Dragons put frighteners on wasteful Connacht

REIGNING champions Connacht kept their top six hopes alive but crucially failed to secure a bonus point in their victory over Dragons.

Connacht scored 14 points in as many minutes at the start of the game, but despite the tries from Tiernan O’Halloran and Caolin Blade, Angus O’Brien kicked three penalties for Dragons and Connacht could not add to their tally.

“It’s pretty frustrating when we were 14 points up after 10 or 15 minutes and you saw the chances we threw away with loose offloads in the first half,” said O’Halloran.

“That just gives them something to feed on and creep back into the game.

“Then a couple of small mistakes in our half after the restart got them back in with a few penalties as well and we ended up having to grind it out at the end.”

Connacht were beaten 21-16 by Dragons at Rodney Parade earlier this season, but before that Pat Lam’s men had won seven games in a row against their Welsh opponents and they led 14-3 at half-time.

It was a hectic start to the game, and Connacht’s inevitable choice to play the ball out from the back, was answered by Dragons defiant rearguard.

But when Connacht got the ball out wide the visitors looked in trouble, and when Jack Carty spotted a gap on the left wing, his long flat pass sent Matt Healy away and he gave the inside ball for O’Halloran to touch down in the fifth minute.

There had not been a single stoppage up to that point, and Craig Ronaldson added the conversion for a 7-0 lead.

O’Halloran was involved again in Connacht’s second try, when he took the pass

off Ronaldson and broke from his own ten-metre line. Connacht recycled possession and went back and forth across the pitch until the gap opened for Blade to saunter through unopposed in the 13th minute – Ronaldson scored the extras.

Replacement out-half Angus O’Brien reduced the arrears to 14-3 shortly after, and Connacht were frustrated on a number of occasions before half-time as they went in search of their third try.

The score remained the same at the interval, and Connacht were still in charge but O’Brien scored his second penalty three minutes after the resumption to bring it back to 14-6.

And O’Brien found his range from the kicking tee again ten minutes later. That penalty gave Dragons confidence, and now within bonus point range they gained the ascendency and Connacht ended up having to scrap for the victory.