On the face of it, this appears to have had the makings of quite a notable scalp for Connacht on the eve of the inter-provincials against European Cup opposition containing six Scottish internationals.
Trailing 31-11 entering the last quarter, the unlikely equation boiled down to three converted tries. Not that too many in the sparse Sports-ground crowd would have been optimistic enough to bother working it out, and even less likely to share the thought for fear of being taken away in a white coat.
Yet that was precisely what Connacht managed to stealthily do, move a point in front. Nevertheless, the suspicion lurked that they had struck a few minutes too soon and sure enough the Borders responded to this kick in the rear by determinedly engineering the final try.
Besides, it would have been a bit of a steal and against the overall trend of play in a poor match. For the first hour, the quality of Connacht's set-piece play and indeed their ruck ball obliged Conor McGuinness to manufacture a loaves and fishes job.
This he did impressively enough, and he also matched Bryan Redpath for sniping breaks around the fringes. But outside him, Eric Elwood looked hampered by both a nagging knee injury and ball of variable quality, while not yet at full throttle in his second game of the season.
Only Pat Duignan provided real penetration outside of them, first with some counter-attacking runs from full-back and then, when moved into midfield for the final quarter. The Australian-born son of Irish parents, Duignan has benefitted from his hard work during the summer and he instigated the comeback with a brace of well taken tries when supporting half-breaks by Willie Ruane and Elwood for a comeback with a brace of tries Kamikaze defence by the Scots from the restart, when Stephen Allnutt followed up his own kick through to pounce on a ricochet over the Scottish line. Normal order was duly restored when Millon Browne was helped over the line by the Scottish pack from close in. Prior to that, the Scots' augmented Craig Chalmers' flawless first-half kicking with three tries when missed first-up tackles were punished by quality support play. Impressive number eight Adam Roxburgh ploughed over twice, but generally the Borders (Scotland's sole winners in 12 European Cup ties last season) showed a surprisingly lack of flair for a back-line containing five internationals.
Certainly Connacht coach Warren Gatland was not inclined toward self-delusion. "I think we gave away a couple of soft tries and we just weren't intense enough. That was the disappointing thing."
Against that, the team's fitness shone through well, and they look a young and eager if raw-boned side. On this evidence, the jury is still out on their Kiwi recruits, poney-tailed flanker and Bay of Plenty squad member Junior Charlie, and Waikato `B' lock Mark McConnell. But Gatland knows them and anticipates them bringing "some of the New Zealand attitude; hardness and desire."
Much better prepared than last year after five games in under a fortnight, Gatland boldly declared: "I'd love to be going up to Dublin for the last game playing Leinster to decide who wins the title."
Scoring sequence: 5 mins - Elwood pen 3-0; 8 mins - Chalmers pen 3-3; 11 mins - Chalmers pen 3-6; 20 mins - Heaslip try 8-6; 28 mins - Chalmers pen 8-9; 32 mins - Chalmers pen 8-12; 42 mins - Redpath try, Chalmers con 8-19; 49 mins - Elwood pen 1119; 53 mins - Roxburgh try 11-24; 59 mins - Roxburgh try, Chalmers con 11-31; 66 mins - Duignan try, Elwood con - 18-31; 73 mins - Duignan try, Elwood con 25-31; Allnutt try, Elwood con 32-31; 78 mins - Browne try 3236.
Connacht: P Duignan (Galwegians); N Barry (Clontarf), S Allnutt (Corinthians), M Murphy (Galwwegians), N Carolan (Galwegians); E Elwood (Galwegians), C McGuinness (St Mary's); J Maher (Bective Rangers), B Mulcahy (Skerries), M Finlay (Blackrock), G Heaslip (Cork Con), M McConnell (unattached), J Charlie (unattached), B Gavin (Galwegians), R Rogers (Blackrock, capt). Replacements: B Jackman (Clontarf) for Mulcahy (47 mins), W Ruane (Blackrock) for Murphy (52 mins), M Cahill (Bohemians) for Finlay (67 mins).
Scottish Borders: M Dods; A Stanger, S Nichol, C Murray, M Moncrieff; C Chalmers, B Redpath (capt); N McIlroy, S Brotherstone, P Wright, S Aitken, I Elliot, S Bennet, A Roxburgh, N Broughton. Replacements: M Browne for Finlay (67 mins) S Walsh for Chalmers (68 mins).
Referee: S Buggy (ARLB).
