Scarlets 58 Connacht 10:CONNACHT have been dealt a major injury blow ahead of their highly-anticipated Amlin Challenge Cup semi-final against Toulon on Friday night with Ray Ofisa Treviranus looking likely to be ruled out.
Following Ulster’s bonus point win over Edinburgh yesterday, Connacht cannot qualify for the Heineken Cup via their Magners League position. Instead, they need to win the Amlin Cup or hope Leinster or Munster win the Heineken Cup.
But their Amlin plans suffered a setback when the Samoan flanker was replaced in the 50th minute after suffering a recurrence of vertigo in the nine-try hammering by fellow Magners League basement side the Scarlets.
The Irish province, who fielded a weakened side, were on the end of a hiding by the time Treviranus had left the field, with the Scarlets surging into a 31-3 half-time lead, with tighthead prop Rhys Thomas crashing over for two tries.
In between the Wales front-row’s rare exploits, Jonathan Davies and Rob McCusker touched down for a comprehensive bonus point before the floodgates opened after the interval.
Eoin Griffin scored a consolation for Connacht but Nigel Davies’s side continued to ram home their advantage with tries from Josh Turnbull, a double for Regan King, a second from centre Davies and Sean Lamont,
Connacht fell behind in the fifth minute when Rhys Priestland fired home a close-range penalty after Tiernan O’Halloran had palmed away a pass inside his 22. But Davies’ men got their just rewards in the eighth minute when Thomas crashed through four challengers to touchdown under the posts and Priestland converted.
Flanker McCusker then went in under the posts after Dan Evans’ perfectly timed pass. Davies scored a third try on 24 minutes.
Keatley got the visitors on the scoreboard with a penalty but the Scarlets completed a comprehensive first-half display by claiming the bonus point. Priestland chipped to the left corner, Rees flicked the ball back to the lurking Thomas who added his second with ease.King then pounced for the fifth try on 47 minutes.
Connacht replied with Griffin’s breakaway after a neat run by O’Halloran before the Scarlets added four more scores late on.
SCARLETS:D Evans; S Lamont, R King, J Davies, A Fenby; R Priestland, M Roberts; I Thomas, M Rees, R Thomas, L Reed, D Welch, R McCusker, D Lyons (capt), J Turnbull. Replacements:P John for Thomas (32-40, 61 mins), D Manu for Thomas, D Day for Welch (both 61 mins), L Williams for Fenby, T Knoyle for Roberts, E Phillips for Rees (all 72 mins), D Newton for Priestland (77 mins),
CONNACHT:L Bibo; T O'Halloran, T Nathan, E Griffin, B Tuhoy; I Keatley), C O'Loughlin; R Loughney, A Flavin (capt), R Morris, D Nolan, B Upton, A Browne, M McComish, R Treviranus. Replacements:C Higgins for Morris (45 mins), E McKeown for Treviranus (50 mins), M Nikora for Keatley (52 mins), K Campbell for O'Halloran (53 mins), D Murphy for Browne (56-66 mins), Murphy for Flavin (67 mins). Yellow card:Flavin *53 mins).
Referee:A Macpherson (SRU)
