Connacht 5
Glasgow Warriors 41
By John Fallon at the Sportsground
CONNACHT, HAVING ONLY lost once at home last season, suffered their biggest-ever opening day defeat in the 16-year history of the league.
It was a deflating defeat for the champions as they were blown away by a Glasgow side who clearly learned a lot from two defeats at the Sportsground in the business end of last season.
A crowd of just 6,063 turned up at the Galway venue to watch Connacht play their first match since they won the first ever trophy they won in their 131-year history.
And while that crowd created a great atmosphere as the Guinness Pro12 trophy was brought on to the field prior to the game, the celebratory mood did not last as things unraveled on the field.
Connacht, having only played one preseason game, looked rusty and far removed from the side which marched to the Pro12 title in such style.
Irish coach Joe Schmidt was in attendance as the champions of the past two seasons squared up, but a blustery evening made it extremely difficult for these two exciting sides to play their usual expansive game.
Glasgow, beaten twice at the Sportsground at the end of last season, had the strong wind behind them playing into the College Road end, but lineouts and any kicking was difficult regardless of whether playing with or against the gust.
But Glasgow managed to get wide often enough for former Ulster winger Tommy Seymour to get over for a brace of tries in the opening half to lead 13-5 at the interval.
He struck for the first after eleven minutes just shortly after doing well to deny Niyi Adeolokun at the other end, finishing in style in the left corner after the Scots worked the ball across the field to create the overlap.
Henry Pyrgos extended the lead with a penalty after 25 minutes from 30 metres in front of the posts but the Connacht scrum got on top and won some invaluable possession.
Glasgow No.8 Ryan Wilson, just back on the field after a blood injury, was binned for a late challenge on Jack Carty and Connacht used the advantage well.
The Pro12 player of the year Bundee Aki was key to the creation of Connacht’s first try of the season, with props Denis Buckley and Finlay Bealham showing good hands before Eoin Griffin, back after two seasons with London Irish, set up Adeolokun and he did superbly to beat Pyrgos to score in the left corner after seven minutes.
But Connacht got caught three minutes from the break even with the extra man, when Glasgow went wide down the right and Stuart Hogg sent Seymour on his way to score, neatly stepping inside debutant Cian Kelleher for his second touchdown of the game.
Glasgow got on top after the restart and launched a series of raids on the home line, with impressive new signing from Zebre Sarto held up by some frantic defending.
But the pressure paid off and Stuart Hogg did well to finish after getting between Griffin and Matt Healy as the home defence was again stretched, with Pyrgos adding the conversion to make it 20-5 after 46 minutes.
Connacht needed to get the next score to get back in the match but the error count kept rising and it was Glasgow who sealed the issue and wrapped up the bonus point after 53 minutes.
Once again the superb Pyrgos was heavily involved with lock Tim Swinson becoming the first Glasgow forward to score. Pyrgos converted to make it 27-5.
It got worse for Connacht after 59 minutes when replacement prop Sila Puafisi scored after Pyrgos was held up short, with the scrum-half picking himself up to slot the conversion as they pulled away to a facile victory on a six try to one margin, which will see buzzing with confidence when they entertain Leinster next weekend.
Connacht scorers:Try: Niyi AdeolokunGlasgow scorers:Tries: Tommy Seymour (2), Stuart Hogg, Tim Swinson, Sila Puafisi, Sean Lamont
Penalties: Henry Pyrgos
Conversions: Henry Pyrgos (3), Rory Clegg
CONNACHT: Cian Kelleher; Niyi Adeolokun, Eoin Griffin (Peter Robb ’55), Bundee Aki, Matt Healy; Jack Carty (Shane O’Leary ’66), Caolin Blade (Kieran Marmion ’48); Denis Buckley (Ronan Loughney ’50), Tom McCartney (Dave Heffernan ’61), Finlay Bealham (JP Cooney ’61); Ultan Dillane (Lewis Stevenson ’61), Danny Qualter; Eoin McKeon, Nepia Fox-Matamua, John Muldoon (James Connolly ’72).
GLASGOW: Stuart Hogg (Sean Lamont ’61); Leonardo Sarto, Alex Dunbar, Sam Johnson, Tommy Seymour; Peter Horne (Rory Clegg ’64), Henry Pyrgos (Ali Price ’69); Gordon Reid (Ryan Grant ’50), Pat MacArthur (Corey Flynn ’50), Zander Fagerson (Sila Puafisi ’50); Tim Swinson, Jonny Gray (Tijuee Uanivi ’69); Rob Harley, Simone Favaro (Lewis Wynne ’64), Ryan Wilson (Lewis Wynne ’18-’27, blood).
Referee: Ian Davies (WRU)
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