Connacht 52
Lyon 24
THE EUROPEAN CHALLENGE Cup may yet save Connacht’s season and they have given themselves every chance of having home advantage all the way to the final after hammering Lyon at Dexcom Stadium.
The win guarantees top spot in Pool 1 even before Connacht head to Cardiff next weekend for the final game.
Ben Murphy, who signed a contract extension during the week, scored a hat-trick to take his haul to seven in ten games since his summer move from Leinster.
Connacht got on top from the outset and raced into a 19-3 lead after 18 minutes against a Lyon side who made 14 changes to the team which edged out Perpignan in a home relegation tussle last weekend.
Connacht got a dream start when captain Cian Prendergast intercepted a pass from Italian scrum-half Martin Page-Relo as Lyon attacked and he quickly sent Murphy away from the 22 with the scrum-half scoring under the posts when he managed to escape the clutches of winger Vincent Rattez to score under the posts after less than two minutes.
Page-Relo pulled back a penalty for a Lyon side who also came into this contest having won both their opening games when he converted from the right after Dave Heffernan was pinged for a maul offence to make it 7-3 after 12 minutes.
Lyon built on that but when flanker Marvin Okuya went offside despite warnings from referee Hollie Davidson when they looked set for a 50:22, Connacht made them pay. Out-half Josh Ioane found touch five metres from the line down the left and after Prendergast won the lineout, Connacht got the drive before No 8 Sean Jansen peeled away to score after 15 minutes.
Three minutes later another good drive off a lineout ended after a few phases with tighthead Finlay Bealham getting over, with Ioane’s conversion making it 19-3.
However, Lyon hit back and while they butchered a couple of promising lineouts in the corners as Joe Joyce and Prendergast pilfered, the French got the set-piece right after 23 minutes and Fijian hooker Sam Matavesi got over, with Page-Relo converting from the right to cut the gap to 19-10 after Connacht lock Oisin Dowling had been binned.
Ioane added a penalty six minutes from the break and then a turnover by him and Bundee Aki saw Connacht counter with a penalty and a few phases off the lineout saw Aki, Ioane and Chay Mullins combine to send Murphy over for his second try and wrap up the bonus point.
Fijian winger Semi Radradra was binned for taking out Mullins after the pass as Lyon started the second-half 27-10 behind and down a man.
Interval replacement Josh Murphy scored a minute and a half after the restart and then Aki and Chay Mullins combined to send Murphy through for his hat-trick to lead 37-10 after 46 minutes.
Thibaut Regard responded for Lyon but Connacht were on top in all the key areas and they extended their lead when another replacement Jack Aungier bulldozed over after another good lineout drive after 54 minutes.
A try from replacement hooker Guillaume Marchand eleven minutes from time gave Lyon the prospect of a try bonus point which would have kept the pool alive to the final round.
But it was Connacht who finished on a high with replacement hooker Dylan Tierney-Martin getting their eighth try seven minutes from the end.
Replacement scrum-half Caolin Blade got over in the final play but the score was scratched on review when Jordan Duggan was pinged for taking out a man off the ball.
But they continued to play with the clock in the red and a penalty to the corner ended with flanker Shamus Hurley-Langton driving over for their ninth try to complete the rout.
Scorers for Connacht: Tries: B Murphy (3), S Jansen, F Bealham, J Murphy, J Aungier, D Tierney-Martin, S Hurley-Langton. Cons: J Ioane (2). Pen: Ioane.
Scorers for Lyon: Tries: S Matavesi, T Regard, G Marchand. Cons: M Page-Relo (2), M Meliande. Pen: Page-Relo.
Connacht: Santiago Cordero; Chay Mullins, Piers O’Conor, Bundee Aki (Cathal Forde 72), Shane Jennings (David Hawkshaw 53); Josh Ioane, Ben Murphy (Caolin Blade 60); Peter Dooley (Jordan Duggan 60), Dave Heffernan (Dylan Tierney-Martin 53), Finlay Bealham (Jack Aungier 53); Oisin Dowling (Josh Murphy 41), Joe Joyce (Paul Boyle 60); Cian Prendergast (c), Shamus Hurley-Langton, Sean Jansen.
Lyon: Alexandre Tchaptchet; Semi Radradra, Josiah Maraku, Thibaut Regard (Alfred Parisien 55), Vincent Rattez; Fletcher Smith (Martin Meliande 41), Martin Page-Relo (Charlie Cassang 60); Hamza Kaabeche (Jermaine Ainsley 48), Sam Matavesi (Guillaume Marchand 48), Irakli Aptsiauri (Lyan Pakihivatau 53); Félix Lambey (c) (Killian Geraci 60), Tomas Lavanini; Steeve Blanc-Mappaz, Marvin Okuya (Pierre-Samuel Pacheco 55), Maxime Gouzou.
Ref: Hollie Davidson (Scotland).
Cordero played well. Ray Ridge will be furious.
@Patrick Kennedy: Actually, he was very poor. This game was made for him. He should have been able to get a few trys and a few assists.Lyons’ seconds string and they have zero interest in defending. Made absolutely no contribution in an attacking sense, which is scarely believable considering Connacht scored over 50 points. Was badly found out positioning wise from a few Lyon kicks also.
