Dragons 20
Connacht 22
Andy Howell reports from Rodney Parade
CONNACHT MOVED BACK into the top eight of the United Rugby Championship with a hard-fought victory over the Dragons at Newport’s Rodney Parade.
It was Connacht’s fourth win in a row and the triumph sees them stay in contention for the end of season play-offs.
Although they dominated the contest it took a major effort to edge out opponents who had second row Matthew Screech sent off for foul play with 48 minutes remaining.
The lead exchanged hands four times and it was Connacht who were hanging on for desperately needed championship points at the end.
A drop-goal attempt from Dragons substitute Sam Davies, who had missed a penalty minutes earlier, rebounded off an upright with a few minutes remaining.
Connacht had suffered a blow before kick-off when captain and leading points-scorer Jack Carty withdrew through injury.
David Hawkshaw replaced him at outside-half with Tom Daly being drafted on to the substitutes’ bench, scrum-half Caolin Blade taking over leadership duty.
Hawkshaw put over a penalty after 10 minutes but the lead was short-lived with Dragons’ all-action hooker Bradley Roberts, the former Ulster player who was a substitute for Wales against England last weekend, sprinting forward.
Left-wing Ashton Hewitt arced inside and the sweeping movement culminated with flanker Aaron Wainwright, who had been released from the Wales squad in order to face Connacht, charging over. Outside-half Will Reed converted to give Dragons a 7-3 advantage.
Cian Prendergast was on the end of an impressive attack to ground the ball despite the attention of the home defence. Hawkshaw converted and Connacht were back in front, 10-7.
Reed levelled matters with a long-range penalty after 25 minutes but Screech was dismissed while centre Max Clark was sin-binned for a professional foul.
But, against the odds, they took the lead just over two minutes into the second half when right-wing Jared Rosser intercepted a pass and sprinted 80m unopposed for a try, converted by Reed to lead by seven points.
But Connacht regained control with substitute No.8 Jarrad Butler scoring with his first touch of the ball for Hawkshaw to convert, with Blade later getting the winning try.
Dragons scorers:
- Tries: Wainwright, Rosser
- Cons: Reed (2 from 3)
- Pens: Reed (2 from 2)
Connacht scorers:
- Tries: Prendergast, Butler, Blade
- Cons: Hawkshaw (2 from 3)
- Pens: Hawkshaw (1 from 1)
Dragons
Angus O’Brien; Jared Rosser, Steff Hughes, Max Clark, Ashton Hewitt; Will Reed (Sam Davies 62), Rhodri Williams (capt); Rhodri Jones (Aki Seiuli 71), Bradley Roberts (E Dee 52), Leon Brown ( L Fairbrother 53), Matthew Screech, Ben Carter, Aaron Wainwright (George Nott 57), Taine Basham (H Keddie 52), Ross Moriarty.
Unused replacements: Lewis Jones, Jordan Williams
Connacht
Tiernan O’Halloran; Shayne Bolton (Shane Jennings 74), Tom Farrell, Cathal Forde, John Porch; David Hawkshaw, Caolin Blade (capt); Denis Buckley, Dylan Tierney-Martin (Dave Heffernan 57), Jack Aungier (Sam Illo 33), Josh Murphy (Oisin Dowling 57), Niall Murray, Cian Prendergast, Conor Oliver, Paul Boyle (Jarrad Butler 51).
Unused replacements: Peter Dooley, Colm Reilly, Tom Daly.
Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy).