Connacht:
Try: McComish
Con: Keatley
Pens: Keatley 3
Scarlets:
Try: Williams
Con: Newton
Pen: Priestland

Fly-half Ian Keatley kicked 11 points, including the conversion of Mike McComish's first half try, to drive Connacht to their first win in four league fixtures. The Scarlets unsurprisingly were off the boil and we made play second fiddle during a first half which saw Connacht deservedly move 13-0 ahead.

Connacht will feel disappointed after all their hard work defensively that Scarlets winger Lee Williams did manage to break through for a late consolation try, which replacement Daniel Newton converted from a difficult angle for a losing bonus point.

Rhys Priestland, the Scarlets' goalkicking hero against the Dragons last week, missed his first shot at the posts as the Welshmen failed to capitalise on a decent spell of early possession.

His opposite number Keatley with a point to prove after missing out on the irieland squad for the Autmn Internationals split the posts with a well-struck penalty and succeeded with the second of his next two attempts, a meaty 40-metre effort after the visitors were punished for an off-the-ball incident.

The Connacht pack thereafter dominated the Scarlets eight who were minus late withdrawal Deacon Manu, with the back row of John Muldoon, Johnny O'Connor and McComish swarming over the breakdown area and prompting Scarlets errors.

Connacht were briefly on the back foot when centre Keith Matthews was contentiously sin-binned for a late tackle. But despite this with disciplined defence, they kept the Scarlets out of their 22 and began to force the issue up front.

When in turn Scarlets lost their lock Vernon Cooper to the sin-bin, Connacht seized their chance off a powerful scrum - with Ireland call-ups Sean Cronin and Brett Wilkinson to the fore.

Scrum-half Frank Murphy broke to the blindside, and the impressive O'Connor popped an inside pass to set up athletic number eight McComish for a short run to the line. Keatley's successful conversion made it 13-0 at the break.

The Scarlets rallied in the third quarter - and with Connacht prop Wilkinson the third player to see yellow, Priestland hammered over the resulting kick. Full-back Morgan Stoddart, back after a seven-month injury-enforced absence, exerted little influence on proceedings - with the Scarlets backs manufacturing only a couple of notable line breaks.

Into the final quarter, the 14 men of Connacht upped the intensity - and an earth-shuddering tackle from Matthews got the hosts back in the groove.

Soon afterwards, Keatley thumped a long-range penalty over to steady the ship at 16-3 - and despite Williams' late score in the corner, Connacht stood firm for a much-needed victory.

The win keeps Connacht in touch with the Scarlets & Cardiff Blues in the battle to avoid last place in the table with tow points covering the bottom three teams. Interestingly on resumption of ML hostilities Connacht travel to Cardiff in early December (Sunday 6th Dec at 15:00) in what should be a fairly desperate battle for both to pull away from the bottom of the table...

Connacht: 15 Gavin Duffy, 14 Troy Nathan, 13 Nive Ta'auso, 12 Keith Matthews, 11 Fionn Carr, 10 Ian Keatley, 9 Frank Murphy, 8 Mike McComish, 7 Johnny O'Connor, 6 John Muldoon (capt), 5 Bernie Upton, 4 Mike McCarthy, 3 Robbie Morris, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Brett Wilkinson.
Replacements: 16 Adrian Flavin, 17 Jamie Hagan, 18 Michael Swift, 19 Andrew Browne, 20 Conor O'Loughlin, 21 Miah Nikora, 22 Liam Bibo.

Scarlets: 15 Daniel Evans, 14 Morgan Stoddart, 13 Sean Lamont, 12 Rob Higgitt, 11 Lee Williams, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Tavis Knoyle, 8 David Lyons (capt), 7 Richie Pugh, 6 Simon Easterby, 5 Damian Welch, 4 Vernon Cooper, 3 Deacon Manu, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Iestyn Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Phil John, 17 Emyr Phillips, 18 Aaron Shingler, 19 Josh Turnbull, 20 Gareth Davies, 21 Dan Newton, 22 Gareth Maule.

Referee: Graham Knox (SRU)
Assistant Referees: Alan Rogan (IRFU), John Carvill (IRFU)

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon

Related Articles:

• Connacht show resilience to capture impressive win
• Dragons 23 - 10 Connacht