From the highs of last week’s gritty win over Glasgow to the shock of this record 58-0 reversal to the Cardiff Blues. Connacht suffered their worst defeat in Magners League history at the Arms Park on Friday as the Blues ran nine tries past them.
Cardiff beat their previous record league win (48-0 against Edinburgh in April 2007) by 10 points as they mercilessly put Connacht to the sword.
The Irish province, revitalised after last week’s much-needed win at home to Glasgow, did not know what had hit them as the Blues strung together five tries in a devastating 11-minute spell, towards the end of the first half.
The heavy defeat beat Connacht’s previous record league loss (a 40-0 humbling against Pontypridd in October 2002).
The Cardiff squad was bolstered by the returns from injury of Xavier Rush, Richie Rees and Deiniol Jones, while Mike Roberts and Michael Swift were fit to start for the visitors.
Keeping Nicky Robinson on the replacements bench, Ceri Sweeney slotted a fourth-minute penalty to get the Blues up and running and their first try followed just a minute later.
Bustling centre Jamie Roberts was a thorn in Connacht’s side throughout the night, as both John Hearty and Mel Deane struggled to cope with the 21-year-old’s powerful runs.
After a quick tap penalty, Roberts showed a clean pair of heels to the Connacht defence to bound over for his score.
By the end of the first quarter, the Blues were 17-0 to the good thanks to two Ceri Sweeney conversions and a try from the Wales-capped out-half.
Roberts was involved again as he carried forward with intent and as the Connacht line came into view, Rhys Thomas and Maama Molitika both handled before the latter offloaded for Sweeney to ghost over.
Connacht missed a 14th-minute penalty through Andy Dunne but their number 10 was one of their better players, distributing intelligently and constantly in support of the ball carrier.
Team captain John Muldoon also made his presence felt and centre Hearty showed good ambition when he blazed through on a fantastic 25th-minute break, only for Connacht to be subsequently turned over.
Michael Bradley’s men huffed and puffed but they were shackled well by the wall of Blues defenders and the floodgates soon opened at the other end.
On 30 minutes, another superb bust forward by Roberts exposed the Connacht defence. Jason Spice jinked into the 22 and his looping pass out to the right bounced perfectly for young full-back Leigh Halfpenny to fly in at the corner.
That try went unconverted but Sweeney did add the extras to Halfpenny’s second try, which followed less than two minutes later.
Cardiff clinched the bonus point as great hands from Gareth Thomas, who drew two defenders, allowed Halfpenny the space to race over from the left and in behind the posts.
Italian referee Carlo Damasco, taking charge of his second league game, sin-binned Connacht number 8 Colm Rigney for not rolling away in the tackle and Bradley’s charges were in serious trouble.
With the Irish side’s gameplan fragmenting and Cardiff dominating with their offload game, the Blues picked off three more tries before the interval.
Hooker Rhys Thomas got over in the right corner past Mike Roberts, after a well-worked lineout move involving four pairs of hands.
David Young’s side were finding a lot of joy on the left wing, where Aidan Wynne was caught out on a couple of occasions.
They probed the left again in the 37th minute. Molitika took out two defenders and Roberts and Halfpenny then combined to send Gareth Thomas into space.
With Wynne and Fionn Carr out of position, the former Wales captain was able to bulldoze past two last-gasp tackles from Dunne and Frank Murphy to touch down in the left corner.
Just as the clock ticked into injury-time, Connacht’s woes were compounded when big flanker Molitika handed off Johnny O’Connor and squirmed over for a close range try.
46-0 in the ascendancy at half-time, Cardiff took their foot off the pedal for much of the second half. However, Connacht must take some credit for gradually stopping the rot and gaining some relieving territory.
They still leaked two further tries. Replacement scrum half Richie Rees threatened on the resumption and Sweeney was able to spin and speed over for a simple try, after a good hit from Xavier Rush had produced turnover ball.
There was a near miss for the hosts when Gareth Thomas lost the ball forward as he stretched for the try line.
His fellow winger Richard Mustoe was also called for a foot in touch as he attempted to ground the ball in the right corner.
In truth, it was an error-strewn second half and neither side was able to maintain a high standard of play with the result assured and Connacht left playing for pride.
The westerners had a try ruled out, 11 minutes from the finish. Flanker O’Connor made it over the whitewash but a knock on spoiled the attack, after some strong running from Carr and Hearty.
The final word fittingly went to the Blues off a quickly-taken tap penalty near the posts.
Gareth Thomas did well to delay his pass to Taufa’ao Filise and send the replacement front rower strolling over behind the posts, with Nicky Robinson comfortably converting.
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