Ugly red card mars Connacht victory over Benetton
Replacement Caolin Blade claimed a 66th-minute bonus point as Connacht overcame Benetton 38-19 at the Sportsground.
Connacht captain Jack Carty converted tries from Niall Murray and Paul Boyle and added a penalty to establish a 17-7 half-time lead.
Marcus Watson sandwiched in his second try in the space of a week, while Marco Zanon cancelled out a Finlay Bealham effort to keep the Italians in contention.
Scrum-half Blade wrapped up the result, taking advantage of a red card for Benetton’s Kiwi second row Scott Scrafton, before Tommaso Menoncello and Dylan Tierney-Martin traded late scores.
Second-row Murray showed an impressive burst of pace to score from halfway, Carty’s short pass releasing him to romp over despite Edoardo Padovani’s cover tackle.
Following the first of Carty’s five conversions, the visitors showed their threat out wide when English duo Jacob Umaga and Watson combined from a cross-field kick.
With 18 minutes on the clock, former sevens international Watson ran in an opportunist try. The ball went loose at a Connacht ruck, allowing Scrafton to send the speedster over from the left wing. Umaga levelled from the tee.
Connacht were back in front when Bundee Aki’s inviting pass off a lineout put Boyle hurtling over for Carty to make it 14-7.
Benetton prop Ivan Nemer managed to hold up Oisin Dowling, and another promising Connacht attack was spoiled by obstruction from Conor Oliver.
A Carty penalty put 10 points between the sides before the break, and Bealham added another seven-pointer early in the second half. The initial surge came from slick handling by centres Aki and Tom Farrell.
Connacht were sloppy at times, though, and they allowed Benetton to respond by the hour mark. Skipper Dewaldt Duvenage’s partially blocked pass was grounded by centre Zanon to restore the 10-point deficit.
Scrafton, though, was too high when tackling Tierney-Martin near halfway, his dismissal leaving Benetton shorthanded for the remainder.
Blade tucked away the bonus point, reaching over after Aki was stopped short, but the lively Menoncello got past Aki for a well-taken consolation try. A maul right at the death saw Tierney-Martin complete the scoring.
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Yes for sure, thanks for sharing. I fully understand that both parties are better off, no one needs to lose, neither competition suffers, in fact both can be better as a result.
Too many true rugby fans (and analysts) don't understand that.
I wouldn't imagine there is a date aye. It was a long decline rugby in SA and Australia was going through, and was so bad it even effected NZ, caused them to argue to can a couple of teams. The nation of SA probably grew into it? I know I watch more of the NH now specifically because of the SR teams playing there. I actually had to mention to Nick Bishop (because of his stubborn perspective) the other day that I've never been a fan of Super Rugby, I don't think they chose the right way to go about professionalism back in 1995. Unfortunately, NZR was stuck between a rock and a hard place, because it had SA's and Australians that ran their unions by States, so we had to separate into "two or three" teams as a result. Our game is in the kak now because of it, they want to kill off the lifeblood of our National Provincial Championship. But now we might see a way out of it, so it's all good.
Go to commentsOh, so the Boks going back to half way means they definitely scored?
Don’t make me laugh…..
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