Newcastle Falcons 29 Connacht Rugby 5
It was simply an injury too far for Connacht. Robbed of 20 squad members and fielding a host of Academy players, Connacht could not stop an avenging Newcastle in Kingstom Park on Sunday evening.
Connacht still lead pool one of the Challenge Cup, but the door now has been thrown wide open for the qualification. In grabbing the bonus point, Newcastle have moved level with Brive on 11 points, now just two behind Connacht, ensuring all three sides have everything to play for in the remaining two rounds.
Connacht had dominated the opening half, but failed to post sufficient points to put doubt in the home side as they were level 5-5. apiece. But a nightmare start to the second half in which Connacht conceded two tries in the opening five minutes, put them on the back foot as the Falcons took control to post their second European win of the season.
Once again Connacht were not helped by yet more injuries to their back line with Peter Robb and Danie Poolman forced off, and with only two replacements available, scrumhalf Caolan Blade finished on the wing, with Jack Carty at fullback.
Connacht will not be happy to have nothing to show for a blistering start when they carved out two try-scoring opportunities Eoghan Masterson, from a superb break should have opened the scoring within two minutes, but was harshly penalised for double movement, having crashed over, while a hugely defensive Falcons repelled Connacht’s attempted rolling maul from a penalty to touch after some promising carries from the Connacht backline.
Newcastle, attacking the breakdown with more intent, lived off Connacht scraps in the opening 15 minutes, but it was Connacht who continued to impress out wide, with Niyi Adeolokun’s counter-attacking putting the home side under pressure. Despite the possession, however, Connacht could not find the same fluidity as previous outings, particularly after Peter Robb was forced off, necessitating another rearranged back line after 11 minutes.
Instead it was the Falcons who responded with a try in their first visit to the 22. From a turnover, it was the Falcons’ top try scorer and England sevens exponent, Marcus Watson, whose dancing feet evaded some six would-be Connacht tacklers to open the scoring in the 23th minute, against the run of play.
Finally, however, Connacht broke down the defence when launching from a solid scrum. Taken on initially through Adeolokun and Andrew Bowne, the ball was sent wide from Carty to fullback Danie Poolman, who held off his defender to crash over, bagging his fifth try in six games. Craig Ronaldson’s sideline effort hit off the right post to leave both sides level after 34 minutes.
However it all changed after the break. The first sucker punch came from a penalty try, after Connacht’s initial scrambling defence kept openside Daniel Temm out. But a penalty from the five metre scrum resulted in Eoghan Masterson being yellow carded for not retreating, and referee Whitehouse awarded the try. It was a controversial decision given that the tap did not appear to have been taken from the back of the scrum, but with Willis adding the extra, it put Connacht on the back foot for the remainder of the match.
Within five minutes the Falcons had scored again, rewarded for repeatedly attacking the Connacht line. Pat Lam’s men, with a player down, had soaked up immense pressure, but a lost line-out handed Newcastle another attacking platform and a stretched Connacht defence could not stop centre Belisario Aguilla crossing in the left corner.
There was a brief respite for Connacht. Craig Ronaldson missed the long range penalty kick, but by the 56th minute the home side had been awarded a second penalty try, which Willis converted to wrap up the fourth try bonus, extending their lead to 24-5. A minute later Watson had grabbed his second - finishing off an unlikely counterattack from deep when Connacht simply failed to halt with some porous defence.
