Connacht 13
Edinburgh 16
CONNACHT’S PROUD HOME record suffered its first blemish of the season as Alan Solomons’ dogged Edinburgh secured a gritty 16-13 victory on a miserable evening at the Sportsground.
One of the primary aims for Pat Lam and his squad this season has been to ensure their Galway ground is a fortress, but intermittent set-piece issues for Connacht and Edinburgh’s resilience saw the ramparts broken down.
On a wet and windy evening, Connacht will rue their inability to get on the scoreboard in the second half, as they played into an unpredicatable and draining wind.
Eight-placed Edinburgh move to within five points of Connacht in the Guinness Pro12 table after this success in what was billed as a crucial game in the battle for European spots pre-match.
A late injury to dynamic centre Bundee Aki will be further cause for concern on a disappointing night for Lam’s Champions Cup hopefuls.
Connacht enjoyed encouraging territory in the opening exchanges, as Edinburgh halfbacks Greig Tonks and Sam Hidalgo-Clyne struggled with their kicking game against the strong wind.
Miah Nikora saw his first penalty attempt bounce back off the woodwork in the ninth minute, following a typically aggressive carry from the powerful Aki. But Solomons’ side were game and damagingly cut through the Connacht defence five minutes later.
The slippery Dougie Fife scythed outside Willie Faloon’s poor tackle attempt inside the Connacht 22, leading to a penalty that Hidalgo-Clyne quick tapped. A phase later, David Denton crashed over from close-range off a simple short pass.
Too soft from Lam’s defence, with the Edinburgh scrum-half converting for a 7-0 lead. Nikora shortened the visitors’ lead with 24 minutes on the clock, however, punishing Anton Bresler for not rolling away.
Kieran Marmion was lively again for Connacht, but the home side’s attack was restricted to one-off runners outside the Ireland international. Fife created another attacking chance down the left for Edinburgh, an opportunity spoiled by his teammates going off their feet at a ruck in the Connacht 22.
Ross Ford was in strong form for the Scots, throwing well and carrying strongly, while Hidalgo-Clyne’s influence steadily grew throughout.
As the final 10 minutes of the first half rolled around though, Connacht found a new gust of energy, threatening first through Muldoon wide on the left. The back row was tackled into touch, but Lam’s men came back almost immediately.
Henshaw and Aki combined to smash Phil Burleigh in midfield, winning a penalty at the subsequent ruck and Nikora found the corner. Connacht hammered at the Edinburgh line, drawing Ben Toolis into getting himself sin binned for failing to release after the tackle.
Connacht could have opted for an easy three points, but backed their scrum under the posts. Denis Buckley and Rodney Ah You got a powerful shove going, and referee Leighton Hodges didn’t hesitate for a second when Edinburgh attempted to drag it down.
Penalty try, converted by Nikora.
Right on the stroke of the break, the increasingly ill-discipline Scots infringed again and Nikora slotted a 30-metre penalty in the testing conditions for a 13-7 half-time lead.
It was Connacht’s discipline that proved the issue after the interval, allowing Hidalgo-Clyne to kick two confident penalties before the 50-minute mark, the second against Ah You at the scrum.
The Edinburgh nine then slotted a gorgeous grubber in behind the Connacht defence from a scrum 35 metres out, with Fife winning the race to the ball. The 24-year-old wing couldn’t gather as he slid over the tryline though, letting Lam’s side off the hook.
Connacht attempted to run the ball out from behind their own line, were turned over and came offside to concede another penalty. This time, Hidalgo-Clyne was wide to the left to leave it finely poised at 13-13 heading into the decisive final act.
It was the Edinburgh scrum-half who slotted the game-winning penalty with 10 minutes remaining, keeping his cool from 40 metres out.
Still, Connacht had time to manufacture a score, but a yellow card to replacement prop Finlay Bealham didn’t help the cause, nor did an injury to Aki with three minutes left. Lam had already emptied his bench at that stage, meaning Connacht fought in vain with only 13 men.
Connacht scorers:
Tries: Penalty try
Conversions: Miah Nikora [1 from 1]
Penalties: Miah Nikora [2 from 3]
Edinburgh scorers:
Tries: David Denton
Conversions: Sam Hidalgo-Clyne [1 from 1]
Penalties: Sam Hidalgo-Clyne [3 from 4]
CONNACHT: Mils Muliaina (Dave McSharry ’64); Darragh Leader, Robbie Henshaw, Bundee Aki, Danie Poolman; Miah Nikora (Jack Carty ’54), Kieran Marmion (John Cooney ’56); Denis Buckley (Ronan Loughney ’64), Tom McCartney (Dave Heffernan ’66), Rodney Ah You (Finlay Bealham ’50); Quinn Roux (Ultan Dillane ’64), Aly Muldowney; John Muldoon (capt.), Willie Faloon, Eoin McKeon (George Naoupu ’56).
EDINBURGH: Jack Cuthbert; Dougie Fife, Matt Scott, Phil Burleigh, Tim Visser; Greig Tonks, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne; Alasdair Dickinson, Ross Ford (capt.) (Neil Cochrane ’63), WP Nel; Anton Bresler (Fraser McKenzie ’77), Ben Toolis (yellow card ’38 – ’48); Roddy Grant, Hamish Watson, David Denton.
