NEWPORT GWENT DRAGONS 27 CONNACHT 14:CONNACHT WERE condemned to finish the season last in the Magners League following their defeat to Newport Gwent Dragons at Rodney Parade yesterday.
Fionn Carr gave 14-man Connacht hope with a try early in the second half with captain Gavin Duffy in the sin bin but by the time Keith Matthews followed, the Dragons had struck twice more to move out of reach.
The defeat leaves Connacht 10 points behind Newport, with just two games remaining.
Sean Cronin once again demonstrated his impressive mobility as a hooker, revelling in the open spaces while centre Niva Ta’auso was always threatening.
It took 33 minutes to register the first points when James Arlidge converted a penalty from 35 yards for the Dragons.
However, when Michael Swift was warned for a high tackle moments later, Arlidge pegged his kick down field to set up an attacking scrum. The Dragons picked the obvious target in Luke Charteris from which Joe Bearman stretched out to score despite Andrew Browne’s goal-line challenge. Arlidge converted but missed from in front of goal to limit Newport’s lead to 10 points.
Matters worsened in the second half for Connacht when they lost Duffy to a yellow card.
Ian Keatley missed with his first attempt at goal but an opportunist break by the Connacht outhalf, continued by Andrew Farley, ended with Carr beating three men to score to the left of the posts and haul the province back into the game in the 48th minute.
But the home side slowly turned the screw, suffocating Connacht in their own territory until Rhodri Gomer-Davies stepped off the sin bin and through Ta’auso to score Newport’s second try.
Connacht may still have fancied their chances, even at 17-7, but the difference in power between the teams was beginning to show and when Wales prop Rhys Thomas burst past Adrian Flavin to score from close range on 65 minutes, the game was finally settled.
Carr capitalised on a defensive blunder to lead a counter-attack that Matthews finished on 70 minutes, only for the Connacht wing to end the game in the sin bin.
NEWPORT GWENT DRAGONS: J Tovey; G Wyatt, R Gomer-Davies, A Smith, R Fussell; J Arlidge, W Evans (A Walker, 76); A Black (N Hall, 74), T Willis (capt), R Thomas, H Macdonald, L Charteris, D Lydiate, R Parks, J Bearman, R Parks (L Evans, 74).
CONNACHT: G Duffy (capt); F Carr, N Ta'auso, K Matthews, L Bibo (T Nathan, 73); I Keatley, F Murphy (C O'Loughlin, 65); B Wilkinson, S Cronin (A Flavin, 54), B McGovern; M Swift, A Farley (D Gannon, 73); A Browne, R Ofisa, J O'Connor.
Referee: G Knox(Scotland).
