Connacht 43

Lions 24

John Fallon reports from the Sportsground

CONNACHT GAVE THEIR URC knockout hopes a brilliant boost with an impressive bonus-point win on a night of some notable scoring achievements at the Sportsground.

Jack Carty became Connacht’s all-time top points scorer when his tally of 13 points was more than enough to take him past Eric Elwood’s 1,152 haul.

And scrum-half Caolin Blade became the third player in three successive games to score a hat-trick as Connacht ended this block of games on a high.

Andy Friend’s men were always on top in a cracking contest in perfect conditions at the Sportsground.

Connacht had the bonus point in the bag by the 36th minute when Carty set up Tiernan O’Halloran for their fourth try and by then the out-half had become the province’s top scorer.

That happened when he converted Blade’s opening try ten minutes earlier as he surpassed the six points needed to beat Elwood’s record.

Winger Diarmuid Kilgallen gave them a perfect start when he crossed after just three minutes and while the Lions hit back through the boot of Jordan Hendrikse and giant 138kg prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye to lead 10-8 before hooker Shane Delahunt crossed for Connacht after a penalty to the left corner.

And with Niall Murray superb up front and scrum-half Blade dictating matters, Connacht got control again to lead by 29-17 at the interval.

O’Halloran charged down a Hendrikse clearance for Blade to get his second try four minutes after the restart and the scrum-half from Monivea, who signed a three-year contract extension two weeks ago, completed his hat-trick after 62 minutes.

Scorers for Connacht

Tries: Blade (3), Kilgallen, Delahunt, O’Halloran. Cons: Carty (5 from 6). Pen: Carty (1 from 1).

Scorers for Lions

Tries: Ntlabakanye, van Wyk, Louw. Cons: Hendrikse (3 from 3). Pen: Hendrikse (1 from 1)

Connacht: Tiernan O’Halloran (Oran McNulty ’57), Diarmuid Kilgallen (Dylan Tierney-Martin ’39-42), Tom Farrell, Cathal Forde (Tom Daly ’61), John Porch, Jack Carty (c), Caolin Blade (Kieran Marmion ’64), Peter Dooley (Jordan Duggan ’61), Shane Delahunt (Dylan Tierney-Martin ’62), Jack Aungier (Dominic Robertson-McCoy ’59), Darragh Murray (Leva Fifita ’68), Niall Murray, Josh Murphy (Shamus Hurley-Langton ’59), Conor Oliver (Shamus Hurley-Langton ‘8-17), Jarrad Butler

Lions: Quan Horn; Edwill van der Merwe, Henco van Wyk (Manny Rass ’52), Marius Louw (c), Stean Pienaar (Andries Coetzee ’68); Jordan Hendrikse, Andre Warner (Morne van den Berg ’50), JP Smith (Morgan Naude ’57), PJ Botha (Michael van Vuuren ’63), Asenathi Ntlabakanye (Ruan Smith ’63), Willem Alberts, Darrien Landsberg (Piter Jansen van Vuren ’51), Sibusiso Sangweni, Ruhan Straeuli, Emmanuel Tshituka (Jaco Kriel ’61).

Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)

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