Returning winger Matt Healy notched his first try of the GUINNESS PRO14 season as Connacht defeated the Isuzu Southern Kings 31-14 to make a winning start to their two-match tour of South Africa.
The westerners’ fifth victory of the campaign has moved them into third place, ahead of Cardiff Blues and Ospreys, with Cian Kelleher and Paul Boyle also touching down and their scrum forcing a penalty try. Most of the damage was done in the first half which ended 24-7 in Connacht’s favour.
Their forwards coach Jimmy Duffy commented: “We knew coming back off the break that guys would be a little rusty, but thankfully we had a good week’s training here, we got here a little earlier, a day earlier. They’re tough opposition so we’re delighted to get the bonus point.
“The boys were good (in the scrum), we were patient. We spoke about it during the week that if we were creating anything we’d have to be patient and build a picture. Credit to them, they stuck at it – I think we were in the corner there for about six minutes. Good to get rewarded at the back-end of that.
“Our ball focus would be an area to improve for the next match, we created some opportunities but maybe didn’t hold onto that last pass. Maybe forced things a little bit at times. But first match, job done and bonus point in the bag.”
Playing into a strong wind in Port Elizabeth as they sought their maiden win on South African soil, man-of-the-match Jack Carty kicked Connacht ahead with a fourth minute penalty, and they did not have long to wait for the first try of this round 9 fixture.
Ten minutes in, a maul gobbled up the metres and James Cannon and Shane Delahunt carried up close before Carty sent a cross-field kick over to the right where winger Kelleher finished with minimum fuss. He cut in around Berton Klaasen to make the conversion easier and Carty duly added the two points.
The Kings did look dangerous from limited possession and opened their account with 27 minutes gone. Full-back Masixole Banda jinked past a couple of defenders to go in behind the posts and convert his own try. Nonetheless, Connacht clawed back those seven points with a strong bout of scrummaging approaching half-time.
Successive infringements saw referee George Clancy yellow card loosehead Lupumlo Mguca, and his replacement Alulutho Tshakweni could not prevent Conor Carey from driving through as the Kings went backwards over their try-line and the penalty try was awarded.
Matt Healy then got in on the scoring act when the Kings were undone by a sweeping first-phase move from a lineout. Denis Buckley took a short ball at the front and fed Colby Fainga’a who sent Caolin Blade running towards midfield, Tom Farrell fixing a couple of defenders before giving the scrum half a return pass and Carty and Tiernan O’Halloran teed up Healy on the left wing to finish expertly past the covering Harlon Klaasen.
24-7 behind, the Kings were the better side on the resumption. Their improved play was rewarded with a 50th minute try from replacement Ntabeni Dukisa. A free-flowing attack was almost thwarted by Kelleher’s thumping tackle on big prop Mguca, but quick recycling and clever angles of running sent former Italian international Dries van Schalkwyk charging through to set up Dukisa’s simple finish.
Although Banda’s conversion reduced the arrears to 10 points, Connacht slammed the door shut on the comeback with Boyle’s well-taken try under the posts. The Gorey man celebrated his recent signing of his first professional contract by taking a hard line onto a short Blade pass, stepping out of a tackle and showing his strength to reach over despite two covering defenders.
Replacement David Horwitz comfortably converted with Connacht, who had a vocal backing from their impressive travelling support, able to see out the result relatively untroubled. The Kings did leave a try behind them during the closing stages, van Schalkwyk missing out on the score due to Tienie Burger’s forward pass.
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