CIARÁN FRAWLEY MARKED a glorious debut by scoring the winning try – his second of the night —three minutes from time at Stadio Monigo to get Connacht’s season up and running.
Connacht had to saturate enormous pressure, not least in the scrum, but stayed in the game and snatched it at the death.
Frawley crowned a fine opening half with the try which pushed them 17-12 in front at the break after a scrappy opening half.
Ciaran Frawley ag aimsiú a chéad úd i ngeasnaí Chonnacht
Ciaran Frawley gets his first try in a Connacht jersey
A couple of excellent kicks for territory helped Frawley settle in early on but it was some quick-thinking from Mack Hansen which eased early pressure from the Italians and set up the attack which yielded the opening try after five minutes.
Hansen took a quick throw deep inside his own 22 as Benetton ambled forward for the lineout and after Cathal Forde took it up from an offensive lineout, Sean Jansen sent Cian Prendergast away and the captain skipped out of two tackles to score.
Full-back Sam Gilbert continued with the kicking duties despite the arrival of Frawley, but he was off target with his first two conversions from the right.
Advertisement
Gilbert and Hansen were involved in setting up the second try with an out-the-back pass from Frawley creating the opportunity which was finished by Sean O’Brien.
That pushed Connacht 10-5 in front after hooker Bautista Bernasconi had scored from a lineout in the right corner and the Italians, who butchered a host of good possessions in attack, got it right six minutes from the break when Jacob Umaga and Matt Gallagher combined to send centre Leonardo Marin through for an excellent try from deep.
Frawley got his first Connacht score three minutes from the interval after exploiting a good loop created by a dummy run from hooker Matthew Victory, making his first start, to score beside the posts after shipping a couple of tackles. Gilbert added the convert this time.
Connacht lost tighthead Finlay Bealham to a yellow card for a high tackle before the break but escaped further sanction when Umaga kicked the penalty dead to sum up a frustrating half for them.
But they struck just as the sin binning was ending, going to the right corner and getting their maul right for hooker Bernasconi to get over with Umaga converting to lead 19-17 after 51 minutes.
Benetton, with a penalty count of 11-2 by the 64th minute, piled on the pressure. They were aided by Frawley kicking dead and from the counter Sam Illo got a great turnover inside his own 22 but they failed to clear their lines and ended up conceding a five-metre scrum.
They defended five scrums in a row, three of them resets, before turning over and lifting the six-minute siege through the superb Sean Jansen at a time when Benetton had chalked up 70% possession in the game.
Connacht hung in there and were rewarded. Gilbert cleared his lines down the right, replacement winger Shane Jennings won possession and quick hands from Niall Murray put replacement hooker Eoin de Buitlear away and he then set up Frawley who sped down the left to score three minutes from time.
An t-úd bónais faighte ag Ciaran Frawley agus na Connachtaigh chun cinn gar do dheiridh an chluiche
Ciaran Frawley gets the bonus point try as Connacht go ahead with a few minutes to go
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
14 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
Frawley marks Connacht debut with two tries to seal road win for Connacht
Benetton 19
Connacht 22
John Fallon reports.
CIARÁN FRAWLEY MARKED a glorious debut by scoring the winning try – his second of the night —three minutes from time at Stadio Monigo to get Connacht’s season up and running.
Connacht had to saturate enormous pressure, not least in the scrum, but stayed in the game and snatched it at the death.
Frawley crowned a fine opening half with the try which pushed them 17-12 in front at the break after a scrappy opening half.
A couple of excellent kicks for territory helped Frawley settle in early on but it was some quick-thinking from Mack Hansen which eased early pressure from the Italians and set up the attack which yielded the opening try after five minutes.
Hansen took a quick throw deep inside his own 22 as Benetton ambled forward for the lineout and after Cathal Forde took it up from an offensive lineout, Sean Jansen sent Cian Prendergast away and the captain skipped out of two tackles to score.
Full-back Sam Gilbert continued with the kicking duties despite the arrival of Frawley, but he was off target with his first two conversions from the right.
Gilbert and Hansen were involved in setting up the second try with an out-the-back pass from Frawley creating the opportunity which was finished by Sean O’Brien.
That pushed Connacht 10-5 in front after hooker Bautista Bernasconi had scored from a lineout in the right corner and the Italians, who butchered a host of good possessions in attack, got it right six minutes from the break when Jacob Umaga and Matt Gallagher combined to send centre Leonardo Marin through for an excellent try from deep.
Frawley got his first Connacht score three minutes from the interval after exploiting a good loop created by a dummy run from hooker Matthew Victory, making his first start, to score beside the posts after shipping a couple of tackles. Gilbert added the convert this time.
Connacht lost tighthead Finlay Bealham to a yellow card for a high tackle before the break but escaped further sanction when Umaga kicked the penalty dead to sum up a frustrating half for them.
But they struck just as the sin binning was ending, going to the right corner and getting their maul right for hooker Bernasconi to get over with Umaga converting to lead 19-17 after 51 minutes.
Benetton, with a penalty count of 11-2 by the 64th minute, piled on the pressure. They were aided by Frawley kicking dead and from the counter Sam Illo got a great turnover inside his own 22 but they failed to clear their lines and ended up conceding a five-metre scrum.
They defended five scrums in a row, three of them resets, before turning over and lifting the six-minute siege through the superb Sean Jansen at a time when Benetton had chalked up 70% possession in the game.
Connacht hung in there and were rewarded. Gilbert cleared his lines down the right, replacement winger Shane Jennings won possession and quick hands from Niall Murray put replacement hooker Eoin de Buitlear away and he then set up Frawley who sped down the left to score three minutes from time.
Gilbert missed his third conversion to leave three between them but Connacht saw it out to claim the win.
Scorers:
Benetton: Tries: B Bernasconi (2), L Marin. Cons: J Umaga (2 from 3).
Connacht: Tries: C Frawley (2), C Prendergast, S O’Brien. Con: S Gilbert (1 from 4)
Benetton: Matt Gallagher; Louis Lynagh, Paolo Odogwu (Jean Smith 30-41), Leonardo Marin, Onisi Ratave (Ignacio Mendy 69, Smith 73); Jacob Umaga, Alessandro Garbisi (Andy Uren 71); Matias Medrano (Mirco Spagnolo 52), Bautista Bernasconi (Siua Maile 59), Simone Ferrari (Tiziano Pasquali 55); Niccolò Cannone, Federico Ruzza; Giulio Marini (Sootala Fa’aso’o 71), Michele Lamaro, Riccardo Favretto.
Connacht: Sam Gilbert; Finn Treacy (Sam Illo 39-51, Shane Jennings 75), John Devine (Josh Ioane 690, Cathal Forde, Mack Hansen; Ciarán Frawley, Caolin Blade (Colm Reilly 71); Francois van Wyk (Billy Bohan 49), Matthew Victory (Eoin de Buitlear 50), Finlay Bealham (Illo 51); Darragh Murray, Josh Murphy (Niall Murray 60); Cian Prendergast, Sean O’Brien (Paul Boyle 55), Sean Jansen.
Referee: Hollie Davidson (Scotland).
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Away Days Benetton Connacht Rugby URC