Replacements not used: Rory Sutherland, John Andress, Tomas Leonardi, Sean Kennedy, Jade Te Rure, Andries Strauss.
Some bad decisions at crucial times cost us dearly. But, what kind of asshat boos their own team? Stay at home next time you bunch of morons.
Shane, I could be wrong but I thought they were booing the late tackle on Cooney(I think). He put in a grubber kick and was hit late.
Only caught the last ten mins they were booing because carty got body checked after he tried his grubber.?? Unless I missed something in the first 70 that they were booing at ?
They were booing the opposition kicker and all, that’s no way to behave. It was embarrassing listening to the Connaught crowd
Awfully disappointed for Connacht. Thought they could build on their win last week, but much like us, are pretty inconsistent when it comes to getting it up for the non-derby games. Peaks and troughs…
Terrible result. Gutted.
Connachts form returns!
Why not? We could do with a roof though! Connacht don’t do fair weather supporters
No need for a 20k stadium now ?
Why not? We could do with a roof anyway…Connacht don’t do fair weather supporters
Im sure if ye gave connacht 20k seats from thomand ye would still have trouble filling it . Munster fans only do the big European Cup games and there will be no more of them this season.
Munster have been the top attendance drom7 of the first 12 pro-12 games look up the pro-12 official site!
Sale in a few weeks there Harvey .
You can’t go by the official figures as they include st holders. Munster on the past perhaps but over the past 3 or 4 years their attendance figures for non European cup games and Leinster games have been poor.
The largest attendance of the season was at the Aviva stadium which was a home game for Leinster.
Sorry Lad, Munster don’t have the highest attendance :-(
Ok noggy that maybe so but I’m sure it’s the same criteria for every team in the pro12 with that in mind Munster are still the top attendance in 7/12 games do far. And btw why does dome dick feel the need to have a cut at Munster on a totally Connacht article. Sad pr1ks
I never mentioned anything about Leinster. You tried to state a fact and I simply corrected you on it.
No noggy what I said is that Munster have the top attendances in7/12 pro-12 games. Google pro12 attendances and check the attendance each week. I also said that not you but some d1ck had too try too cut Munster on a totally Connacht article. Place is full of jealous a55holes. This is no forum for anything but Connacht till that muppet too his swipe.
@ Harvey
Philip, you are an embarrassment to the real Munster fans.
Who are you.
Ah now Philip. The dogs in the street know the official attendances are pure fiction.
Shane,Go easy on philip he,s a walter mitty type character who claimed to have played for munster to add a bit of weight to his pathetic posts on these articles.probably another bandwagon jumper who has to prove his undying love for the red army by slating the other three provinces.
That is all.
Christopher tobin started it
Connacht were betrayed by a lack of patience in the end. After the clock had struck eighty minutes, there was only one viable option for Connacht and that was to hold onto the ball at all costs, no matter how little metres they were making with ball in hand; they had to hold onto it and just wait for the opening. For an inexplicable reason they grubber-kicked it, away, with the inevitable consequence that Edinburgh regathered it and sealed the match.
Irish sides have to remember the powerful lesson from that painful extra-time defeat to the All Blacks in November 2013: the All Blacks held onto the ball, without deviation, for however long it took to get over the Irish tryline. They never, even for a moment, considered kicking the ball. They knew their job, they knew that it would be attritional and involve only inches at a time, but also that it was simple and achievable. Irish sides, historically, have had a habit of running out of patience, losing their concentration and deviating from the path. After putting in some effort, we change tactic and opt for the Hail Mary pass (in rugby terms, kicking the ball away in hope rather than expectation). Our characteristic lack of patience has to be tackled once and for all.
Totally agree
This is where experience is needed.
Let’s not forget carty is barely out of his teens.
Dreadful performance tonight but in all fairness at least this year we can chalk it down to a bad day at the office, last year it was par for the course.
Agree but Alan Solomons said the before the match that the game would be won in the half backs and Marmion then found it difficult with Clyne. When Cooney and Carty came on the go forward improved. Lam later said that Marmion was carrying a knock. Can never understand why coaches all send subs on around the 60 minute mark?
Can everyone stop talking about munster? Its like Munster are the Muslims of the rugby world. Ye were not playing tonight boyos! We are Not FIng Interested in talking about ye.
Henshaw is some player,he has to stay at Connacht so they can keep improving!
Attendance for tonight ?
Both main stand and clan stand sold out. Not quite sure how that tots up in numbers, but probably slightly over 5000. In that weather.
Dont Shane, you will hurt Philip’s feelings!
He will cry himself to sleep in his Leinster PJs
Too many penalties at scrum time killed us. Caught pneumonia I think, terrible conditions but they were the same for both teams. No excuses, we didn’t front up.
Well played lads regardless.
Philip Ryan is a troll. I have no time for trolls.
Yeah…but never against those elements. The sensible option was to get the ball off the park and bank a very valuable point . Would have been subside if there was a turnover and didn’t get the bonus point.