Dragons 20 Connacht 30
Connacht celebrated an important away victory over cross-conference Dragons at Rodney Parade to close the gap on Conference B leaders Munster.
More importantly perhaps - and still with a game in hand – it helped Connacht widen the gap between themselves and the other Welsh chasers, Cardiff and Scarlets, in the Pro14 race to secure Champions Cup rugby next season.
This was a timely win against a dogged Dragons’ outfit whose hooker Richard Hibbard notched a hat-trick of tries, but Connacht, after two successive defeats, closed out this rescheduled round five game with a valuable bonus point.
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The sides were level 13-13 at the break – the home side posting a third minute penalty before Connacht established territorial control through outhalf Jack Carty. Two penalties later, Matt Healy bagged the opening try. Captain Paul Boyle secured the lineout before man of the match Shane Delahunt fed Carty, whose cross-field kick was secured by Matt Healy to touch down out wide.
Unstoppable
Five minutes later they crossed for a second, No 8 Abraham Papali’i unstoppable from five metres out from a second penalty to touch.
However the home side gained a foothold with three successive penalties. Ben Carter was the target man in the line-out, orchestrating the maul for Hibbard to touch down after 23 minutes.
And it got worse when Connacht were pinged for a succession of penalties and lost Finlay Bealham to the bin. Dragons replicated their drive, Hibbard was again the scorer for a 13-10 lead before Carty struck a penalty to level at half-time.
Within minutes of the restart Connacht took the lead when Delahunt fed Caolin Blade who touched down, with Carty adding the extras.
But the visitors’ maul defence continued to leak tries as Hibbard grabbed third, Davies again converting to level again after 52 minutes.
However, the see-saw stopped when Tom Daly scored the bonus point try on 62 minutes.
Carty added the extras and then drop goal five minutes later which was enough to secure a 20-30 victory.
DRAGONS: J. Williams; O Jenkins, J Dixon, J Roberts, A Hewitt; S. Davies, R. Williams; B Harris, R Hibbard, L Fairbrother, B Carter, J Maksymiw, H Taylor, B Fry, H Keddie.
Replacements: J Lewis for J. Williams (74), A Owen for Roberts (69), L Baldwin for R. Williams (66), J. Davies for Harris (55), E Shipp for Hibbard (57), C Coleman for Fairbrother (74), G Bateman for Maksymiw (55), L Evans for Keddie (60).
CONNACHT: J Porch; P Sullivan, T Daly, P Robb, M Healy; J Carty, C Blade; D Buckley, S Delahunt, F Bealham, N Murray, G Thornbury, P Boyle, C Oliver, A Papali'i.
Replacements: S O’Brien for Robb (14), A Wootton for Healy (65), K Marmion for Blade (60), P Duggan for Buckley (52), J Murphy for Delahunt (66), J Aungier for Bealham (52), O Dowling for Murray (55), E. Masterson for Papali’i (47). Sin Bin: Bealham (32). Referee: Craig Evans (Wales).
