Connacht Made To Pay For Missed Chances

It was an agonising 21-19 defeat for Connacht at Parc y Scarlets this afternoon as the Scarlets regained top spot in the GUINNESS PRO12.

Pat Lam’s men played some impressive attacking rugby in wet conditions, but ultimately came up short after conceding a 79th minute penalty that replacement out-half Steve Shingler converted to snatch the victory.

The losing bonus point was scant consolation as Connacht, who had a couple of tries ruled out by TMO Paul Adams in the first half, fell to their fourth successive league defeat.

These sides have been struggling for form of late despite their high placings in the table. Both of them probed with the boot in a tactical early spell before Connacht lost centre Bundee Aki to the sin-bin for a shoulder-led tackle on Regan King.

The visitors managed to hold up the resulting attack, as backs Niyi Adeolokun and Craig Ronaldson forced the Scarlets into touch, before they won a penalty of their own.

Connacht began to gather some momentum and, after Kieran Marmion’s smart pick and go breached the hosts’ 22, Eoghan Masterson touched down over the line – only for the TMO to adjudge that the young back rower had knocked on instead.

Morgan Allen relieved the pressure after breaking from the resulting scrum but Connacht now had their full complement back with the return of Aki.

The first points of the match finally arrived in the 23rdd minute as centre Ronaldson fired over from in front of the posts after King was pinged – and yellow carded – for killing the ball.

But they did not have to wait so long for the next score, the excellent Matt Healy turning on the afterburners from his own 22 to run in a terrific solo try before Ronaldson split the posts with the extras for a 10-0 lead.

With King back in the fold, Aled Thomas cut the deficit to seven points after an offside drew a penalty in the 36th minute. Then Hadleigh Parkes pulled off a brilliant tackle to deny Healy his second score, doing just enough to prevent a clear grounding in the left corner.

But the Scarlets attacked the second period with fresh vigour and when Connacht pulled down a lineout, Thomas scored from the tee again. And after a superb Michael Collins charge down, John Barclay churned out a strong carry before winger Steffan Evans stormed over out wide for a 45th minute try.

Thomas’ conversion edged the Scarlets ahead at 13-10 but only temporarily as they were penalised for blocking and Ronaldson levelled things up.

The game increasingly opened up but the Scarlets were riding the crest of a wave, and on the hour mark full-back Collins sped over after an initial surge from man-of-the-match King.

This time Thomas failed with the extras, and some inspired work from Aki saw Connacht carry the ball into the Llanelli side’s 22 soon after. A penalty fell Connacht’s way at the breakdown and Carty, taking over the kicking duties from the replaced Ronaldson, reduced the arrears to two.

The tension could be felt by both teams in the final ten minutes and Carty looked to have won it for the visitors after the Scarlets gave away a penalty near the 10-metre line. The Athlone native coolly slotted the kick for a 19-18 scoreline.

But the game was turned on its head once again when Ronan Loughney saw yellow for a needless tip tackle in a ruck and Shingler, a second half replacement, decided this nail-biting contest with barely a minute remaining.

Connacht have now fallen to fourth in the table, with head coach Lam admitting: “We are gutted (to lose). It’s another good performance from the boys. We created a lot of good opportunities again – we probably didn’t take some of them.

“We gave a few penalties away which were needless and silly. Discipline at this time of the year is crucial as we found out against Ulster and Leinster.

“I’d be more concerned if the effort wasn’t quite there. If we continue to concentrate on things we can get better and we will get there. There’s a long way to go.”