Connacht 26

Scarlets 10

CONNACHT DID ALL that was required of them to chalk up an expected bonus point win at Dexcom Stadium and remain in contention for another knockout place in the URC.

They didn’t have it all their own way against a Scarlets side who had only won twice this season but with Cathal Forde and his centre partner David Hawkshaw leading the way, they had enough cutting edge to secure maximum points in front of a crowd of 5,241 in Galway.

Connacht led 19-7 at the break and really should have had the bonus point and the game wrapped up at that stage after dominating the opening half with a strong wind behind them.

They enjoyed 64% possession and while they ran in three tries, they left as many behind them with Scarlets — searching for a first win outside Wales in two years — digging in and defending superbly.

Connacht raced into a 12-0 lead in just 10 minutes as they took the game to the Llanelli side. Hooker Eoin de Buitlear from An Cheathru Rua almost crowned his first start with a try inside two minutes but he was unable to collect a pass from Shamus Hurley-Langton close to the line when the flanker might have been as well to go for it himself.

But the reprieve was short-lived for Scarlets as Connacht continued to take control and, while they were unable to make a penalty to the right corner count, they struck for the opening try when a break from tighthead prop Jack Aungier put his skipper Caolin Blade away and the scrum-half got over for his fifth try of this season’s URC.

JJ Hanrahan added the difficult conversion and a lineout steal from lock Gavin Thornbury led to a counter-attack through many hands before Cian Prendergast put de Buitlear away and the young hooker was not denied this time.

Connacht struggled to push on from there on the scoreboard despite dominating the match but they eventually extended their lead off a tapped penalty with Aungier slipping the ball to No.8 Sean Jansen to get over. Hanrahan added the points to make it 19-0 after 23 minutes.

But Scarlets hit back and scored four minutes later from their only attack of the half when No.8 Vaea Fifita made the decisive opening to send his scrum-half Efan Jones through for a try converted by Dan Jones.

Andrew Smith had a spectacular try in the left corner scratched on review for a knock-on and Connacht continued to butcher other opportunities, with Scarlets twice defending penalties to the left corner just before the interval.

Connacht’s Niall Murray steals a lineout. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO

Those misses looked like they might prove costly when Scarlets reduced the margin to nine points with a penalty after 47 minutes and then pressed forward for a try.

They went for the kill with a penalty to the right corner but Niall Murray got a touch to prevent them getting possession and they cleared their lines before building the phases in midfield and securing the bonus point after 58 minutes when impressive replacement Oisin Dowling made the hard yards, Denis Buckley hacked on and when it bounced back off the left post, Jansen was quickest to react and score, with Hanrahan’s conversion making it 26-10.

That left Scarlets with an insurmountable task, with Connacht sniffing out any threat. They played the final 10 minutes with 14 men when Dowling limped off after the bench had been cleared, while both Forde and Tiernan O’Halloran went off for HIAs in the closing stages.

Scorers for Connacht:

Tries: Jansen (2), Blade, de Buitlear

Cons: Hanrahan (3 from 4)

Scorers for Scarlets:

Try: E Jones

Con: D Jones (1 from 1)

Pen: D Jones (1 from 1)

CONNACHT: Tiernan O’Halloran (Hanrahan ’74); Byron Ralston, David Hawkshaw, Cathal Forde (Blade ’74), Andrew Smith; JJ Hanrahan (Jack Carty ’63), Caolin Blade (c) (Michael McDonald ’70); Peter Dooley (Denis Buckley ’54), Eoin de Buitlear (Dave Heffernan ’54), Jack Aungier (Sam Illo ’54); Niall Murray, Gavin Thornbury (Oisin Dowling ’48); Cian Prendergast, Shamus Hurley-Langton (Conor Oliver ’54), Sean Jansen (Sean O’Brien ’63).

SCARLETS: Ioan Nicholas; Tomi Lewis, Johnny Williams, Eddie James, Steff Evans (Ryan Conbeer ’67); Dan Jones (Charlie Titcombe ’72), Efan Jones (Archie Hughes ’67); Wyn Jones (Steff Thomas ’67), Shaun Evans, Sam Wainwright (Joe Jones ’59); Alex Craig (Ben Williams ’67), Jac Price (Morgan Jones ’59); Sam Lousi (c), Dan Davis, Vaea Fifita.

Referee: Federico Vedovelli (Italy).