Connacht 47
Enisei-STM 5
CONNACHT RAN IN eight tries to reach the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup.
It was a superb display by John Muldoon and his men and their passage was secured when Brive lost away to Newcastle Falcons.
The outcome was never in doubt at the Sportsground as Connacht controlled matters throughout.
Connacht had the bonus point wrapped up by the interval when they led 25-0 after a very impressive opening half.
Coach Pat Lam had emphasised all week that they needed to concentrate on their own game and he was pleased with their application after the mistake-ridden loss in Brive the previous week.
Connacht, backed by the wind, got on top from the outset and AJ MacGinty settled them with a 12th minute penalty, even if it was scant reward for their dominance.
They needed tries and their patience was rewarded when Tiernan O’Halloran got the first after 16 minutes and Matt Healy followed four minutes later to make it 15-0 at the end of the opening quarter.
Connacht, winning 13 penalties and conceding none during the opening half, turned the screw and Denis Buckley scored his first European try in 20 appearances.
The bonus point was secured just before the interval when Danie Poolman scored in the right corner after a looping pass from Robbie Henshaw.
Henshaw gave Connacht the best possible start to the second0-half when he scored just 28 seconds after the restart after a good break by MacGinty.
Enisei-STM grabbed a consolation try from flanker Vitalii Orlov after 47 minutes after a penalty to the left corner.
But Connacht took over again and replacement hooker Tom McCartney scored shortly after coming on, before Healy crossed for his second try on the hour to make it 40-5.
And replacement scrum-half Caolin Blade crowned the win with Connacht’s eighth try in the dying moments.
Connacht scorersTries: Matt Healy (2), Tiernan O’Halloran, Denis Buckley, Danie Poolman, Robbie Henshaw, Tom McCartney, Caolin Blade
Penalty: AJ MacGinty
Conversions: Jack Carty, AJ MacGintyEnisei-STM scorersTry: Vitalii Orlov
Connacht: Tiernan O’Halloran (Rory Parata ’71); Danie Poolman, Robbie Henshaw, Bundee Aki, Matt Healy; AJ MacGinty (Jack Carty ’52), Kieran Marmion (Caolin Blade ’58); Denis Buckley (Finlay Bealham ’52), Dave Heffernan (Tom McCartney ’52), Nathan White (Rodney Ah You ’54); Ultan Dillane, Aly Muldowney (George Naoupu ’60); John Muldoon (capt) (Sean O’Brien ’62), James Connolly, Eoghan Masterson.
Enisei-STM: Ramil Gaisin; Jurijs Baranovs (capt), David Kacharava, Mikhail Babaev, Denis Simplikevich; Yury Kushnarev, Alexey Shcherban (Igor Kurashov ’40); Alexey Volkov, Nazir Gasanov (Stanislav Selskii ’59), Innokentiy Zykov; Uldis Saulite, Viacheslav Krasylnyk (Nikolay Serkov ’48); Vitalii Orlov, Andrey Temnov (Evgenii Pronenko ’66), Anton Rudoi.
Referee: Tom Foley (RFU).
