Connacht 15
Worcester Warriors 8
John Fallon reports from the Sportsground
MATT HEALY CONTINUED his rich try-scoring form to ensure Connacht maintained their winning start to their Challenge Cup campaign in difficult conditions at the Sportsground.
Healy scored twice last week in Geneva to become Connacht’s top try-scorer in Europe and he got the decisive score to wrap up this one against Worcester Warriors.
Connacht only led 8-0 at the break having played with the strong wind, with Eoghan Masterson crowning his first game as captain with a try after seven minutes.
But a Jack Carty penalty going into the second quarter was all they had to show for their dominance.
They were forced to defend a lot after the restart and a try from winger Josh Adams after 53 minutes ensured a nervous finish for Connacht.
But Healy pounced when a grubber from Carty bounced up nicely for him and he skipped past full-back Chris Pennell to race in from the right and score under the posts.
Carty’s conversion made it 15-5 going into the final quarter but they did not push on from there and never looked like getting a bonus point.
Indeed, a tight finish was guaranteed when Jono Lance pulled back a penalty six minutes from time to garner a bonus point for a Worcester side who have now lost nine in a row away from home in this competition.
But they never looked like closing the gap after that and Connacht will head into the December jousts with Brive on top of Pool 5.
Scorers:Connacht:Tries: Eoghan Masterson, Matt HealyConversion: Jack CartyPenalty: Jack Carty.
Worcester Warriors:
Tries: Josh Adams
Penalty: Jono Lance
Connacht: Tiernan O’Halloran (Cian Kelleher ’59); Darragh Leader, Bundee Aki, Eoin Griffin (Craig Ronaldson ’27), Matt Healy; Jack Carty, Caolin Blade (Kieran Marmion ’55); Denis Buckley (Pete McCabe ’73), Dave Heffernan (Shane Delahunt ’55), Dominic Robertson-McCoy (Conor Carey ’43); Quinn Roux (Cillian Gallagher ’48), James Cannon; Eoin McKeon, James Connolly (Jarrad Butler ’2), Eoghan Masterson.
Worcester Warriors: Chris Pennell; Tom Howe (Perry Humphreys ’59), Wynand Olivier, Jackson Willison, Josh Adams; Jono Lance, Jonny Arr (Michael Dowsett ’50-59, ’70); Ethan Waller (Ryan Bower ’65), Jack Singleton (Matti Williams ’70), Gareth Milasinovich (Simon Kerrod ’56); Pierce Phillips (Donncha O’Callaghan ’65), Will Spencer; Dave Denton, Alafoti Faosiliva, GJ van Velze (Huw Taylor ’55).
Referee: I Davies (WRU).
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