Connacht fail to recover from poor start in Challenge Cup defeat to Newcastle Falcons

Newcastle Falcons 35 Connacht 21

“A huge difference between what we could have won, and what we are now facing into,” said a deflated Connacht coaching director Andy Friend as they had headed to Newcastle with a strong three wins from three – a fourth would have given Connacht possible home matches throughout all the next stages of the European Challenge Cup competition.

Instead the concession of three tries put them on the back foot from the start, and in playing catch-up, they simply ran out of time.

What a difference that loss has made. Now Connacht are left with an away knock-out game against Benetton in Treviso and the opportunity to draw a capacity crowd in the Sportsgound. A bitter pill to swallow.

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The positive is Connacht are still through to the last 16, which Friend says is the most important result, but “it’s now a trickier path”.

“You’ve seen the fight in this team, and we are going to have to fight pretty hard now.”

Behind by 21 points within 20 minutes, Connacht were unable to secure a fourth successive European win, not helped by the concession of a host of penalties in the opening 20 minutes.

“I counted seven red dumbass penalties in the first 25 minutes which led to their third try – 21-0 down and we are still giving away penalties,” says Friend. “How we got back into the game surprised me. It is that fighting sprit, but we need more than that. We need to be better.

“But we’ll pay a compliment to Newcastle. They came out and were on it from the off, they put us under pressure.”

“It is must-win next week in the URC and a really important game for us, We want to keep climbing up the table, so we must regroup and bounce back.”

The early concession of three penalties gave the home side the opening opportunity to kick for touch and drive, and with another penalty pending, scrumhalf and captain Michael Young darted through to score, with outhalf Tian Schoeman adding the conversion for a 7-0 lead.

When Connacht got on the right wrong side of the referee with another penalty conceded, Newcastle continued to control possession and territory. It eventually led to a yellow card for Connacht’s Byron Ralston and there was only one result. From the penalty to touch, the Newcastle backs joined the forwards in driving to the line for a second try, scored by centre Matias Orlando, Schoeman adding the extras. When a third converted try followed on 19 minutes from left wing Mateo Carreras, it was always going to be an uphill battle.

Connacht did claw back the deficit when man of the match Finlay Bealham was able to burrow over for the first of his hat-trick, with Fitzgerald converting, and the visitors finally found some continuity, going through the phases which allowed Bealham to score his second try with Fitzgerald nailing the conversion to close the gap to 21-14 after 31 minutes.

However, Connacht could never recover from the disastrous start, particularly after Newcastle’s Josh Barton scored. Bealham provided some hope with his third to cut the deficit to seven, but when Caolin Blade had a try disallowed for a forward pass, the hosts sealed victory with a 77th minute try from centre Pete Lucock.

Scoring sequence: 2 mins: M Young try, Schoeman con 7-0; 12 mins try M Orlando try, Schoeman con 14-0; 19 mins M Carreras try, Schoeman con 21-0; 22 mins Bealham try, Fitzgerald con 21-7; 30 mins Bealham try, Fitzgerald con 21-14. HT 21-14, 43 mins J Barton try, Schoeman con 28-14; 53 mins Bealham try Fitzgerald con 28-21; 77 mins P Lucock try, 35-21.

NEWCASTLE FALCONS: A Tait; B Stevenson, M Orlando, P Lucock, M Carreras; T Schoeman, M Young (capt); L Mulipola, J Blamire, T Davison; G Peterson, S De Chaves; G Graham, P van der Walt, C Fearns.

Replacements: J Barton for Young (22 mins), P Rubiolo for Peterson (36 mins), F Lockwood for Fearns (53 mins), A Brocklebank for Mulipola (55 mins), A Radwan for Tait and R Palframan for Davison (both 62 mins), C Maddison for van der Walt and J Thomas for Schoeman (both 67 mins).

CONNACHT: M Hansen; A Byrne, B Ralston, C Forde, A Wootton; C Fitzgerald, C Reilly; D Buckley, S Delahunt, F Bealham; L Fefita, J Murphy; S Hurley-Langsto, C Oliver, J Butler (capt).

Replacements: T Farrell for Wootton (32 mins), D Murray for Fifita, D Tierney Martin for Delahunt and C Blade for Reilly (all 58 mins), T Daly for Fitzgerald (60 mins), J Aungier for Bealham, J Duggan for Buckley and C Booth for Hurley-Langton (62 mins).

Yellow card: B Ralston (Connacht) 9 mins

Referee: Pierre-Baptiste Nuchy (France)