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Dragons fail to fire as Connacht run in five tries for win
By PA
Replacement Matthew Devine’s last-minute intercept try topped off a comfortable 31-7 United Rugby Championship win for Connacht over Dragons.
Paul Boyle, Caolin Blade and captain Cian Prendergast crossed during the first half at Dexcom Stadium, as the Westerners led 19-0 in search of their third win in six games.
It took 73 minutes before the bonus point was registered through Cathal Forde, and despite Taine Basham’s consolation score, Devine made sure to have the final say.
Pete Wilkins’ side applied the early pressure via a scrum penalty. Some close-in carries led to Boyle bashing his way over, supported by Dylan Tierney-Martin. Forde converted.
Dragons drew encouragement from Aneurin Owen’s well-won penalty, while Ewan Rosser and the returning Aaron Wainwright both got their hands on the ball before the attack petered out.
Indeed, the hosts were clinical soon after, Shayne Bolton’s burst out wide putting them on the front foot, and Bundee Aki’s instinctive offload, in front of the posts, sent Blade over to make it 14-0.
Connacht’s maul defence frustrated the Welsh outfit twice, and Angus O’Brien’s 50:22 kick also amounted to nothing. His half-back partner, Dane Blacker, was then swatted out of the way by Prendergast for a try before half-time.
Even the introduction of Rhodri Williams, fresh from his shock Wales call-up, could not inspire a score for Dragons. Aki broke up their attacking pressure with a turnover.
Basham could not link with his support on a pacy break, but Connacht got the scoreboard moving again late on.
Scrum-half Devine brilliantly slipped out of two tackles to release Forde for the try-line, with the centre also adding the conversion.
Basham showed impressive strength to reply for Dragons, following another O’Brien 50:22 kick, only for Devine to soon scamper clear from just inside his own half.
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Latest Comments
Well that's what their fans say here on this site🤷
My opinion is that their origin in SA and Super was far more important to their success. Hence why I suggested they see the fostering of players themselves local as far more part of their 'blueprint'.
I wasn't devaluing Rassie from selecting overseas players as being critical to stopping the downhill slide the team/country was on.
Super is a much higher standard of rugby than URC, you cannot argue against that. What is also beneficial is the tournaments role in giving players the ability to succeed at International level though. Thats were a competition based on 5 separate countries wins out.
Salary caps mean nothing. If you like, you can do a study based on how much players are paid locally, and then how much they sign for overseas. From memory I think it can be two or three times as much for that top player below International level. So for example you can say that the value of players choosing to stay in a team capped at 3mil euro, is worth 9mil euro overseas. That beats the French Top 14 teams value.
So aside from your Rubbish ;) I think you might be right, the setup in Aus is a joke. A good first step would be to use a lot of kiwi players, and then a lot of their coach's. Who was Noah playing for.. thought it was a top club.. a quick look on Noahs all.rugby profile suggests to me that towards the end of his koker stint at Toulon he over took the 10 that was favoured ahead of Dan Biggar in their knockout matches, that suggests he's good enough to be a starter in the Top 14's elimination rounds AM. Again, I think you're talking a pile of kak mate!
Go to commentsAgree Reikos defense is massively under rated. We lost Argie game without him shoring up midfield. Cane couldnt keep pace in the first 20
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