MAGNERS LEAGUE/Connacht 16 Dragons 3:THE BOYS in green celebrated their first St Patrick's Day fixture at the Galway Sportsground with a deserved victory. In preserving their strong home record this season, Connacht ensured the Dragons, who have not won at the venue since 2004, once again came up short. Crucially for Paul Turner's men it dented their hopes of leapfrogging Munster in the hunt for a play-off place.
The Dragons, traditional rivals for Connacht for the last Heineken Cup play-off place, have fired this season, and, although missing six back-five forwards, they had travelled to Connacht full of confidence following their unexpected 31-22 mauling of Munster.
But the home side was superior, capitalising on forward strength, while their defensive lines never wavered. Ian Keatley, although missing two kicks, directed the play with some neat touchfinders, while Keith Matthews, George Naoupu, Michael Swift, John Muldoon, and a barnstorming effort from Liam Bibo epitomised Connacht’s strength in the tackle.
Connacht took control from the start, and two penalties within the first eight minutes produced a kickable effort from Keatley to put them 3-0 in front. Capitalising on the Dragons’ perceived weaknesses up front, Connacht turned the screw in the scrums and lineouts to establish territorial control, and when Ben Castle was pinged for not rolling away in the tackle, Keatley struck a 20-metre effort for a 6-0 lead after 15 minutes.
It got even better when, ironically from the Dragons’ first sustained attack, Connacht were able to turn over ball just yards from the line and set off downfield. From the kick ahead Dragons’ winger Will Harries attempted to clear, but the ball bounced sideways and Bibo supplied Fionn Carr who dashed in from 35 metres.
Jason Tovey kicked the Dragons’ only points when the home side was pinged for coming in from the side of a maul.
It was one-way traffic as Connacht, through a superior set-piece, denied the visitors possession. They carved out two chances through a forward drive and another from a Carr attack, but were unable to add to their score.
Connacht maintained the stranglehold after the break, producing a sustained attack on the line which after some eight phases resulted in a penalty which Keatley struck after 43 minutes.
Connacht should have added to their tally, but Keatley missed two penalty chances as the game petered out with replacements.
CONNACHT: G Duffy; L Bibo, N Ta’auso, K Matthews, F Carr; I Keatley, C O’Loughlin; B Wilkinson, A Flavin, J Hagan; M Swift, M McCarthy; J Muldoon, R Ofisa, G Naoupu. Replacements: A Wynne for Ta’auso (59 mins), R Morris for Hagan, K Campbell for O’Loughlin, M McComish for Ofisa (all 62 mins), B Upton for Swift (71 mins), M Nikora for Keatley (72 mins), R Loughney for Wilkinson (73 mins).
DRAGONS: M Thomas; W Harries, M Watkins, A Smith, A Brew; J Tovey, W Evans; H Gustafson, T Willis (capt), B Castle, R Sidoli, H Macdonald, T Faletau, G Thomas. G Webb. Replacements: T Riley for A Smith (35 mins), P Palmer for Castle, A Coombs for Webb (both 48 mins), A Brown for Faletau (62 mins), J Leadbeater for Harries (71 mins), J Arlidge for Tovey (73 mins).
Referee: Andy MacPherson (SRU).
