Connacht 38

Benetton 30

John Fallon reports from Dexcom Stadium 

CONNACHT BOOSTED their hopes of a top-half finish in the URC in a remarkable contest at Dexcom Stadium which ebbed and flowed before Pete Wilkins’ men came from behind with two tries in the closing 13 minutes for a valuable bonus point win.

A big impact off the bench helped Connacht rescue a game where they raced into a 12-0 lead before conceding 27 points without reply. However, they finished strongly to not only secure all five points but send Benetton back to Treviso with nothing in the bag in the race for knockout places.

Connacht could hardly have asked for a better start, securing a 12-0 lead after 13 minutes as they shredded the Benetton cover.

Swift hands in midfield from Cathal Forde and Hugh Gavin saw Josh Ioane put Finn Treacy away down the left and the Wicklow native crowned his first start to chip and outpace Matt Gallagher to race in and score under the posts after six minutes.

Six minutes later, Forde put Dave Heffernan through but the hooker knocked on as he was tackled by full-back Rhyno Smith over the line.

But Connacht countered from the restart and good hands from Piers O’Conor were crucial in sending Shayne Bolton rampaging down the right and the Ireland A winger cut inside two defenders to make it 12-0.

But then it all unravelled. Connacht conceded the next six penalties, two of them in the scrum and two under high balls, and with Benetton slick with ball in hand and regularly chipping and chasing through the middle, they struck for 27 unanswered points in 17 minutes of dominance.

Argentine out-half Tomas Albornoz was outstanding and the scores flowed. He tapped over a penalty and was key in their three tries with Italian international Marco Zanon scoring two of them, the first after a good break from flanker Alessandro Izekor and the second after Treacy’s clearance was charged down by scrum-half Andy Uren to score in the right corner despite a tackle from Ioane.

In between, Uren scored after Ignacio Mendy gathered a chip down the right from Albornoz to score.

Albornoz, who came into the game with a perfect return from a dozen kicks, continued his rich vein of form when he added a penalty from the left wing to make it 27-12 after 34 minutes with his fifth successful kick in a row.

Connacht got a glimmer of hope just before the break when Paul Boyle squeezed over from close range after scrum-half Caolin Blade had been nabbed by Mendy as he was put through by Gavin. Ioane’s conversion made it 27-19 at the interval.

Connacht continued to press forward after the restart and a patient multi-phase move ended after 47 minutes when flanker Shamus Hurley-Langton spectacularly dived over beside the right post to secure the try bonus point, with Ioane’s conversion cutting the gap to 27-26.

Albornoz extended Benetton’s lead after 59 minutes with a penalty from 30 metres after replacement loosehead Denis Buckley was pinged for hands on the ground.

Connacht were forced to defend several onslaughts but then a break by replacement JJ Hanrahan saw Ioane swing it wide and Bolton bounced off the tackle from Smith to score in the right corner and edge 31-30 in front.

Hanrahan nailed the touchline conversion but the score was ruled out as the countdown clock had hit zero by the time he kicked it.

But it mattered little. Connacht pushed on, drove at the Benetton defence and replacement scrum-half Matthew Devine sniped over with Hanrahan adding the extras this time to lead by seven with six minutes left and they saw it out from there.

Scorers: Connacht: Tries: S Bolton (2), F Treacy, P Boyle, S Hurley-Langton, M Devine. Cons: J Ioane (3), JJ Hanrahan.

Benetton: Tries: M Zanon (2), A Uren. Cons: T Albornoz (3). Pens: Albornoz (3).

Connacht: Piers O’Conor (JJ Hanrahan 62); Shayne Bolton (David Hawkshaw 70), Hugh Gavin, Cathal Forde, Finn Treacy; Josh Ioane, Caolin Blade (Matthew Devine 53); Peter Dooley (Denis Buckley 53), Dave Heffernan (Dylan Tierney-Martin 63), Jack Aungier (Sam Illo 62); Darragh Murray, David O’Connor (Oisin Dowling 62); Cian Prendergast, Shamus Hurley-Langton, Paul Boyle (Josh Murphy 53).

Benetton: Rhyno Smith; Ignacio Mendy, Marco Zanon, Malakai Fekitoa (Federico Zanandrea 75), Matt Gallagher; Tomas Albornoz (Jacob Umaga 71), Andy Uren (Alessandro Garbisi 71); Thomas Gallo (Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro 64), Bautista Bernasconi (Agustin Creevy 64), Giosue Zilocchi (Tiziano Pasquali 62); Giulio Marini (Riccardo Favretto 50), Eli Snyman; Alessandro Izekor, Jadin Kingi, Toa Halafihi (Simon Koroiyadi 62).

Referee: B Breakspear (Wales).