Club Connacht re-emerged on Saturday and once again the European stage provided the platform. In their opening Shield clash against Newport in Rodney Parade, Connacht did all the basics, sometimes brilliantly, if erratically, producing a performance that was reminiscent of their march into the quarter-finals last year.

Amongst the familiar there lurked the new, with Connacht's 14 man line-out on show for effectively the first time this season.

"We have always encouraged its use, but it was not until today that the opportunity presented itself. We took it and it worked," said coach Glenn Ross.

It came at a critical time - just before half-time with Connacht trailing by 9-7 despite having been the dominant force throughout most of the first half.

The opening 20 minutes saw Connacht playing some of their best rugby of the season according to Ross. Having returned to basics after their poor performance against Munster two weeks ago, Ross could take pleasure in many aspects of the game - Jimmy Duffy and Graham Heaslip dominated the line-outs, the scrum was always solid, Conor McGuinnesss in his first full match since returning from injury once again used his box-kicking to put Newport under pressure, out-half Simon Allnutt rose out of Eric Elwood's shadow to produce a near clinical performance, and once again the defence denied Newport any scores, but penalties.

A five-try tally says enough about Connacht's superiority, yet it took well into the second half before they made it count, forcing Ross to produce a rare "scolding" at half time.

Although Newport started well and were three points up from a Shaun Connor penalty after five minutes, Connacht hit back almost immediately. Veteran hooker Billy Mulcahy made the break from the 10-metre line; Graham Heaslip was stopped short, but flanker Ian Dillon was on hand to barge over for try number one, which Allnutt converted.

Connor kept the young Newport side in the game with his penalty kicks, and a fourth on 43 minutes levelled the half-time scores.

It was Allnutt - yellow carded in the first half for a high tackle on his opposite number - who finally took matters into his own hands in the second period. Launching himself through a stunned defence, the New Zealander chipped ahead with the full back Gareth King to beat, and with his second tip secured the touch.

With the exception of Allnutt's singular effort, the game continued on its meandering and unspectacular path until Connacht eventually wore down their opponents. Once again Allnutt was instrumental in the final fling as he put King under all sorts of pressure inside the 22, and the full back's miscued clearance fell straight into the willing arms of Barry Gavin who sent off Graham Heaslip at an unstoppable pace.