Jack Carty sets new Connacht record as Emirates Lions hammered

Jack Carty ended Eric Elwood’s long run as Connacht’s record points scorer as they overcame the Emirates Lions 43-24 at the Sportsground.

Elwood racked up 1152 points before his retirement in 2005, but the mantle has passed to Carty whose 13-point haul against the South Africans has moved him onto a career total of 1159.

Connacht’s current captain also set up Tiernan O’Halloran’s 35th-minute bonus-point try, adding to earlier scores from Diarmuid Kilgallen, Shane Delahunt and Caolin Blade, as the Lions trailed 29-17 at half-time.

In their final game of a four-week tour, Ivan van Rooyen’s side had hit back through Asenathi Ntlabakanye and Henco van Wyk to keep their hopes of getting something out of the clash alive.

However, Blade went on to register a hat-trick, meaning Lions captain Marius Louw’s closing try was mere consolation.

Two minutes in, a Carty pass put Kilgallen outside Jordan Hendrikse to sprint over from the edge of the visitors’ 22. Carty pulled the conversion wide.

Hendrikse and Carty traded penalties before the Lions took an 11th-minute lead, prop Ntlabakanye crashing in under the posts for Hendrikse to convert.

As Connacht lifted the pace again, Delahunt linked with Blade and picked from a close-in ruck to score. Carty nailed the conversion this time.

A neat one-two soon saw Delahunt send scrum-half Blade over, the conversion from Carty seeing him overhaul Elwood’s record.

The hosts were hit with a double blow, though, when Van Wyk impressively swatted away two tackles to close the gap to 22-17. Delahunt was also dispatched to the sin bin for a cynical infringement during the build-up.

However, Carty’s long skip pass sent O’Halloran over to secure the bonus point and the extras from the Athlone man left 12 points in it at the interval.

O’Halloran blocked down a Hendrikse kick just two minutes after the restart, allowing the quick-reacting Blade to score again and Carty converted.

The scoring dried up until Blade sniped over from a 61st-minute ruck, only for Louw to answer back three minutes later from a quick tap.

Connacht were missing the final pass late on, but the result was done and dusted as they moved up to 10th in the BKT United Rugby Championship.