Forde finds his feet as Connacht romp home
MAN of the match Cathal Forde said Connacht are hopeful of repeating last year’s run to the knockout stages after seeing off Scarlets at Dexcom Stadium.
Former Irish U20 outside-half Forde produced another top class display with David Hawkshaw in the centre to kill off any hopes of a surprise Scarlets win in Galway.
“We saw last year that it’s a matter of building the points at this time of year and not looking too far ahead, so we will move on to the next challenge,” said Forde.
Connacht led 19-7 at the break and really should have had the bonus point and the game wrapped up at that stage after dominating the opening half with 64 per cent possession when they had the strong wind.
But while they raced into a 12-0 lead inside ten minutes, with tighthead Jack Aungier sending his skipper Caolin Blade through after six minutes and the hooker Eoin de Buitlear crowning his first start when he was put over by Cian Prendergast.
They squandered several chances before Aungier set up Sean Jansen after a tapped penalty but Scarlets hit back and scored from their only attack of the half when No.8 Vaea Fifita made the decisive opening to send his scrum-half Efan Jones through for a try converted by Dan Jones and leave them 12 adrift at the break.
Scarlets reduced the margin to nine points with a penalty after 47 minutes from Dan Jones and then pressed forward for a try but the game turned on a key moment.
Scarlets went for the kill with a penalty to the right corner but Niall Murray got a touch to prevent them getting possession and Connacht cleared their lines. They built the phases and secured the bonus point after 58 minutes when impressive replacement Oisin Dowling made the hard yards, Denis Buckley hacked on and when it bounced back off the left post, Jansen was quickest to react and score. Hanrahan’s conversion making it 26-10.
That left Scarlets with an insurmountable task, with Connacht sniffing out any threat. They played the final ten minutes with 14 when Dowling limped off after the bench had been cleared.