Connacht show promise but their woe continues
CONNACHT suffered their fourth loss of the Guinness PRO14 season as they went down to a 36-27 defeat to Scarlets in a nine-try thriller in Llanelli.
New coach Kieran Keane has had a rocky start, but here, albeit in defeat, the Sportsground outfit showed signs of real promise.
Keane’s men were outscored five tries to four and could well have come out on top but for a series of basic errors.
Jack Carty and Cian Kelleher both scored and the excellent Tiernan O’Halloran crossed in either half. Carty missed with the conversion of O’Halloran’s second which would have tied the game, and Scarlets went up the other end to seal victory through Irish hopeful Tadhg Beirne.
Johnny McNicholl, man of the match Steffan Evans, Rhys Patchell and Leigh Halfpenny had all scored earlier for the home side.
The Galway outfit had the worst possible start, falling behind inside nine minutes. Jonathan Davies scorched clear and popped up for McNicholl to score beneath the posts. Halfpenny added the conversion.
Connacht hit back, Carty picking up a poor pass from Scott Williams and making his way to the line. Out-half Carty converted his own effort and after Halfpenny missed a penalty, Wales prospect Evans scorched clear from 40m for a score which Connacht should have prevented. Halfpenny put the kick wide and Connacht promptly won a scrum penalty which Carty kicked.
Steffan Evans passed out of the tackle to give Patchell an easy finish. Halfpenny nailed the kick, but Connacht responded.
Tom Farrell’s break created the space for O’Halloran to finish and another flowing team move started by No.8 Eoin McKeon ended with Kelleher scoring.
Carty kicked one conversion, but the half ended with Steffan Evans putting Halfpenny over for the Scarlets’ bonus-point try which the Lions star converted.
Halfpenny’s penalty in the second half gave the home side some comfort, but still Connacht refused to go away.
McKeon set up O’Halloran again but when Carty couldn’t level, Beirne broke Irish hearts to seal a home win. Having secured five try-scoring bonus points in the past five seasons, Zebre bagged two in two weeks on their mini-tour of South Africa this month. As Ulster have already seen when up against the Cheetahs to start the season, the PRO14’s new sides haven’t been showing much defensive resistance so far, but the likes of Mattia Bellini and Giulio Bisegni will take plenty of confidence from being among the tries at this early stage of the campaign.
Indeed, full-back Matteo Minozzi led the championship in metres gained for round four after the win over Southern Kings while Tommaso Castello topped the charts for offloads with Renato Giammarioli doing the same for defenders beaten. Despite the recent flurry of tries, Zebre are still a side who will play to the strengths of Italian rugby with an experienced tight five, all of whom bar former England under-20 lock David Sisi (left) have won Test caps. Ulster have spent time this week looking at the maul, a weapon the hosts look to deploy from anywhere in the opposition half.