{"id":451138,"date":"2026-05-16T01:01:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T01:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/451138\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T01:01:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T01:01:10","slug":"superb-connacht-secure-play-off-spot-and-book-champions-cup-for-next-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/451138\/","title":{"rendered":"Superb Connacht secure play-off spot and book Champions Cup for next season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-91174671_secondary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom4 indo-1d70522a_marginleft0 indo-1d70522a_marginright0 indo-1d70522a_margintop4\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\" data-testid=\"title-summary\">URC: Edinburgh 5 Connacht 26\n<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Harry West makes a break for Connacht during their URC victory over Edinburgh\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1ec737d6-9d2f-49b7-bdaa-6a086ff71c09.jpg\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"100%\" data-testid=\"article-image\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_caption1 indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_secondary indo-66f0fec7_regular indo-1d70522a_marginbottom0 indo-1d70522a_marginleft0 indo-1d70522a_marginright0 indo-1d70522a_margintop3 indo-b48c4984_left\" style=\"color:var(--color-grey-60)\">Harry West makes a break for Connacht during their URC victory over Edinburgh<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom0 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Connacht produced a stunning first-half performance at Hive Stadium to defeat Edinburgh and secure the final URC playoff place, while also booking their return to the Champions Cup next season. The victory, coupled with Ulster\u2019s agonising last-gasp defeat to Glasgow at Ravenhill Stadium and Cardiff\u2019s win over the Stormers at Arms Park, ensured Connacht extended their campaign. Their playoff place could potentially come at the expense of their Belfast rivals, who will have to wait on the outcome of Munster&#8217;s game against the Lions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom0 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Stuart Lancaster\u2019s side arrived in Edinburgh in excellent form, having won seven of their previous eight URC matches since January, but Scotland has rarely been a happy hunting ground for the western province. Connacht had managed just one victory in their previous nine trips there before this encounter, yet they produced one of their most composed displays of the season when it mattered most to overturn that record and keep their season alive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"URC: Edinburgh 5 Connacht 26 Harry West makes a break for Connacht during their URC victory over Edinburgh&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[28454,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-451138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-connacht-rugby","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}