Connacht 31

Dragons 7

John Fallon reports from Dexcom Stadium

CONNACHT HEAD INTO the November break on the back of a bonus-point win after proving far too strong for Dragons at Dexcom Stadium.

The province were on top in all key positions and turned the screw on the Welsh side to notch their third win of the campaign with an accomplished display.

Connacht dominated the opening half and were full value for their 19-0 interval lead after bossing matters from the outset at Dexcom Stadium.

A late change saw Josh Ioane start instead of Jack Carty at out-half but Pete Wilkins’ side got on top from the moment they won a penalty on Cardiff’s first scrum of the night.

They went for the corner and were rewarded for their ambition and while Dragons initially held the onslaught, Paul Boyle found a way over and Connacht were off the mark after five minutes.

Cathal Forde was entrusted with kicking duties and duly added the extras for the perfect start.

Their pack led the way with Joe Joyce pilfering a lineout as Dragons threatened but the Newport side didn’t help their own cause with Angus O’Brien missing touch with a penalty down the left after ten minutes.

And when Dragons did carve an opening they found the home defence in top form with Bundee Aki and Piers O’Conor denying Ewan Rosser when a try for the visitors seemed inevitable.

Connacht pulled further in front at the end of the opening quarter. Shayne Bolton set the opportunity in motion with a blistering run down the right and there were great hands from Forde, Joyce and Aki before scrum-half Caolin Blade sped through to score beside the posts. Forde’s conversion made it 14-0.

Bolton suffered an injury in the move and had to go off and was replaced by Irish U20 Hugh Gavin who had made his Connacht debut the previous week against Leinster.

Dragons had opportunities to get back in contention but with fired-up Finlay Bealham leading the home rearguard, the Welsh were twice turned over after going to the right corner.

Connacht responded and built a 16-phase move deep inside the visitors’ 22 but this time the Dragons defence held firm and denied them.

Dragons lost full-back Cai Evans to injury approaching the break and it was no surprise when the Connacht pressure yielded another try.

It came after a good lineout take from Cian Prendergast and the Connacht skipper was on hand a couple of passes later to bounce through scrum-half Dane Blacker to score and take a 19-0 lead into the break.

Dragons enjoyed a lot of possession after the restart but the Connacht defence was superb with Aki leading the way, while Niall Murray was superb in the lineout.

Connacht saturated enormous pressure and then secured the bonus point six minutes from time when replacement scrum-half Matthew Devine broke and sent Forde through for the bonus point try, his fourth of what is developing into a brilliant campaign.

Dragons pulled back a try from Taine Basham but Connacht finished on a high when. Devine raced through to score their fifth try at the death.

Connacht scorers:

Tries – Boyle, Blade, Prendergast, Forde, Devine.

Conversions – Forde (3).

Dragons scorers:

Try – Basham.

Conversion – O’Brien.

CONNACHT: Piers O’Conor; Shayne Bolton (Hugh Gavin ’20 (Byron Ralston ’58)), Cathal Forde, Bundee Aki, Santiago Cordero; Josh Ioane, Caolin Blade (Matthew Devine ’55); Peter Dooley (Denis Buckley ’55), Dylan Tierney-Martin (Eoin de Buitlear ’55), Finlay Bealham (Jack Aungier ’55); Joe Joyce (Darragh Murray ’67), Niall Murray; Cian Prendergast (c), Sean O’Brien (Sean Jansen ’55), Paul Boyle.

DRAGONS: Cai Evans (Lloyd Evans ’36); Rio Dyer, Joe Westwood (Harry Wilson ’65), Aneurin Owen, Ewan Rosser; Angus O’Brien, Dane Blacker (Rhodri Williams ’40); Cameron Jones (Aki Seiuli ’40), Oli Burrows (Brodie Coghlan ’51), Chris Coleman (Luke Yendle ’55); Ben Carter (c), Matthew Screech (Steve Cummins ’65); Shane Lewis-Hughes, Harri Keddie, Aaron Wainwright (Taine Basham ’48).

Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy).