Connacht 20 Border Reivers 17:Connacht, clueless in attack and devoid of basic organisation around the field, flirted with a humiliating defeat before clinching victory near the end against bottom side Borders at the Sportsground last night.
It required a Matt Lacey try four minutes from the finish to bail them out of a crisis that was largely created by their own bungling incompetence on the night.
The Scottish side, with pacy winger Dougie Flockhart wreaking havoc, had led 10-6 at the interval and again stunned Connacht when taking a 17-13 lead through a Gregor Townsend try after 67 minutes.
Paper-thin Connacht defence had paved the way for that score and likewise for the first Borders try nine minutes into first-half injury-time when a breakdown of a routine midfield move had presented Flockhart with a 40-metre run-in.
The visitors could quite easily have extended their lead on more than one occasion after the interval as the Connacht cover went awol. The home side were extremely flattered when hooker Adrian Flavin crashed over for a try which saw them take a 13-10 lead in the 58th minute.
Connacht who had looked unmotivated all night, finally responded positively in the aftermath of Townsend's try. With replacement outhalf Peter Durcan bringing some urgency to the fray, they strung together a prolonged passage of continuity before secondrow David Gannon's offload in the tackle put Lacey over from close range.
Even then they had to survive a late scare as the unlucky Border side piled on the pressure before the final whistle.
SCORERS: Connacht: McHugh, 2 pens, con. Flavin try, Lacey try Warwick con. Border: Flockhart try, De Luca try, Law pen and cons (2).
CONNACHT: D Slemen; D Yapp, J Hearty, M McHugh, C McPhillips; P Warwick, C Keane; B Wilkinson, A Flavin, S Knoop; D Gannon, M Swift; J Muldoon, C Rigney, R Ofisa. Replacements: G Williams for Hearty (half-time), M Lacey for Ofisa (60 mins), T Robinson for Yapp (64 mins), P Durcan for McHugh (68 mins).
BORDER REIVERS: S Moffatt; D Flockhart, B MacDougall, N De Luca, G Law; G Townsend, R Chrystie; B Douglas, R Ford, E Kalman; O Palepoi, J Dalziel; S Newlands, S Forrest, A Miller. Replacements: B McNeill for Kalman (inj, 40 mins), C Cusiter for Chrystie (73 mins), M Lee for Miller, (73 mins), B Rennie for MacDougall (73 mins).
Referee: P Fear (Wales)
