Carty Scores 25 Points To Inspire Historic Result For Connacht

Connacht defeated Leinster in Dublin for the first time since September 2002 as out-half Jack Carty masterminded a seismic 35-24 bonus point win over the Guinness PRO14 kingpins at the RDS.

Itching for an Ireland recall, Carty scored 25 points to end Leinster’s proud 26-match PRO14 winning run. It was their first home defeat to a fellow Irish province in more than five years.

The Guinness player-of-the-match touched down twice and kicked 10 points as Connacht, stung by last Sunday’s home defeat to Ulster, galloped into a 25-5 half-time lead.

Alex Wootton’s late try had cancelled out Scott Penny’s lone score for much-changed Leinster, who had lost the returning Jonathan Sexton to a failed HIA.

Captain for the night, Luke McGrath added a second Leinster try and Ryan Baird a third, but Tom Daly’s 72nd-minute intercept effort sealed the historic result before Ed Byrne bagged a last-minute bonus point for the hosts.

The westerners’ promising start was rewarded in the eighth minute when Carty picked off Ross Molony’s high pass and raced clear to score from 55 metres out.

Carty’s conversion was followed by a 12th-minute penalty miss, but the Athlone man was soon over for his second try. Having combined with Caolin Blade on a speedy break, he then bundled his way over with support from Quinn Roux.

Now 12-0 down, Leinster steadied themselves despite Sexton’s untimely departure. McGrath exploited some space around the fringes and sent flanker Penny over for his sixth try of the campaign.

The conversion was nudged wide by McGrath, though, and Carty strung together back-to-back penalties, the latter one rewarding John Porch for hunting down Jimmy O’Brien, who had shifted to number 10 in a makeshift Leinster back-line.

Within reach of the interval, Connacht’s aggressive defence put them back into try-scoring range and winger Wootton was released for the left corner with Carty converting with aplomb.

McGrath sniped straight through from a ruck, barely three minutes into the second period, and although O’Brien converted, Carty swiftly hit back with his third successful penalty for a 28-12 scoreline.

One of Leinster’s big hitters on the bench, Sean Cronin broke menacingly off a maul to send Baird over for a 56th-minute unconverted try.

A subsequent Leinster score, inspired by O’Brien and finished off by eager replacement David Hawkshaw, was disallowed for obstruction in the build-up by Andrew Smith.

Daly, a real powerhouse in midfield for the victors, swooped on a Hawkshaw pass and fended off Smith to claim Connacht’s bonus point try, which Carty comfortably converted close to the posts.

It sealed their first ever RDS victory, with Leinster’s only consolation being replacement Byrne’s close-range seven-pointer right at the death.

Speaking in the aftermath, Connacht head coach Andy Friend said: “It is very pleasing. We were up here a couple of years ago, had a 17-point lead and that got swallowed up. It is very, very hard to win here but I thought our blokes were hungry from the start.

“They threw everything at it and to get the win was great. To come up here and believe you can win takes a lot of positive mindset. I love the fact they had that belief, love the fact that from the first whistle they threw everything into it.

“We said be decisive, trust your systems and trust the fact we deserve to be out here on that footie field and they did that. We had a lot of young blokes out there and they delivered.

“It’s enormous. It’s enormous for Connacht and for everyone else to prove that they (Leinster) can be beaten.

“For us it is a big win and we said at the front end of the game, that it was not just important to win from a Conference perspective but also to stop our sequence (of three straight losses).”

Leinster boss Leo Cullen commented: “We made a lot of unforced errors. We were definitely better in the second half but credit to Connacht, they deserved their win.

“We need to be better, our young players can learn a lot from that game in terms of understanding the step-up, particularly in these interprovincial games which are different to other PRO14 games. Ulster (next week) is a huge game for us.”