Elwood refusing to get carried away

ERIC ELWOOD had every reason to be “chuffed” about his side’s unexpected demolition of the Dragons on opening day.

A four-try bonus-point win was more than Elwood might have expected in his first competitive game in charge of his home province when consigning the Dragons to their seventh straight defeat at the Galway Sportsground.

Although this was their biggest margin of victory over the Welsh outfit at home, the new boss is not getting “carried away”.

“It’s nice to win, but it’s a long journey we are on. This was a home game, we won it, and we are chuffed with the bonus point. But we have a massive challenge over the next two weeks. Our away form is well documented and that’s the challenge – to become competitive away from home and give a good account of ourselves.”

And once again Elwood is looking at a back row conundrum, with Ezra Taylor joining Johnny O’Connor on the injury list. The No 8, who, in his Magners League debut, was yellow carded for a high tackle on the Dragons’ fullback Jason Tovey, is to undergo a scan on his knee today and it is possible he will not see any action for several weeks.

Although it is another blow to an already stretched squad, Saturday’s performance against the Welsh visitors was one to boost the confidence.

Crucial to this victory was their superiority in the set piece, a commitment and intensity in defence, and accuracy in attack – a strategy based on a quicker tempo than normal. It suited them well, and while both sides had players yellow-carded, it was Connacht (Taylor and Gavin Duffy) who withstood the losses better.

Connacht led 20-9 at the break, courtesy of two tries. The first within three minutes set the tone for the home side when Niva Ta’auso took a straight line through the midfield cover from Taylor’s line-out ball and openside Ray Ofisa was in support to finish off under the posts. The second on 32 minutes came via Taylor again and with support from Jamie Hagan, Irish international Cronin finished off. Keatley, who contributed 25 points to the game, adding the conversions and four penalties, showed real pace to escape the cover and claim Connacht’s fourth try on 67 minutes.

“We want to play the game with a bit of tempo and that’s where I think we are at our best. When we try to contrive situations or make the ball slow, it doesn’t suit us, ” said Elwood.

“We have worked extremely hard in pre-season with the ball – not just the backs but both backs and forwards so the guys from one to 15 are comfortable with the ball. And when you get dominance in the set piece, it stands you in good stead, and that showed in the tries and the opportunities were created, but likewise we were a little disappointed with the discipline that let the Dragons back into the game.”

While the home side’s line-out functioned smoothly, the front row of Brett Wilkinson, Sean Cronin and Jamie Hagan gave their side the upper hand at scrum time, and it was rewarded with a penalty try after a series of collapsed scrums on 65 minutes.

The Dragons took control for the opening 11 minutes of the second half, reducing the arrears to 20-12.

However Connacht’s new-found ability to ‘attack in defence’ was epitomised during that crucial period after half time when, starved of possession, a series of committed tackles led by Ofisa and Michael Swift, had the Dragons back-pedalling some 20 metres. It was rewarded as Connacht regained the initiative, only conceding a 71st-minute consolation try to right wing Will Harries.

Scorers for Connacht: R Ofisa, S Cronin, pen try; I Keatley try 4 pens, 4 cons.

Scorers for Dragons: W Harries try; M Jones 3 pens; J Tovey pen.

CONNACHT: G Duffy, T Nathan, N Ta’auso, K Matthews, F Carr, I Keatley, F Murphy (capt), B Wilkinson, S Cronin, J Hagan, M Swift, B Upton, M McCarthy, R Ofisa, E Taylor.

Replacements: A Flavin for Cronin, R Loughney for Wilkinson, M McComish for McCarthy (all 56), D Nolan for Taylor (58), R Sweeney for Hagan (69), C Willis for Murphy (63), M Nikora for Keatley (69), T O’Halloran for Duffy (69).

DRAGONS: J Tovey; W Harries, R Gomer- Davies, T Riley, A Brew; M Jones, D Lee; H Gustafson, S Jones, B Castle, L Charteris (cpt), S Morgan, J Bearman, H Ellis, R Sowden-Taylor. Replacements: P Palmer for Castle (31), D Lydiate for Ellis (HT), G Thomas for Sowden-Taylor (47), D Bishop for Gomer-Davies (58), R Sidoli for Charteris (53), N Griffiths for Lee (70), L Burns for Jones and A Mckenzie for Gustafson (75).

Referee: J Jones (Wales).