Connacht extend lead
EDINBURGH 23 CONNACHT 28
PRO12 leaders Connacht held off a spirited Edinburgh fightback to claim a hard-fought victory last night. The hosts trailed 14-0 at the break, but closed the gap to just a point in the second half as their comeback fell just short.
The visitors started well and breached the home defence on 21 minutes when Bundee Aki drew two defenders and passed t o AJ MacGinty, who powered his way over. Craig Ronaldson stroked over the conversion.
Soon after Edinburgh lock Anton Bresler was shown a yellow card for pulling down the maul and Connacht opted for the scrum and shunted the short- handed hosts backwards, allowing Jake Heenan to peel off and dive over the line, with Ronaldson again added the extras.
Edinburgh finally made it into the opposition 22 after 35 minutes thanks to a searing run by Damien Hoyland. That sparked a lively finish to the half and a high tackle on Hamish Watson as he hurtled down the wing produced a yellow card for Tiernan O’Halloran and a penalty for the hosts. However, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne was awry with his kick and Connacht went in at half time with a 14-0 advantage.
Edinburgh claimed a try after 43 minutes when Hoyland threw out a long pass to Chris Dean, who raced in at the corner for an unconverted score.
However Edinburgh promptly handed the initiative back to their opponents when Aki was allowed to take a pass 15 minutes out and stroll over untouched for a try.
With 51 minutes gone, Edinburgh struck back when Hoyland darted in at the corner. Hidalgo-Clyne swept over the conversion, meaning the deficit was back down to nine points.
And it became even tighter with an hour on the clock when another spell of pressure ended with HidalgoClyne passing to Cornell Du Preez for his side’s third try before watching as his conversion attempt crashed back off the bar.
However, he atoned for that miss with a straightforward penalty after 68 minutes, which left the home side just one point behind.
Connacht were not to be denied and secured the bonus point, and with i t the victory, when Eoin McKeon powered over from close range or the fourth try and MacGinty added the conversion.
There was still time for HidalgoClyne to claim a losing bonus point when he landed his second successful penalty with the final play of the match.