Hodge unable to stop Edinburgh crashing to Galway loss
EDINBURGH crashed to a fourth defeat from five this season as Duncan Hodge’s appointment as acting head coach failed to have the desired effect at the Sportsground.
A first-half try from captain Grant Gilchrist and Mike Allen’s third of the season late on hinted that there might be points up for grabs for the men from the capital, but tries either side of half-time from the champions resulted in another fruitless trip to Ireland’s west coast.
It will be in the weeks ahead that we see what effect a change in management will do for Edinburgh, but Hodge’s side were second best for long stretches in Galway. In the early stages, the home side looked back to their best as they held on to the ball for more than two and a half minutes and the ran through 17 phases along the way. But it was their visitors that started the scoring on the night when flanker Jake Heenan was unlucky to be penalised at the breakdown in front of the post, which gave Jason Tovey an easy starter for a 3-0 lead in the sixth minute.
Connacht’s flying winger Niyi Adeolokun then crossed for the game’s first try after ten minutes. With the wind swirling, Jack Carty was on the mark with the conversion from the right for a 7-3 lead, and he found the target again eight minutes later to stretch the lead to seven points. Connacht’s eagerness to attack from deep proved their downfall in the 20th minute when Edinburgh drew level as Gilchrist stretched across the line to score.
Tovey’s conversion levelled matters, but that was short lived as Carty made it three from three from wide on the right. Three minutes from the interval Connacht took a huge step towards their first in of the season with a stunning try, finished off by Roux, which gave the home side an 18-10 lead at the break.
Irish international scrum-half Marmion limped off in the second minute of the second-half, but his loss didn’t disrupt Connacht’s attacking play and four minutes later they ran in a third try. Once again it was an offload in the tackle that sprung the Edinburgh cover – this time from Carty – but there was no stopping Kelleher who hared in for his first Connacht try.
Michael Allen scored his third try of the season nine minutes from time, but Tovey’s conversion hit the post, and moments later Robb ran in a deserved try to clinch the bonus point for the home side.
Scorers. Connacht. Tries N Adeolokun, Q Roux, C Kelleher, P Robb; Con J Carty Pens J Carty 2
Edinburgh. Tries G Gilchrist, M Allen; Con J Tovey Pen J Tovey
Connacht T O’Halloran; N Adeolokun (S O’Leary 37-41, blood), B Aki (S O’Leary 75), P Robb, M Healy (C Kelleher 4); J Carty, K Marmion (C Blade 42); D Buckley (R Loughney 68), T McCartney (D Heffernan 72), C Carey (F Bealham 47); Q Roux, U Dillane (L Stevenson 75); E McKeon (J Connolly 59), J Heenan, J Muldoon
Edinburgh G Bryce; D Hoyland, C Dean, S Rasolea, M Allen; J Tovey (B Kinghorn 80), S Kennedy (S Hidalgo-Clyne 63); R Sutherland (A Dell 63), R Ford (S McInally 59), WP Nel; B Toolis, G Gilchrist (L Carmichael 79); M Bradbury, J Hardie, C Du Preez (H Watson 21-28, blood & 59)
Referee Nigel Owens (WRU)