Connacht almost grab rare away win at the death

Ospreys 19Connacht 17

Connacht almost ended their dismal away form in the Magners league on Sunday night at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea. They went down 19-17 but had chances to win in a frantic finale and certainly earned their bonus point. The first point away from home for nearly two years.

The performance came against an Ospreys side short of numerous front line players but whereas in the past that hasn't stopped sides cutting lose on Connacht, this time the overall effort was encouraging and it fits in with a trend of better away displays this season.

In games away to Cardiff and the Dragons, Connacht have been in the hunt for victory for the majority of the contest and the Challenge Cup wins at Worcester and Montpellier merely adds weight to the feeling that the concerted effort to put their strongest team out for away games has boosted morale and allowed momentum to build. 

All that being said, the Connacht squad will take little solace from the bonus point gained here because there was more than enough reason to suggest they should have garnered more from this contest. They were outscored two tries to one and trailed by as much as 13 at one stage but, for a large part of this contest, the visitors were the better side.

The opening 15 minutes were evenly balanced, Dan Biggar scored on eight minutes for the Ospreys with a penalty but Ian Keatley responded in kind four minutes later for Connacht. It could have been more had Sean Cronin not being snagged inches from the line by Jamie Nutbrown.

Biggar’s kicking was letting the home side down, he missed two penalties as Connacht’s early discipline problems went unchecked but the game swung in favour of the Ospreys on 17 minutes when the brilliant Gareth Owen ran onto a pass from full back and beat Niva Ta’auso, on his outside shoulder, to canter home from 30 metres.

The Connacht centre had been treated for an injury minutes earlier and was clearly struggling by the time Owen beat him. It certainly appeared as though the hesitation in replacing him proved costly. The missed conversion was a reprieve but the Ospreys led 8-3.

Connacht had the better the second quarter of the contest but couldn’t get that all important try. George Naoupu put in a standout display all night and he could have had a try after he blocked Nutbrown’s clearance kick from a lineout five metres from the Ospreys line. The big Connacht number eight was held up over the line.

Minutes later Conor O’Loughlin made a superb break but he failed to find the supporting Keith Matthews on the inside and instead went to Naoupu on his right who was brought down short of the line. Keatley did manage a penalty but Biggar had one for the Ospreys within minutes and they led 11-6 at the break.

The Ospreys won the contest in the first 10 minutes of the second half. The good teams always kick on in that period and Connacht have yet to master the art of dealing with such early onslaughts. Biggar’s penalty after Fionn Carr was badly caught out stretched the lead to eight but it was to get worse minutes later.

For more, read page 54 of this week's Connacht Tribune.