Connacht vs Edinburgh

As the campaign unfolded last autumn it was hard to see Connacht being very much in the hunt coming around the final bend.

Even when Connacht had Oliver and Oisín Dowling carded there was no panic – just the showmanship of Blade pulling the strings. There was an aesthetic attraction to it all but a low return on the scoreboard. To have three bonus points in the bag by the break is good on any day, but it wasn't that handy. The ease with which Jarad Butler scored was ominous for Edinburgh. You felt the clock beat him to a card. "That was our best performance of the season.

Scrum-half Caolin Blade scored a hat-trick for Connacht in their 41-26 bonus point win over Edinburgh on Saturday. The hosts led 20-7 at the break after ...

A well-worked lineout move involving Sam Parry and Ethan Roots put the visitors’ defence on the back foot with Smith capitalising by powering over from close range. [Connacht](https://www.planetrugby.com/team/connacht/), and Edinburgh responded through Vilame Mata and Glen Young, but it was not to be for the Scottish side. Tom Farrell led Connacht’s charge back downfield and Blade sniped over from a ruck. An opportunist late try from Blair Kinghorn gave Edinburgh a bonus point of their own. The try added to five-pointers scored by Cathal Forde and Conor Oliver. from Rabz Maxwane turned the game on its head and secured a third victory in a row for the South Africans. Minutes later, Walsh was on the receiving end of a late challenge from Moriarty, which saw the Dragons’ flanker sin-binned and immediately the hosts looked to have capitalised. Two minutes after the restart, Moriarty returned in time to see Morris take advantage of some weak defence from the visitors to score before Tomkinson was sent off for a high tackle in the same passage of play. [Ospreys claim bonus point win in Welsh derby](https://www.planetrugby.com/europe-united-rugby-championship-ospreys-vs-dragons/2023-03-25/2201766/overview) [Ospreys](https://www.planetrugby.com/team/ospreys/) began strongly to take a ninth-minute lead. [Blade](https://www.planetrugby.com/tag/caolin-blade/) plucked down a Kinghorn pass and scooted clear from his 22 to give the Irish province a decent interval cushion. Mata thundered over on the back of a Mark Bennett break, and Young took advantage of Oliver’s yellow to reduce the arrears to 27-19, just four minutes later. A David Hawkshaw penalty – following Oran McNulty’s charge-down on Boffelli – made it 8-0, and Connacht built from a scrum for flanker Oliver to crash over in the 20th minute.

Caolin Blade scored his second hat-trick of the season as Connacht maintained their push for a top-eight finish in the BKT United Rugby Championship with a ...

Tom Farrell led Connacht’s charge back downfield and Blade sniped over from a ruck. An opportunist late try from Blair Kinghorn gave Edinburgh a bonus point of their own. Having watched Jarrad Butler go over, Edinburgh hit back through Viliame Mata and replacement Glen Young.

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.