It’s hard work but Aki’s brace helps Connacht fend off Scottish visitors
Connacht 28
Glasgow 24
Rob Murphy at the Sportsground
OFF they go again. No sooner has one season ended than a new one begins. Connacht broke with some well established trends at the Sportsground on Saturday night to secure a rare opening day win over their old foes from Glasgow. A second half flurry of tries thanks to scintillating attacking rugby saw them scrape home in front of 200 lucky supporters who were allowed access.
Bundee Aki led the way. Connacht’s star man adds grit, leadership and explosive speed to everything they do. He had two tries and played a pivotal role in the evening. He wasn’t the only star man, Jared Butler was a powerhouse, Dave Heffernan underlined why he remains in contention for more Ireland caps, Finlay Bealham was in storming form and Kieran Marmion is back to his best too.
Yet all of those plaudits stem from what we saw after half time as this was a complicated tale. Andy Friend’s side were poor in the first half, so were Glasgow but they were misfiring while dominating possession and territory. Connacht on the other hand were getting overawed at the breakdown to the point of losing discipline and conceding penalties to a side that had beaten them six times in a row since the famous 2016 PRO12 semi final.
How the home side didn’t concede an avalanche of first half tries is baffling as they had the ball for a mere 30% of the contest and had to cope with Quinn Roux’s sin binning midway through the half. Part of the reason for Glasgow only scoring the one try late in the first half from Nick Grigg was the home defence. The best example of this came in how they dealt with the lineout and maul of the visitors.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
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