I hope this result gets it’s just coverage on the various Irish rugby podcasts next week, instead of the usual Munster/Leinster love fest.
@Pud: can you not celebrate the win with the chip on the shoulder. Munster/leinster are the 2 big clubs with the most support in the country. The rugby podcasts work off and survive off the number of listeners. So obviously they will work off the big 2. The munster/leinster love fest are also in the main competition in Europe so again will gain more support and time.
@chris mcdonnell: couldn’t agree with you more. The Challenge Cup is the second tier competition for a reason, I don’t expect journalists to be writing and talking about the AIL on a weekend there is URC games
@Niall Boyle: A bit of a disingenuous comparison, as the gulf isn’t the same. Albeit it rare, very rare, Munster/Leinster campaigns in the Challenge Cup have always had coverage. I remember going to Munster in a sold out 25k Thomond, ROG, POC, POM, etc for Challenge Cup rugby, with the full punditry panel and coverage on display.
And lets not pretend that Connacht in the Champions Cup hasn’t also been a byline in some coverage. They’ve played Champions Cup 4 of the previous 5 seasons, so its easy to compare. I remember listening to a rugby round up on one of them a few years back where 20 mins each on the Munster and Leinster games, and with a single sentence said “Elsewhere Connacht secured a bonus point win at home to Stade Francais.” They said the scoreline, and that was it.
I don’t see why the OP needed to spoil his win enjoymwnt with highlighting a chip on his shoulder, and as Chris says, naturally with demographics it is understandable coverage will be greater in Munster and Leinster, the prestige of one comp is way above the other, etc. However, the coverage is still in no way proportional in respect to this.
Some real positives there tonight. I’ve been critical of Santiago but he was much better tonight. Ben Murphy looks very promising. Will be interesting to see if he gets an Ireland call up in the extended squad with Casey’s injury. Ioana wasn’t bad either. We are still struggling up front though. Lost the scrum. Was great to see our big Joe back too. If we get a result against Cardiff, you never know…..
@Michael Griffin: Connacht have topped the pool now, they have home games for the knockouts?
@Patrick Kennedy: no Patrick. It’s based on the number of points overall. There are 3 pools so can’t base top 2seedings on that.
@Michael Griffin: they need 2 points next eeek to guarantee top 2 seedlings
A lot of difficult kicks, but conditions were fine so 7 missed conversions wasn’t great. 14 points left behind. Hanrahan, part of the warm up, i feel will be back soon and would have got 3 or 4 of those.
Still can’t get why Carty wasn’t involved.
@David Hickey: Carty has been very poor this year
@Barry newell: He’s played 4/5 games this year and been MOTM in 2 of them.
@Barry newell: Even in the disaster the last week against Ulster he was probably Connacht’s best player and set up the try.
That genuinely was not a half bad Lyon team either, wasn’t like they send the scrubs. Certainly makes their performance vs Ulster last week the even more stranger.
Considering the way Farrell likes his 9′s to play id not be surprised to see Ben Murphy in and around Ireland squad very soon. His speed on 1st try was exceptional and his support running throughout was excellent. Ireland is blessed with no 9s. There’s an argument to be made that every province has two 9s that are close to international standard
He’s proven to be a very good signing so far and hopefully it inspires other young guys to get out there and play
@Shane: he’s the obvious standin for casey.
@chris mcdonnell: See how Doak goes today, but Murphy has a hand up for sure
@Thesaltyurchin:
I would say Murphy is far closer to JGP that than Doak or Casey..
Murphy and JGP are speedster, bot have the speed to play on the wing and would be one of the fastest guys on the field… They are real quick. Casey and Doak are not, well not at the same level and would struggle to get into the support lines (or break round side)that JGP or Murphy can…
Modern day SH for Farrell really has to have this..
Solid performance and no nonsense rugby by Connacht. Absolutely essential after the Ulster performance. Well done to all including players and coaches. Ben Murphy has put his hand up
for Irish selection and Cordero is playing so well
now…
Cordeiro take a bow. Outstanding performance. Looks to be now showing his world class ability after that near career ending injury he suffered just after joining.
Murphy and Ioane looked good, but then again, they always look good when their is little or no heat put on them. This was Lyons reserve side out their tonight, folks. Let’s get real here. They had absolutely no interest whatsoever in defending. Ioane couldn’t kick a conversion to save his life. Cordero and jennings offered absolutely nothing, which is astounding when their team scores over 50 points. Mullins and Murphy were good. Murphy looks like he has a great prospect to go further at scrum half. Away to Cardiff next week will be the real test.
Apart from kicking Iaone was excellent today. His aggression when going forward was great to see and he was marshaling attack very well
@Reggordon: As I said these guys look great at half back when there’s little or no pressure put on them. Was a different story in the Leinster game with the conditions and heat put on them by Leinster.
Hollie Davidson is a good ref Mack will be pleased
@michael carroll:
She is a very good ref… Even the Connacht first yellow card which would seem a bit harsh, she explained well and she made it clear that anything cynical in that area was going to be harshly dealt with.
She was very clear but tough…