steffert, S McEntee. Replacements: M Cahill for Maher 44 mins; N Culleton for Steffert 48 mins; B Jackman for Mulcahy 56 mins.

RACING CLUB: P Bentayou; X Hemon Laurens, F Champ, A Chevallier, N Le Roux; P Goirand, M Lajus; E Jeay, D Djoudi, A Vigna, J Daniell, E Lunardi, F Chevallier, A Audebert, R Jechaoux. Replacements: O Le Peze for Lajus half-time; C Michelet for A Chevallier, D Des Landes for Audebert, O Terryn for J Jeay, J Francois for Djoudi all 54 mins. F Plisson for Hemen Laurens, M Macurdy for Daniell both 63 mins.

Referee: R Goodliffe (England).