Connacht marked their first visit to Myreside with a hard-earned 22-19 victory over Edinburgh as Pat Lam’s men withstood a late comeback to secure their fifth GUINNESS PRO12 victory in seven games.
Blindside Eoin McKeon scored the only Connacht try with the excellent Steve Crosbie, on just his second start for the province, kicking six from six in a very composed display from out-half.
Connacht led 22-0 with 63 minutes on the clock but a penalty try, with full-back Tiernan O’Halloran sin-binned as a result, and a score under the posts from man-of-the-match Hamish Watson made it 22-14 and breathed new life into Edinburgh’s play.
That ensured an uncomfortable finish for last year’s PRO12 champions and while a Glenn Bryce try in the left corner on 73 minutes had the nerves jangling, O’Halloran soon returned and the visitors held on in determined fashion to claim a narrow win.
A clinical first half display ended with Connacht 16-0 in front, Crosbie opening the scoring with a long range eighth-minute penalty via after the province’s first foray into opposition territory. Edinburgh’s Duncan Weir had missed an earlier shot at the posts.
Edinburgh, who had lost their last six PRO12 matches, were enjoying the lion’s share of possession and territory, but the westerners were defending well and were six points to the good after another terrific long range kick by Crosbie in the 26th minute.
McKeon struck for Connacht’s first try on the half hour with returning scrum half Kieran Marmion timing his pass perfectly to pop McKeon through a gap with the flanker picking a great line and scoring under the posts.
Indeed, after a second penalty miss by the off-colour Weir, his opposite number Crosbie slotted over another tricky penalty with ease to widen the margin to 16 points at the interval.
As in the first half, Pat Lam’s men worked hard and efficiently in defence to repel the early Edinburgh attacks before capitalising at the other end through the boot of Crosbie for a 19-0 lead midway through the third quarter.
Although hooker Tom McCartney had to go off with a leg injury, a burst of ‘The Fields of Athenry’ from the travelling support drove Connacht on and a knock-on denied O’Halloran a try as the visitors’ slick passing created the opportunity.
Captain John Muldoon was pointing to the posts again on the hour after an Edinburgh high tackle. Crosbie obliged with a simple three-pointer for a 22-0 lead and Connacht looked home and hosed.
Edinburgh were not going to go down without a fight, however, and when O’Halloran, on the occasion of his 100th PRO12 appearance, was deemed to have halted an attack with an intentional offside, referee Dan Jones awarded a penalty try and showed the yellow card to O’Halloran.
Weir clipped over the simple conversion and when busy openside Watson slipped through a tackle and touched down under the posts barely three minutes later, the comeback was well and truly on.
Sensing their opportunity, Edinburgh kept swarming forward and were within three points of erasing a one-time 22-point deficit when full-back Bryce, fed by Sam Hidalgo-Clyne on the blindside flank, barged over out wide.
With their lead cut to 22-19, Connacht were certainly wobbling at this stage, yet O’Halloran returned after Weir’s missed conversion and the westerners successfully weathered the storm to see out the final minutes and prevail by just three points in the end.
The result keeps Muldoon and his team-mates in seventh place, four points ahead of Cardiff Blues who drew with Ulster tonight. Connacht and Cardiff are set to contest the Champions Cup qualification play-offs next month with the Aviva Premiership and Top 14’s seventh-ranked clubs.
The play-offs will work as follows:
May 19-21 – Play-Off 1: Aviva Premiership (seventh-ranked team) (home advantage) v GUINNESS PRO12 (ninth-ranked team); Play-Off 2: Top 14 (seventh-ranked team) (home advantage) v GUINNESS PRO12 (eighth-ranked team)
May 26-28 – Play-Off Final: The winners of Play-Off 1 will have home advantage against the Play-Off 2 winners
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