Connacht 34

Ospreys 26

John Fallon reports from the Sportsground

A BLISTERING OPENING half which saw skipper Caolin Blade run in a hat-trick in just 34 minutes paved the way for Connacht to get their season up and running with a bonus point win in perfect conditions at the Sportsground.

Ospreys, after a summer which saw 19 players depart and just five arrive, did well to recover from 27-0 behind to salvage a bonus point with four tries.

Connacht led 27-5 at the break after some superb running but Toby Booth’s men got their act together either side of the break to prevent a rout and leave Galway with a bonus point.

Six players made their Connacht debut in the win but it was two of the more experienced newcomers, out-half JJ Hanrahan and lock Joe Joyce, who made big impacts for a side where Tom Farrell, making his 100th appearance, and Cathal Forde were superb in the centre.

The displays of these players helped form a foundation which Blade, who scored eleven tries last year including two hat-tricks, exploited.

He got in for his first after 12 minutes after Hanrahan and Farrell combined, with Hanrahan adding the convert to two earlier tries to lead 13-0.

A break from Forde on halfway sent Blade through for his second and Joyce’s dominance at the breakdown provided him with the pathway to his hat-trick after 34 minutes.

Keelan Giles pulled back a try to make it 27-5 at the break and touchdowns from scrum-half Reuben Morgan-Williams and flanker James Ratti after the restart cut the gap to 27-19.

But Connacht got back on top and a penalty to touch down the left ended with Forde cutting a superb line to wrap up the bonus point and ease the nerves of the home crowd, with Hanrahan maintaining his 100% record with his sixth kick of the afternoon.

Ospreys never gave up and secured a try bonus point four minutes from time when lock Rhys Davies got over and Jack Walsh added his third conversion but they never looked like catching an impressive Connacht side who got Pete Wilkins’ reign in charge off to a good start.

Connacht's Andrew Smith is tackled by Justin Tipuric. Ben Brady / INPHO Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO

Scorers for Connacht:

• Tries: Blade (3), Forde.
• Cons: Hanrahan (4 from 4).
• Pens: Hanrahan (2 from 2)

Scorers for Ospreys:

• Tries: Giles, Morgan-Williams, Ratti, R Davies.
• Cons: Walsh (3 from 3).

Connacht: Andrew Smith (Jack Carty ’64); Diarmuid Kilgallen, Tom Farrell, Cathal Forde, Byron Ralston; JJ Hanrahan, Caolin Blade (c) (Colm Reilly ’55); Denis Buckley (Peter Dooley ’55), Dylan Tierney-Martin (Tadhg McElroy ’64), Jack Aungier (Dominic Robertson-McCoy ’64); Oisín Dowling (Niall Murray ’55), Joe Joyce; Cian Prendergast, Shamus Hurley-Langton, Jarrad Butler (Sean O’Brien ’67).

Ospreys: Max Nagy; Luke Morgan, Owen Watkin, Keiran Williams (Dom Morris ’55), Keelan Giles (Luke Davies ’72); Owen Williams (Jack Walsh ’48) , Reuben Morgan-Williams; Garyn Phillips: (Rhys Henry ’48), Ethan Lewis (Lewis Lloyd ’55), Tom Botha (Ben Warren ’53); Rhys Davies, Will Griffiths (Huw Sutton ’48); James Ratti, Justin Tipuric (c), Morgan Morris.

Referee: Federico Vedovelli (Italy).