Connacht 31

Scarlets 14

John Fallon reports from Dexcom Stadium

CONNACHT MADE IT three wins on the spin to really inject some life into their hopes of a top-half finish in the URC when they ran in five tries to see off Scarlets at Dexcom Stadium.

Connacht led 12-0 at the end of the opening half thanks to a pair of hard-earned tries from Seán Jansen as the Irish-qualified Kiwi took his try haul into double figures this season.

But Stuart Lancaster’s men didn’t have it all their own way in a match where Scarlets were missing 20 players and Connacht unavailable list jumped to 19 when loosehead Denis Buckley had to be replaced by Peter Dooley before kick-off.

And Connacht lost full-back Sam Gilbert after ten minutes, with the New Zealander having been taken out in the air by winger Macs Page when he fielded a high clearance earlier in the contest.

Seán Naughton came on at out half and took over the kicking duties with Josh Ioane switching to full-back.

Early pressure eventually yielded an opening try for Connacht after 16 minutes when Jansen, who delivered the winning try with the clock in the red last time out against Glasgow Warriors, found a gap after they pounded the Scarlets line. Naughton converted from the left to make it 7-0.

Four minutes later John Devine, making his first start, raced through to score after his former Garbally College and Ballinasloe RFC teammates Colm Reilly and Shane Jennings were involved in the build-up along with Cathal Forde and Naughton, but the try was scratched on review when Devine was adjudged to have impeded Scarlets centre Joe Roberts.

Scarlets then enjoyed a good bout of possession but struggled to get through a solid defence with Dooley doing superbly to get under Munster-bound hooker Marnus van der Merwe from a tapped penalty after 26 minutes.

Connacht extended their lead three minutes before the break. Paul Boyle won an excellent penalty inside halfway, and a couple of penalties later to the left corner eventually yielded a second try for Jansen.

The lead was pushed out to 19-0 six minutes after the restart when tighthead Jack Aungier got in under the posts but just when it seemed Connacht were about to push on and wrap up the bonus point, they found their lead shredded to five points when Scarlets scored two converted tries in the next seven minutes.

Centre Joe Roberts outpaced Chay Mullins to score the first after a chip from the other winger Page and then Roberts sent his fullback Ioan Jones through to score with 18-year-old replacement Carwyn Leggatt-Jones converted both.

The Connacht ship was steadied when 131kg replacement tighthead Fiachna ‘Big Red’ Barrett from Geesala in north Mayo burst through and when he was stopped, he was back on his feet for the recycle and got over for his first try for the province. Naughton’s conversion made it 24-14 after 57 minutes.

Connacht dominated after that but they didn’t cross again eleven minutes from time when replacement hooker Eoin de Buitlear got through after another tapped penalty.

Connacht Scores:

Tries: S Jansen (2), J Aungier, F Barrett, E de Buitlear.

Cons: S Naughton (3 from 5).

Scarlets Scores:

Tries: J Roberts, I Jones.

Cons: C Leggatt-Jones (2 from 2).

Connacht: Sam Gilbert (Seán Naughton 10); Shane Jennings, John Devine, Cathal Forde (Oisin McCormack 62), Chay Mullins; Josh Ioane, Colm Reilly (Ben Murphy 57); Peter Dooley (Jordan Duggan 52), Dylan Tierney-Martin (Eoin de Buitlear 30), Jack Aungier (Fiachna Barrett 52); David O’Connor (Niall Murray 62), Joe Joyce; Josh Murphy, Paul Boyle (c), Sean Jansen (Sean O’Brien 60).

Scarlets: Ioan Jones (Tomi Lewis 65); Jac Davies, Joe Roberts ((Gabe McDonald 62), Johnny Williams, Macs Page; Carwyn Leggatt-Jones, Gareth Davies (Archie Hughes 46); Kemsley Mathias (Sam O’Connor 60), Marnus van der Merwe (Harry Thomas 65), Henry Thomas (Harri O’Connor 46); Sam Lousi (Dan Davis 65), Jake Ball (Jac Price 20-30, 46); Max Douglas, Jarrod Taylor, Fletcher Anderson (c).

Referee: Ru Campbell (Scotland).