Late try is Connacht's only saving grace

Celtic League: A spirited late rally - totally out of sync with much of the first hour - culminated in a trademark try from Matt Lacey and the Connacht pack deep into injury-time last night, to earn the home side a point that was very much a bonus.

It could yet prove invaluable in that scenic play-off route via Italy, although in the final analysis, it was the most Connacht deserved from a night of toil and trouble.

This was their fourth defeat out of four at Dubarry Park in Athlone and - as is usually the case with Michael Bradley's team - whatever chance Connacht had of upsetting the odds against an improving and physically more imposing Llanelli Scarlets depended on them getting their basics right.

But not for the first time in this campaign, their lineout leaked like a sieve, coughing up at least eight of the Bernard Jackman throws.

In some mitigation of Jackman - watched by Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan - Llanelli appeared to be closing the space and getting up to all manner of skulduggery. And, in the midst of it all, was another in the pantheon of Scottish referees to incur the wrath of everyone - namely Graham Hannah.

After a subdued, scrappy and scoreless opening quarter, Mike Philips almost single-handedly took the game by the scruff of the neck.

He can be an objectionably abrasive, mouthy player, but he's a hugely talented scrumhalf, long since touted as the next Terry Holmes in Welsh circles.

Here, he took a quick tap from 40 metres out in close proximity to the first line of defence, who couldn't block his path for fear of incurring further sanction.

This left him with Matt Mostyn as the line of defence, and coming from 30 metres back at full tilt, Philips easily stepped inside for a try which Bowen converted.

Six minutes later he rewarded a sustained spell of Llanelli continuity by opportunistically diving over from a close-in recycle.

The only thing that kept Connacht afloat was John Muldoon's steals at the breakdown. At the end of the half, Connacht captain Andrew Farley engaged in deep debate with Mr Hannah.

The second half resumed where the first left off, with Connacht coughing up another Jackman throw to leave themselves on the back foot in their own 22.

However, Conor McPhilips came to the rescue when corralling Aisea Havili into touch, and again when stopping the hard-running Llanelli winger after he had ploughed through Darren Yapp and Matt Lacey on halfway.

Bowen did push Llanelli 15-0 ahead with a close-range penalty before the home supporters - by now reduced to cheering a Llanelli knock-on - finally had something more meaningful to shout about when Mostyn, as is his wont, hit the line superbly and attacked the inside shoulder.

Despite being stretched, the Llanelli blitz defence held out and Connacht had to be content with a Warwick penalty to finally open their account.

Ominously, though, Llanelli immediately reasserted themselves; their rolling maul being brought down for Bowen to land another penalty.

That was the cue for Warwick - after earlier landing his second penalty when late tackled following one of his own chip-aheads - to unveil his bag of tricks and, with Chris Keane injecting some tempo into their game with a plethora of quick taps and strong running in contact, Connacht also came up with a few more training-ground moves.

They also unveiled the highly regarded Shannon prop Tony Buckley - a tight-head in the John Hayes mould - for his provincial debut.

And they were unlucky when a deftly angled kick to the right flank bounced between the onrushing McPhilips and Lee Byrnem, but fell for the Llanelli full back before knocking one more time.

Although their initial maul was held up, Lacey probed the blindside and showed strength in the tackle until the cavalry arrived to shunt him over the line.

SCORING SEQUENCE - 26 mins: Philips try, Bowen con 0-7; 32 mins: Philips try 0-12; (half-time 0-12); 49 mins: Bowen pen 0-15; 55 mins: Warwick pen 3-15; 61 mins: Warwick pen 6-15; 65 mins: Bowen pen 6-18; 85 mins: Lacey try 11-18.

CONNACHT: M Mostyn; C McPhillips, P Warwick, D Yapp, T Robinson; D Slemen, T Tierney; R Hogan, B Jackman, P Bracken, C Short, A Farley (capt), B O'Connor, M Lacey, J Muldoon. Replacements: C Keane for Tierney (52 mins), T Buckley for Bracken (63 mins), D McFarland for Hogan (66 mins).

LLANELLI: L Byrne; A Havili, M Watkins, S Finau, T Selley; G Bowen, M Philips; P John, M Rees, J Davies, V Cooper, C Wyatt, J Mils, A Powell, G Thomas. Replacements: I Boobyer for Mils (30-40 and 72 mins), A Jones for Wyatt (76 mins).

Referee: Graeme Hannah (SRU).