Connacht have beaten Edinburgh 41-26 in the latest round of the United Rugby Championship. The hosts made hard work of it and had two men sin-binned before ...
Connacht 15-0 Edinburgh Back at even numbers Connacht put their foot on the gas. Connacht 27-19 Edinburgh Connacht 20-7 Edinburgh Try! But Conor Oliver's yellow card coupled with a Glen Young five pointer brought the visitors back into the game.
Tries from Cathal Forde, Connor Oliver and Caolan Blade for Connacht gave Connacht a 20-7 lead at half-time, with Lee-Roy Atalifo crossing for Edinburgh.
However, a yellow card for Edinburgh full-back Boffelli and a quickfire double from Blade to complete his hat-trick put Connacht in control and comfortable as the game entered its final stages. Two yellow cards for Connacht players Butler and Dowling in the third quarter and an opportunistic try from replacement Young provided Edinburgh with a potential way back into the game. Connacht secured a 41-26 bonus-point win over Edinburgh at the Sportsground to boost their bid for a play-off place in the United Rugby Championship.
The stand-in skipper was on fire as Andy Friend's men made a huge push towards a URC playoff spot.
Emiliano Boffelli converted to cut the gap to 15-7 after 34 minutes. Pen: Hawkshaw 16 Jarrad Butler secured the bonus point with a try after 45 minutes and while Connacht lost Conor Oliver and Oisín Dowling to the bin and conceded tries to Bill Mata and Glen Young when Edinburgh had a numerical advantage to cut the gap to 27-19, Connacht regrouped and pushed on when full-back Boffelli joined Dowling in the bin.
Andy Friend described the win as 'potentially our best performance of the season'
Kinghorn scored a try giving Edinburgh a try-bonus point, but it was Connacht’s day in front of some 6,056 fans. Viliame Mata and Glen Young delivered tries within four minutes through their power play up front - the second after Conor Oliver had been yellow carded. The visitors took control thereafter to dominate possession and territory - but hats off to Connacht’s defence, which was forced to make an incredible number of tackles. On paper everything pointed to an Edinburgh win - notably some 366 internationals caps in their starting XV, compared to a single international cap for Connacht’s Caolin Blade. Hawkshaw converted for a 15-0 lead. “There was so much character shown out there.
A late try by Blair Kinghorn secures a bonus point as the visitors go down to an eighth defeat in nine league outings.
With little or nothing to play for in the remaining league games against Ospreys and Ulster, Edinburgh’s season now depends on the outcome of their Champions Cup last-16 tie at Leicester on Friday night. Apart from that, and the cameo appearance from Sweeney, there was little for Edinburgh supporters to enjoy. Barely 60 seconds later, the visitors mounted a promising attack, and when awarded a penalty sent it to touch. Both Connacht and Edinburgh were without some of their senior internationals in the wake of the Six Nations, but the home side proved far more capable of dealing with those absences. Cathal Forde got the try, and a soft one it was too, as he bounced off a Boan Venter tackle, went outside Emiliano Boffelli then scored in right corner as Blair Kinghorn failed to get properly to grips with him. At least they scored four tries at the Sportsground in Galway, meaning they flew home with a bonus point.