Lyon 34

Connacht 20

John Fallon reports from Stade de Gerland, Lyon 

CONNACHT’S FAINT CHAMPIONS Cup hopes disappeared in Lyon as they fell to their third loss of the campaign after another frustrating display.

They recovered well from a poor opening half and had a window in the third quarter to take control of this encounter, but they failed to push on and left France empty-handed as the home side wrapped up all five points.

It effectively means that next Friday’s much heralded return by Pat Lam and his Bristol Bears to the Sportsground is really a dead rubber as far as this competition is concerned with Connacht netting just a single point from their opening three games.

Connacht only got into the Lyon twice in the opening half but they made it count both times and were still in contention when they went in trailing 20-10 after the home side enjoyed 73% territory on a freezing day at the Matmut Stadium de Gerland.

Connacht were forced into two late changes when tighthead Jack Aungier went down with flu on the morning of the game and then hooker Dylan Tierney-Martin was injured in the warm-up, with Tadhg McElroy replacing him and Dominic Roberston-McCoy coming in at No.3.

But the Connacht scrum struggled badly in the opening half, coughing up four penalties, and were on the back foot for most of the opening half despite striking first when centre Tom Daly timed his pass to perfection in midfield and No.8 Sean Jansen showed remarkable pace from inside his own half, stepping winger Thaakir Abrahams on his way to scoring in the right corner.

However, with their set-piece struggling Connacht struggled to build and with 5’7” full-back Alexandre Tchaptchet causing untold trouble, Lyon took over.

They got back on level terms after 14 minutes when a break from Tchaptchet eventually ended several phases later with Abrahams scoring and Paddy Jackson converting.

Former French U-20 Tchaptchet got their second try after 21 minutes when he tapped and went after sustained pressure and squeezed between Robertson-McCoy and McElroy to score, with Jackson again converting to make it 14-5.

Lyon, second from bottom in the Top 14 after being hammered 45-0 in Toulouse last weekend, opted for the posts with two penalties after Connacht were again pinged in the scrum, and Jackson duly obliged to lead 20-5 approaching the break.

The fragility of the Lyon defence was again exposed when Connacht managed to get into the 22 with good work from Jansen and Jack Carty popped a pass wide for Cian Prendergast to score. JJ Hanrahan was again unable to convert but Connacht were flattered with a 20-10 interval deficit.

Connacht got on top after the restart and built the phases impressively and they got right back in contention when hooker Tadhg McElroy got over after a good lineout take from Darragh Murray, with Hanrahan converting to cut the gap to 20-17.

The travelling fans got further hope when Jack Carty denied Tchaptchet and then Shayne Bolton did likewise with an equally good tackle on Monty Ioane, but inevitably the pressure paid off for Lyon and impressive No.8 Mickael Guillard got over after 52 minutes, with Jackson’s third conversion making it 27-17.

Former Galway minor hurling All-Ireland winner Shane Jennings came on for his Champions Cup debut and kept Connacht in the hunt with a superb tackle on Abrahams in the left corner and when Hanrahan cut the gap to seven points after 68 minutes, another window opened for them to stay in the competition.

But Abrahams ended that faint hope six minutes from time to secure the bonus point and condemn Connacht to another disappointing defeat.

Scorers for Lyon: Tries: Thibaut Abrahams (2), Alexandre Tchaptchet, Maxime Guillard. Cons: Paddy Jackson (3 from 3). Pens : Jackson (2 from 2).

Scorers for Connacht : Tries : Seán Jansen, Cian Prendergast, Tadhg McElroy. Con: JJ Hanrahan (1 from 3). Pen: Hanrahan (1 from 1).

Lyon: Alexandrew Tchaptchet; Monty Ioane, Josiah Maraku (A Parisien 65), Thibaut Regard, Thaakir Abrahams; Paddy Jackson (Leo Berdeu ‘57), Martin Page-Relo (Liam Rimet ‘57); Hamza Kaabeche (Jerome Rey ‘60), Yanis Charcosset (Guillaume Marchand ‘51), Demba Bamba (Paulo Tafili ‘60); Joel Kpoku, Romain Taofifenua (Maxime Gouzou ‘57); Liam Allen, Arno Botha (c), Mickael Guillard (Ugo Vignolles ‘71).

Connacht: JJ Hanrahan; Andrew Smith, Tom Farrell (David Hawkshaw ‘56), Tom Daly, Shayne Bolton; Jack Carty (Shane Jennings ‘61, Matthew Devine ‘76), Michael McDonald; Peter Dooley (Denis Buckley ‘53), Tadhg McElroy (Eoin de Buitléar ‘65), Dominic Robertson-McCoy (Sam Illo ‘53); D Murray (Oisin Dowling ‘59), Joe Joyce; Cian Prendergast, Jarrad Butler, Seán Jansen (Conor Oliver ‘61).

Referee: Craig Evans (Wales).