Connacht 41
Edinburgh 26
John Fallon reports from The Sportsground
STAND-IN SKIPPER CAOLIN Blade scored a hat-trick as Connacht made it five wins on the spin to greatly strengthen their claim for a place in the URC knockout stages.
It’s the fifth time in their last six games that a Connacht player has scored a hat-trick — Blade also got one against the Lions in January — and it’s the first time since they won the Pro12 in 2016 that they’ve gone unbeaten in five league games.
They didn’t have it all their own way but were much more clinical than the Scots in an entertaining clash in front of a crowd of 6,056.
Edinburgh enjoyed plenty of possession in the opening half but Connacht were much more clinical and led by 20-7 having played with the breeze.
Cathal Forde gave them the perfect start when he skipped through tackles in midfield before fending off out-half Blair Kinghorn to score after eight minutes.
David Hawkshaw added a penalty and also converted Conor Oliver’s try after 21 minutes after they went blindside off a scrum down the left.
Edinburgh, who enjoyed 64% possession in that opening half, went to the corners three times with penalties but each time the Connacht defence held firm.
Edinburgh finally got over after a penalty to the right corner was worked across the field and then back in before Fijian tighthead Lee-Roy Atalifo finished the seventh surge at the line beside the left post. Emiliano Boffelli converted to cut the gap to 15-7 after 34 minutes.
Edinburgh pushed forward before the break but Connacht skipper Caolin Blade intercepted a Kinghorn pass inside his 22 before sprinting downfield to score and make it 20-7 at the interval.
Jarrad Butler secured the bonus point with a try after 45 minutes and while Connacht lost Conor Oliver and Oisín Dowling to the bin and conceded tries to Bill Mata and Glen Young when Edinburgh had a numerical advantage to cut the gap to 27-19, Connacht regrouped and pushed on when full-back Boffelli joined Dowling in the bin.
Blade scored twice in three minutes, nudging over from close range and then collecting his own grubber to dot down after a counter-attack mounted by a superb strip by replacement Shane Jennings on Mata inside his own 22.
Edinburgh grabbed a try bonus when Kinghorn pounced opportunistically in the closing stages as replacement Kieran Marmion looked to box kick off his own try-line, but it didn’t little to spoil another good day for a Connacht side hitting form at just the right time of the season.
Scorers: Connacht: Tries: Blade 40, 61, 64, Forde 8, Oliver 21, Butler 45. Cons: Hawkshaw 22, 46, Daly 61, 64. Pen: Hawkshaw 16
Edinburgh: Tries: Atalifo 34, Mata 47, Young 52, Kinghorn 78. Cons: Boffelli 34, 49, 79.
CONNACHT: Oran McNulty; Diarmuid Kilgallen (Shane Jennings ’48), Tom Farrell, Cathal Forde, John Porch; David Hawkshaw (Tom Daly ’61), Caolin Blade (c) (Kieran Marmion ’67); Peter Dooley (Jordan Duggan ’55), Dylan Tierney-Martin (Dave Heffernan ’55), Jack Aungier (Dominic Robertson-McCoy ’53); Oisín Dowling, Niall Murray (Darragh Murray ’53); Cian Prendergast, Conor Oliver, Jarrad Butler (Shamus Hurley-Langton ’59).
EDINBURGH: Emiliano Boffelli; Darcy Graham, Mark Bennett, James Lang (Nathan Sweeney ’62), Damien Hoyland (Chris Dean ’62); Blair Kinghorn, Henry Pyrgos (Ben Vellacott ’61); Boan Venter (Luan de Bruin ’61), Stuart McInally (Dave Cherry ’53), Lee-Roy Atalifo (WP Nel ’48); Sam Skinner, Grant Gilchrist (c); Ben Muncaster (Glen Young ’48) (Marshall Sykes ’55), Connor Boyle, Viliame Mata.
Referee: Ben Whitehouse (Wales).
