Connacht Book Champions Cup Berth With Thrilling Win Over Blues

Connacht are back in the Heineken Champions Cup for the first time in three years after man-of-the-match Jack Carty inspired their 29-22 GUINNESS PRO14 bonus point win over Cardiff Blues at the Sportsground.

Andy Friend’s men survived a nervy finish, brought on by Jason Harries’ 79th-minute try, as they booked a Champions Cup berth and set up a PRO14 quarter-final trip to provincial rivals Ulster as the result guarantees them a third place finish in Conference A.

A tense and closely-fought first half ended 14-7 in Connacht’s favour, the wind-backed home side striking for tries from Caolin Blade (11 minutes) and Gavin Thornbury (26) either side of a well-taken Owen Lane effort for the Gareth Anscombe-led Blues.

Ireland out-half Carty sparked a crucial 10-point surge on the restart with a sparkling team try, and although Cardiff eventually restored the seven-point deficit thanks to an Anscombe penalty and Josh Turnbull’s 70th-minute try, an opportunist score by Matt Healy from the restart ultimately proved enough to ensure European top tier rugby in Galway next season.

Giving his reaction afterwards, Connacht head coach Friend said: “It’s pretty pleasing. You can probably hear the singing coming from the changing room but I just thought that we knew what was on the line there today. Cardiff knew what was on the line there today. You could see how desperate both teams were to win that, and I thought our second half was very, very good and it was great to get the win.

“We talked at half-time just about our body language and we felt that Cardiff had probably got the better of us with their body language and their ability to get ahead of the game. We basically said there’s 40 minutes left, let’s empty the tank, and I thought the way we started in the second half was outstanding.

“Sometimes you know you’re up against a wind, you know you’re up against an opposition and you’ve got to work a little bit harder. And sometimes when you’ve got that wind behind your back, I don’t think you consciously think about it, but subconsciously you think, ‘we’ve got that wind behind our back’, and you dial back a little bit. And in big games like that it probably plays out that way.”

Just four points behind Connacht in the table before kick-off, Cardiff won the toss and elected to play into the stiff wind. Having watched Carty miss a penalty, the Blues got no reward for a promising multi-phase attack which saw Matthew Morgan and Willis Halaholo stretch Connacht out wide before Tom Farrell forced a penalty at ruck time.

The hosts’ first serious attack resulted in the opening try, Paul Boyle bursting clean through and offloading slickly for scrum half Blade to snipe over close to the the posts. TMO Ken Henley-Willis ruled out any offside or forward pass and Carty comfortably converted, also impressing a few phases later with a superb kick pass out to Healy.

The Welshmen entered the second quarter on level terms, looking the sharper with ball in hand and big winger Lane exploited a gap on Darragh Leader’s inside shoulder to dart in under the posts. Anscombe made it seven points apiece, but Connacht were clinical from limited opportunities, blindside Boyle winning a turnover penalty and claiming the lineout ball which Thornbury turned into a maul try in the right corner.

Carty swept over a terrific touchline conversion before missing a long-range 33rd-minute penalty, Dave Heffernan setting up the chance with a muscular carry. Turnbull and Seb Davies’ expert maul defence ensured the gap remained at seven points for half-time, but it was all Connacht at the start of the second period despite facing into the elements.

Poor discipline from the Blues allowed Carty to drill over a 12-metre penalty. The Athlone man then scored one of the tries of the season, the attack from deep beginning with Leader’s quickly-taken lineout, Bundee Aki’s brilliant hands and Healy’s great pace driving their team forward before Carty cruised through a gap and collected his own kick through to touch down ahead of Morgan.

Anscombe cancelled out some of the damage with a quick penalty for a 24-10 scoreline, and Connacht were very fortunate to avoid conceding a try to Harries on the hour mark. The outcome of a TMO review ruled that he had simultaneously grazed the touchline in the act of scoring, leaving referee Mike Adamson to award an attacking scrum.

Connacht were on the cusp of a yellow card when a bout of forward pressure ended with Turnbull driving over in the left corner. Anscombe nailed a cracking conversion to make it 24-17, but all that good work was undone when the westerners disrupted at the restart, the loose ball forcing Lane back near his try-line and it went loose again for Healy to gleefully steal in and score by the corner flag with TMO confirmation.

Carty was wayward with the extras before Cardiff again showed their battling qualities, working the ball wide for winger Harries to deservedly reach over. Anscombe’s drop-kicked conversion missed the target, and although a late penalty brought the Blues back into Connacht territory, Friend’s charges won a final turnover for Blade to kick the ball dead.

The Australian added: “We said at the start of the season, maybe ambitiously, but believed it, because you can’t enter a competition if you’re not prepared to say we want to win it. So we said we want to win it (the PRO14).

“I believe we’ll have a quarter-final against Ulster but before that we’ve got to go to Munster (in the final round of the Championship) and we’ve got to play a game there. People will say the result doesn’t matter but it does, because sport is about momentum too, so we want to keep winning which we will aim to do, and so will they.

“Munster will probably be aiming for top spot (in the Conference) now so that will be a huge game down there in Thomond Park and then Ulster in a quarter-final, which is pretty exciting.”