Connacht in the groove

Neath will not have happy memories of their visits to the West of Ireland. Having lost to Connacht on their January visit for the European Shield, the Welsh All Blacks returned last evening with a 100 per cent record in the Celtic League - and it went crashing in the Galway Sportsground on a most decisive scoreline.

Connacht, facing the wind, did all the work in the first half and then set about defending their 22-10 half-time lead. They did it stoically, burying Neath's spirit with every driving tackle.

The game began according to the script and within a minute outhalf Lee Jarvis had opened the scoring with a penalty. Then followed a remarkable 20 minutes in which Connacht ran in two tries.

Elwood's masterly lateral kick was grounded by left wing Wayne Munn as Neath full back Shaun Connor was unable to control the bounce. Four minutes later Connacht were on the offensive again, and were rewarded with a penalty.

Elwood, who did not have the best first half with his kicking, put his effort well wide, but somehow captain Mark McConnell had taken flight, caught the ball inside the goal line, and touched down - much to a bemused Neath defence.

When Elwood, added a 20th minute penalty, Neath's unbroken sequence of four league wins looked perilous.

Despite the presence of Batemen and the every dangerous Tongan international winger Dave Tiueti, it was 35 minutes before Neath added to their score when Connor took advantage of a huge overlap to go in under the posts, and Jarvis added the conversion.

Yet Connacht were not finished. Johnny O'Connor, the Irish under-21 player, touched down under the posts for the third try just before the break.

Connacht extended their lead to 28-10 by the 56th minute with two Elwood penalties. Then they set about defending as Neath piled on the pressure in the final 20 minutes. But with every offensive came a crunching tackle as Connacht repeatedly swamped their opponents, and five line-out steals must have broken Neath hearts.

Scoring sequence: 1m:: Jarvis penalty 0-3; 3m: Munn try, Elwood conversion 7-3; 8m: McConnell try, 12-3; 20m: Elwood penalty 15-3; 35m: Connor try, Jarvis penalty 15-10; 37m: O'Connor try, Elwood penalty 22-10; 48m: Elwood penalty 25-10; 56m: Elwood penalty 28-10.

CONNACHT: G Duffy; P Duignan, D Yapp, T Allnutt, W Munn; E Elwood, E Reddan; D McFarland, M Uijs, P Bracken, R Frost, M McConnell, P Neville, J O'Connor, D Dillon. Replacements: R McCormack for D McFarland (63m), J Charlie for Neville (72m) , M McPahil for Duignan (67m)

NEATH: S Connor; D Tiueti, J Storey, A Bateman, K James; L Jarvis, A Moore; D Jones, S Jones, A Howell, S Martin, G Lleweylln, R Francis, A Macelutu, B Sinkinson. Replacements: S James for Francis, A Millward for Howell, R Phillips for Mocelutu (all half time), M Price for Bateman, P Jones for D Jones, J Slade for Llewellyn( all 72m).

Referee: J Yuille (SRU).