Connacht Left Frustrated As Four-Try Dragons Claim Famous Victory

Connacht’s inconsistent form struck again as the Dragons prevailed 35-22 to impressively chalk up their first win at the Sportsground since May 2004.

Following last week’s near miss against Leinster, Dean Ryan’s men deservedly ended a run of six straight defeats with flanker Taine Basham excelling as the United Rugby Championship player-of-the-match.

Although Dragons full-back Jonah Holmes scored the only try of the first half, four penalties from Jack Carty had Connacht 12-8 ahead at the break.

However, the Welsh side were clinical after that with Jordan Williams, Mesake Doge and Holmes again all crossing. Influential out-half Sam Davies booted 15 points.

Connacht replied with tries from Mack Hansen and Conor Fitzgerald, but there was no denying the Dragons their first victory since last April.

An offside call against Rhodri Williams allowed Carty to kick Connacht ahead in the third minute. The Athlone man missed a second attempt but was back on target in the 14th minute.

Davies soon got the Dragons off the mark, and neither try-line was troubled until the all-action Basham was stopped short from a maul.

With 27 minutes gone, full-back Williams brilliantly collected his own chip kick, on the bounce, and put Holmes reaching over in the right corner. Davies narrowly missed the conversion.

The visitors then lost lock Will Rowlands to the sin bin for not rolling away. Carty mopped up with the three points and soon fired over from a similar 35-metre range for 12-8.

Nonetheless, the Dragons silenced the home crowd with three tries in 18 second-half minutes. Full-back Williams beat three defenders for a terrific 47th-minute try, converted by Davies.

Profiting from Jack Dixon’s initial turnover, Fijian prop Doge burrowed over for Davies to convert.

Suddenly, Connacht found themselves trailing 22-12. Carty swung the ball wide for Hansen to duck inside three tackles and make the line. Carty missed the conversion.

His opposite number Davies kept the Dragons on course, knocking over a penalty before threading a kick through for Holmes to complete his brace.

Davies’ reliable left boot clipped over the conversion and a final penalty, that last kick coming after Connacht’s Sam Arnold had sent fellow replacement Fitzgerald over out wide.

The Dragons’ only previous success at the Sportsground was on their inaugural visit to the Galway venue over 17 years ago.

They put an end to that winless run in emphatic style, with Jordan Williams and Davies starring. But the biggest impact was made by openside Basham, who carried powerfully and put in some crunching hits.

Giving his reaction afterwards, Connacht head Andy Friend said: “Last week it was all smiles in our dressing room and we were celebrating a really good performance (against the Bulls).

“Eight days on we are sitting here, scratching our heads, saying, ‘that is certainly not fast, certainly not relentless and we were not adaptable’.

“We said at half-time that we didn’t feel we had got a foothold into the game. We thought they were clever in slowing the pace of the game down. We wanted it quick. But we did not move fast enough, either.

“Our body language didn’t exude energy and bounce. We discussed that at half-time. There were elements of the second half that were a little bit better but then we had our turnovers, handling errors were just too high and we are sitting here looking at a heavy defeat.

“That is certainly not the team we want to be. The Dragons were more workmanlike and more clinical with what they did and they definitely had a greater sense of game control than we did tonight.

“We must pay due credit to the Dragons. They were the better team tonight and they leave here with five points on the back of it.”