His side didn't have the ball, they couldn't attack Newcastle as often as they would have liked and they lost to the better team. Not that Bradley didn't speak the truth . . . in fact he got it bang on . . . but there was a bigger issue at stake than all of that.

Money, always money.

Newcastle have been financed to the tune of £30m by John Hall, the city's sporting benefactor, over the past 10 years and it showed on Friday night. The Falcons were by no means exceptional but they just had too much quality in key areas for Connacht. Their three big name players on view, Colin Charvis, Matt Burke and Jamie Noon, were superb on the night and just made you wonder what Connacht would be capable of should they have the luxury of adding that bit more quality to their bargain basement side. If only.

And it mostly makes you wonder because Connacht weren't that fair off actually pushing Newcastle closer on Friday. The 23-3 scoreline is slightly deceiving because when trailing 13-3 at the interval, Bradley's side were well in the game and they genuinely could have been in front. They had the majority of possession and position for the opening quarter but then they were hit by Toby Flood's breakaway try and the entire complexion of the game changed.

Chasing a game doesn't really suit Connacht's style of play and it showed as they struggled to create anything promising out wide despite numerous brave attempts.

Had Mark McHugh barged through one more tackler during his clean break towards the end of the first period, it would have made proceedings very interesting but Newcastle put their clever hats on from there on in and the visitors just couldn't get hold of the ball.

"We had very little of the ball, we didn't get to show what we're capable of, " said Bradley afterwards. "Sometimes it goes like that for you and we're disappointed and frustrated. We just couldn't attack them consistently. We did it in patches but we just didn't have the possession to put them under pressure for any considerable period of time." Despite all that, Connacht trailed by just 10 points with 15 minutes to go but after Mike McCarthy's try, and with the conditions deteriorating, a try for the visitors never looked likely.

"We probably weren't expecting that Newcastle performance, " the coach admitted. "They've been poor in recent weeks and Rob must have given them a lot of stick during the week to push them to that level of performance. They were obviously under a lot of pressure to win the game and they were excellent in everything they did. They ran at us for the full 80 minutes."

All of which leaves Connacht out of Europe at this stage for the first time in three seasons and it will be hugely difficult for Bradley to pick his players up for the rest of the season. Heineken Cup qualification through the Celtic League is still available but it'll be a tough task.

"We have five Celtic League matches left and four of them are at home, " said Bradley.

"Our home form has been good and there's still a carrot of us getting into the Heineken Cup last year.

That's our target and it's something that's attainable for us."

The coach is clutching at a few straws there but his side need a focus for the next two months and that's what he has given them. They also need to be better financed but don't hold out too many hopes on that goal.