Scarlets 36
Connacht 27
CONNACHT CAME MIGHTILY lose to causing the Guinness PRO14 upset of the season, but ultimately fell short going down 36-27 to defending champions Scarlets.
However, Kieran Keane’s side left West Wales with credit in the bank as they scored four tries through Jack Carty, Cian Kelleher and Tiernan O’Halloran’s brace.
Despite their fourth defeat of the season, this was Connacht’s best performance of the campaign to date, with the Irish province rediscovering some of the attacking verve that made them champions in 2016. But Scarlets just had too much for them, scoring five tries through Johnny McNicholl, Steffan Evans, Rhys Patchell, Leigh Halfpenny and Leinster native Tadhg Beirne.
The Scarlets started the stronger of the two sides with winger McNicholl touching down under the posts after a powerful break by centre Jonathan Davies.
Just when it looked like the Scarlets were going to have it all their own way, Bundee Aki forced his opposite number Scott Williams to throw a loose pass in his own 22 which was gathered by out-half Carty who scored Connacht’s first try.
The home side hit straight back when electric winger Evans beat three Connacht defenders with his footwork to scorch over from 40 metres.
Evans was at the forefront of the Welsh region’s third try with a sumptuous offload for out-half Patchell to cross.
But Keane’s side refused to lie down, hitting back with two cracking tries of their own to briefly take the lead. The visitors’ second was scored by O’Halloran and his wing partner Kelleher then scored in the opposite corner.
Still the scoring wouldn’t end as Halfpenny showed his attacking prowess, connecting well with Davies and Evans to put the Scarlets ahead at half time.
In what was an enthralling second 40, Connacht pushed Scarlets to the wire and came close to levelling the scores with four minutes to go after No 8 Eoin McKeon set up O’Halloran.
Carty’s conversion would have tied the scores, but his kick went wide and that was as good as it got for the visitors as Beirne powered over from short range to secure a bonus point victory for the champions.
Scorers
Scarlets:
Tries: McNicholl 8, Evans 18, Patchell 25, Halfpenny 39, Beirne 78
Convs: Halfpenny 9,27,40, 80
Pens: Halfpenny 58
Connacht:
Tries: Carty 10, O’Halloran 31, 74, Kelleher 39,
Convs: Carty 11, 31
Pens: Carty 23
Scarlets: Halfpenny; McNicholl (Prydie 70), J Davies, Williams, S Evans; Patchell (Asquith 64), A Davies (J Evans 55); R Evans (D Evans 21), Owens (capt) (Phillips 64), Kruger (Gardiner 72), Ball, Bulbring (Rawlins 53), Shingler, Boyde (Beirne 41), Macleod
Connacht: Leader (Griffin 53); Kelleher, Aki, Farrell, O’Halloran; Carty, Blade (Marmion 53); Buckley (Coulson 66), McCartney (capt) (Delahunt 71), Carey (Bealham 59), Dillane (Thornbury 59), Roux, Heenan (Masterson 80), Butler, McKeon
Replacement not used: Crosbie
Referee: Nigel Owens (WRU)
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Battled nobly but missed a crucial kick to tie the game which cost dearly, but good to watch in comparison to Leinster.
@Martin McKenna: I don’t how long more it will take to realise that we have big problems at ten countless times these kicks have cost us games. Hopefully Deegan can step up because if they want to be challenging the big teams on a consistant basis you need a reliable goal kicker and someone who can control the game a lot better.
Better by Connacht, although we did overplay at times, there was a general purpose and incision to it. McKeown at 8 and TOH on wing were massive. Bundee had a poor game by his standards. We just cannot close out game at moment but a marked improvement on last week.
Best performance of the season so far and should have secured a draw after scoring the 4th try. The back row were fantastic and Butler looks like a class signing. Farrell was very good again as was TOH and caused the Scarlets a lot of problems in defence. Hopefully we can build on this performance now because we’ve been very poor so far and have a good crack at Ulster next week.
I’m lovin the way Keane has Connacht playin. Can’t wait to see them play Leinster of the park later in the season
Connacht look like a well coached side with a discernible game plan. Tom Farrell’s game has come on a ton since he left Leinster which raises a few questions as to why this is so.
@Tom Reilly: Are you talking about the same Connacht that have lost four out of the last five games? Okaaaayyyyy.
Kelleher, Farrel and McKeon ran a combined 290m and beat 16 defenders between them! Outrageous stats
Beirne made the big difference in the end. He was responsible for a couple of big turnovers and a try out of nothing. Kinda crazy how he slipped through the cracks at Leinster given that they’ve been short on quality second rows for a few years. A lot of the Welsh fans are saying they wish he could play for Wales, hopefully he has a big future back here.
As for the game, it was one of those strange loses were I came out feeling pretty positive, maybe because I had written Connacht off against the champions after the bad start to the season. A few guys stood up, McKeon had a huge game, O’Halloran was his usual excellent self, but for me Tom Farrell has been a revelation. I thought he looked pormising when he joined last season, but I think we might have a real gem there. He always seems to have an offloading option, but he’s clever about when he does it, he’s got decent footwork before contact and he’s strong.
The most disappointing things were the place kicking and losing the LBP. Carty has a lot of good qualities, but we need someone who can kick to tie up a game with a few mins left. Really disappointing to go from a possible 3 match point draw to just a try bonus point.
Great game. Connacht getting there.
Sloppy just before halftime to concede the try was a turning point.
Looks like the highly rated defence coach we got from from Edinburgh has alot to answer for??? Too many soft trys and missed tackles
What a difference a week makes. Mckeon was chronic last week and this week he was fantastic. However caolin blade is just pants. He cant even tackle.
@Brian Jones: McKeon didn’t play last week?
@Elton Heffernan: He came off the bench and gave away two braindead penalties.
Keane is still getting to know our best squad, the second half of the cardiff match and this performance show some offense improvement but our defense is poor, the new defense coach needs to get to grips ,expecting a big performance v munster,