Connacht on course for quarter-final spot
Unbeaten in this season’s Amlin Challenge Cup, and barring an unexpected mishap in Madrid, Connacht will seal a quarter-final place against a Heineken Cup side.
Coach Michael Bradley says he is now looking for an “impressive” clean sweep when they face Olympic Madrid next weekend where a bonus point will be the target in the hope of bagging a home quarter-final venue.
Montpellier relied on a conservative game plan to blunt Connacht’s ambitions but Connacht proved they had more strings to their bow when they opened up play in the second half to secure two crucial tries, the championship points, and give their season a huge boost.
There was little between the two packs, but Connacht got the upper hand in the opening scrum when Van Staden was penalised for collapsing and Connacht made use of their opening foray when Ian Keatley struck his effort well from the 22.
Montpellier drove forward in packs and it took some aggressive defending to keep them at bay until Adrien Tomas struck a penalty in the 19th minute.
In the war of attrition Montpellier looked to have the upper hand, but Connacht were immense in defence, withstanding everything the French side threw at them.
However the visitors conceded eight penalties in the first half, and those proved critical in giving Connacht some much-needed breathing space as the sides finished level at the break.
It was to long before Connacht carved out a lead with Keatley struck a 22m penalty within five minutes of the restart, and although Montpellier had an opportunity at the other end, Connacht looked the more confident with ball in hand.
Ofisa was once again pivotal in turning over position in midfield, instigating a series of attacks that would lead to Connacht’s opening try. Bernie Upton, whose line-out steal in the opening half came at the crucial time, once again secured clean possession to set up a drive to the line. Firstly Sean Cronin was held up before Frank Murphy and Ofisa looked to have crashed over, but at the third time of asking Murphy sent the ball out wide to Liam Bibo who finished off in the right corner.
Keatley added the extras to give Connacht a 13 – 3 lead and from then the Sportsground faithful sensed Connacht were on their way.
As Connacht continued to keep the ball alive with some expansive play, Fionn Carr deservedly added to his try tally. Having carved a huge gap minutes earlier, the left wing finished off a series of attacks to bag his sixth European try after Connacht had Montpellier camped on their own line.
Keatley’s conversion gave the home side an unbeaten 20 – 3 lead after 68 minutes, and although Montpelllier grabbed a try from lock Mamuka Gorgodze at the death, it was of no consolation in this winner-takes-all contest.
CONNACHT: T Nathan, L Bibo, N Ta’auso, K Matthews, F Carr, I Keatley, F Murphy, B Wilkinson, S Cronin, R Morris, M Swift, B Upton, M McCarthy, R Ofisa, J Muldoon (cpt).
Replacements: J Hagan for Morris (ht), C O’Loughlin for Murphy (63), R Loughney for Wilkinson and G Naoupu for Upton (66), A Flavin for Cronin, M Nikora for Keatley AWynne for Matthews (72).
MONTPELLIER: JM Alcalde, B Thierry, O Smith, G Rees, T Brana, J Schutte, ATomas, E Van Staden, J Caudullo, B Douglas, M Macurdy, M Gordodze, V Bost, G Chkhaidze, M Giraud.
Replacements: N Leleimalelefaga for Van Staden and M Demarco for Bost (ht), G Doumayrou for Rees, M Castelle for Tomas, S ax for Thiery and S Matadigo for Demarco (all 69m), O Tissot for Chkaidze.
Referee: P Allan (SRU).
Amlin Challenge Cup Pool: 3 Castres 47 Rovigo 0. Pool 5 Albi 14 Newcastle 16.