Hibbard’s heroics can’t save Dragons
RICHARD Hibbard’s hat-trick proved to be in vain as the Dragons fell at Rodney Parade. The Dragons had their moments in an entertaining game where momentum frequently swung between both sides, but Connacht’s bench made the difference. Despite Hibbard’s heroics Dragons director Dean Ryan was left bitterly disappointed by his side’s performance. “I think he’ll (Hibbard) definitely remember the hat-trick because he hasn’t had that many,” said Ryan. “I’m not sure if I’m frustrated, we just weren’t very good. We lacked rhythm, direction, and accuracy. Right from the start we invited them into our own half and made it really easy.” The Dragons opened the scoring with a straight forward penalty from Sam Davies before Connacht hit back with the opening try. A well-timed cross kick from Jack Carty was gathered by Matt Healey, who touched down for his 32nd try for Connacht. The visitors scored their second try soon after when Shane Delahunt broke off from an attacking lineout deep in the Dragons 22. Delahunt offloaded to Abraham Papali’i who powered over the line from short range. The Dragons hit back with Hibbard touching down after a powerful driving lineout by the hosts. Such was the pressure the Dragons exerted on the Connacht line that Ireland international Finlay Bealham was sent to the sin bin for offside, and the hosts made the most of their numerical advantage when Hibbard powered over for his second. Connacht began the second-half strongly and a lovely offload from Delahunt put Caolin Blade over for their third. But they let their lead slip again and their inability to defend a driving maul was exposed for the third time as Hibbard completed his hat-trick. Davies converted to level the scores at 20-20 with 20 minutes to go. But Connacht claimed their bonus point try when Tom Daly danced his way past two defenders to touch down with Carty converting. Then the outside-half secured the win with an opportunistic drop-goal. “That’s a really important win for us,” said Connacht head coach Andy Friend. “We haven’t had many in the last few games so to come here to Rodney Parade and get a win was important.”