Bradley upbeat as Warriors fall to determined Connacht

CONNACHT once again produced a European miracle, not necessarily with a stylish performance, but with the same gritty determination that has become their hallmark.

After a 30-20 defeat in England the previous week, Connacht subdued the visiting Worcester Warriors to maintain their push for a Challenge Cup quarter-final.

It certainly was not the greatest display but the host’s fortitude and patience eventually prevailed - a factor coach Michael Bradley believes has been encouraged by this season’s Celtic League.

“The Celtic League is a higher standard this year. All the sides have to play for a full 80 minutes to get a result and any mistake is punished. We are used to being under pressure, and it’s not foreign territory for us. On paper no one gave us a chance because we are bottom of the Celtic League and they are fourth in the English Premiership. But I think Worcester are not as good as their fourth standing and we are not as bad as our bottom of the Celtic League position.”

Deprived of line-out ball, conceding possession in the scrum, and on the back foot, Connacht somehow survived a tough opening half hour. Defensively their pack stood up to the Worcester barrage as the visitors repeatedly opted to kick to touch with the hopes of using their notorious pack to drive over.

“We did not have the greatest of starts, but we came back in the last 10 minutes of the first half and played some good rugby and found some space out wide to get a try. It just showed that if we get a solid platform, we can play rugby quite well.”

After both out-halves had exchanged penalties, Worcester’s tactic finally yielded the opening try when prop Tony Windo claimed the touchdown from a forward surge.

However, Connacht finally delivered first phase ball. John Muldoon and John Hearty provided the attacking platform before David Slemen notched his second penalty and, within two minutes, Worcester found themselves a man down when Shane Drahm was yellow-carded for killing the ball. Andrew Farley claimed the line-out and, after a couple of patient drives forward, Conor McPhillips pounced to score in the corner.

As a result Connacht were the happier with an 11-10 half time lead.

The introduction of Paul Warwick and Christian Short added some bite to Connacht’s offensive play in the second half, although they lost the hardworking Colm Rigney with a suspected neck injury. When Muldoon stole possession inside his own half he set up an attack that was only halted in the right corner when Worcester fullback Nicolas le Roux was penalised for deliberately killing ball. Warwick kicked the resulting penalty, but a minute later Connacht’s Chris Keane was yellow carded for the same offence.

It gave Worcester the chance to close the gap to one point, but Warwick was again on target in the 57th minute with a penalty.

Similar to last weekend’s see-sawing drama at Sixways, Worcester re-took the lead. Connacht surrendered the ball too easily from their own line-out, and flanker Kai Horstmann broke through before a sweeping move was finished with a try to Delport. Drahm failed to add the conversion but extended the lead minutes later with a penalty.

Connacht maintained their momentum and the space opened in the corner for flanker Matt Lacey to score.

It was not enough to deny Worcester a loser’s bonus point which ensures they still top the group by a single point, but the home quarter-final is still up for grabs with two pool 5 matches remaining.

Connacht Scores: Conor McPhillips try, Matt Lacey try, David Slemen 2 pens; Paul Warwick 1 pen.

Worcester Scores: Chris Fortey try, Thinus Delport try; Shane Drahm 1 con, 3 pens.

CONNACHT: M Mostyn; T Robinson, J Hearty, K Matthews, C McPhillips; D Slemen, C Keane; R Hogan, J Fogarty, S Knoop, A Gallagher, A Farley, J Muldoon, M Lacey, C Rigney. Replacements: C Short for Gallagher 41m, M Swift for Rigney 49m, T Tierney for Keane 76m.

WORCESTER: N Le Roux, U Oduoza, T Lombard, S Whatling, T Delport, S Drahm, M Powell, T Windo, C Forley, C Horsman, P Murphy, C Gillies, K Horstmann, P Sanderson, D Hickey. Replacements: D Rasmussen for Oduozo (61m), A Gomersall for Powell 67m, L Fortey for Horsman 67m, E O’Donoghue for Collier 82m

Referee: E Darriere (France)