Connacht Let Lead Slip As Weir Inspires Edinburgh To Late Win

Dougie Fife scored the fastest try in GUINNESS PRO14 history as Edinburgh extended their winning streak with a 29-22 defeat of Connacht at the Sportsground.

The Scots enjoyed a dream start with Dougie Fife scoring after just 10 seconds via a charge-down, eclipsing the league’s previous quickest try by Nathan Brew for the Dragons (18 seconds) in December 2005.

Connacht fought back to lead 17-13 at half-time, with Tiernan O’Halloran and Tom Farrell both scoring their fifth tries of the campaign, but despite a further score from prop Finlay Bealham, wily replacement Duncan Weir inspired a late win for Edinburgh with 16 points – including another try from a blocked kick.

In-form Edinburgh, who were chasing their sixth straight PRO14 victory, stunned the hosts when John Hardie blocked down O’Halloran’s attempted clearance straight from the kick-off, and winger Fife swooped in ahead of three Connacht players to touch down.

Jaco van der Walt, who missed the conversion, landed a seventh minute penalty to strengthen the visitors’ position, but Connacht soon bounced back with two very well-taken converted tries after 11 and 16 minutes.

Some lovely interplay between Caolin Blade and Eoin McKeon sent full-back O’Halloran cruising through a midfield gap, on a diagonal run straight to the line. Jack Carty converted and was then instrumental in their second seven-pointer, his clever run and well-timed pass putting centre Farrell over to the right of the posts.

Edinburgh hit back past the midpoint of the first half, their impressive South African winger Duhan van der Merwe afforded too much room by Niyi Adeolokun as he broke up the left touchline to make it 14-13, with van der Walt’s conversion attempt off target.

Richard Cockerill’s men came in search of further tries, but Connacht – and Jarrad Butler and Sean O’Brien in particular – manned a muscular maul defence, and a late sortie downfield just before half-time saw a Carty penalty put four points between the teams.

Conditions worsened for the second period with a heavier rain shower, out-half Carty winning the tactical battle with some clever kicks but missing a penalty after some evasive running from Adeolokun and Matt Healy.

With Connacht, and Quinn Roux in particular, leaking more penalties, Weir broke the deadlock with a 61st minute penalty, but the province bounced back again with a try, centre Farrell’s leg-pumping charge getting them into scoring range before Bealham burrowed over in the 71st minute.

However, Carty’s replacement Craig Ronaldson pushed the conversion wide and then blundered when his kick on halfway was blocked by Weir who dribbled through and scored to the right of the posts, although there were some question marks over the grounding. The influential stand-off tagged on the extras and added a final penalty to complete his decisive 16-point contribution in just 19 minutes.

Connacht head coach Kieran Keane said afterwards: “We gave Edinburgh easy access back into the game. They are a tough side and a form side, but I thought we controlled everything relatively well and had our noses in front, but the pressure told and we capitulated in a couple of areas.”