Donnelly leads Connacht to victory

Connacht 22 Newport Gwent Dragons 7:Australian recruit Tim Donnelly kicked Connacht to a notable opening win in the Magners League as the Newport Gwent Dragons were felled at the Sportsground.

Donnelly landed four penalties and converted Robbie Morris's try in the first half and Connacht's new number 10 popped up with a late drop goal to cap off the win.

The 15-point victory maintained Connacht's record of winning their opening game in the league every year since the competition started.

Connacht laid the foundation for success in the opening half and were well worth their 19-7 interval lead.

Newcomers Donnelly, at fly-half, winger Ofisa Treviranus and former England prop Robbie Morris all made telling contributions but the stand-out display came from Ferbane native Aidan Wynne at inside centre.

The former Ireland Under-20 international has just broken through from the province's academy and gave a superb all-round performance.

Connacht had to recover from the concession of a seventh-minute try when Dragons full-back Martyn Thomas skirted over when he chased his own chip after a good offload in the tackle by Peter Sidoli on the 22.

But Connacht bounced back with Donnelly in fine shooting form.

The Australian kicked five from five on the night, landing his first from 25 metres after five minutes before reducing the margin with a kick in front of the posts after good work by Wynne.

Then Johnny O'Connor won a lineout and good work from the Connacht pack got the shove on, rumbling all the way over from 25 metres, with Donnelly adding the points to push them 13-7 in front and they never looked back from that.

Donnelly landed two more penalties before the break for them to lead 19-7 at the interval.

The Welsh had plenty of possession in the third quarter but Connacht were disciplined in defence and saturated everything thrown at them.

And Michael Bradley's men finished on a high with Donnelly adding a late drop goal to crown a good start to the campaign for Connacht.