Marmion and Aki’s effort not enough as Connacht are undone by shocking defending
CONNACHT scored four tries but exited the Challenge Cup on the back of a third straight home defeat at the Sportsground.
Both Kieran Marmion and Bundee Aki scored tries on their return from international duty, but considering Connacht only held the lead for six minutes in this game, they didn’t deserve to win.
A slack defensive effort from the home side saw them concede four tries – it should have been twice that – and former Ulster prop John Afoa ran in the key score for Gloucester, who had two players sin-binned.
The first 40 minutes showed the best and worst of Connacht’s game, with some poor knockons and missed tackles laced with excellent attacking play.
The negative side came to the fore first when Gloucester hooker James Hanson was quickest to a loose ball after Quinn Roux flicked back a turnover at lineout time. The bounce was nasty and it threw Denis Buckley off the scent, but Hanson’s run to the line was far from impeded.
Owen Williams missed the first of four conversions in a row from both sides, and three minutes later Connacht drew level when Marmion crashed over following a great offload from Jack Carty under the posts. Carty missed the extras.
A crunching tackle from Niyi Adeolokun on Ross Moriarty stopped Gloucester’s progress down the short side after 14 minutes and set the tone for a dominant period for Connacht.
A yellow card for Ben Morgan for a high, slinging tackle on Tom Farrell gave Connacht their first numerical advantage, and midway though the half they took advantage. Buckley’s outstanding pass sent Tom McCartney clear, and a rapid phase or two later, McCartney sent Aki in for a wonderful team score. Again Carty missed the relatively straightforward conversion and Connacht led 10-5.
But after leading by five points, Connacht went on to trail by seven at the interval following a sloppy quarter. Fourteen minutes from the break a Connacht knock-on close allowed Tom Marshall
run in a first-phase try off a scrum.
A missed tackle from Aki on prop Val Rapava Ruskin saw Ed Slater cross for a try, which was disallowed for a forward pass, but just before half-time Henry Trinder danced through the Connacht defence too easily to score. Williams finally slotted a conversion and the Premiership side led 17-10 at the interval.
Williams slotted a 42ndminute penalty to give Gloucester a double-scores advantage when Marmion went straight in the side of a ruck, but four minutes later the scrum-half sent Adeolokun in for a try with a deft chip through.
Carty missed the conversion, but kicked a penalty in the 50th minute to make it 20-18. Gloucester could have surged ahead but they fluffed two tryscoring chances, before Mark Atkinson cruised through a huge gap in the Connacht line in the 56th minute and his pass gave Afoa a canter to the line.
That try was Carty’s last involvement and his replacement Craig Ronaldson kicked his first restart straight into touch, and 16 minutes from time Gloucester stretched their lead from a penalty.
Another yellow card for Gloucester – Lewis Ludlow hit Marmion with a high tackle – gave Connacht hope when Ronaldson cut the gap to nine points from the penalty, and Matt Healy ran in Connacht’s fourth try three minutes later, while Ronaldson converted to make it a two-point deficit.
But Connacht couldn’t make the most of their numbers and instead Jarrad Butler was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on and Billy Twelvetrees tapped over the clincher.