Carr slips into gear to keep Scots at bay

A RIP-ROARING contest that could have gone either way before Connacht atoned for their slip-up in Italy to record their sixth home win on the trot.

Not only did they take the four points on offer but also a bonus point for scoring four tries, with two of those from leading try-scorer Fionn Carr.

In doing so they condemned visitors Edinburgh to their 12th defeat of the season and scuppered the Scottish side’s hopes of overtaking them in the Magners League.

Connacht were quick off the mark in an action-packed opening half in which five tries were scored. Carr opened the scoring after barely two minutes, from full-back Gavin Duffy’s counter-attack deep in opposition territory. It was No 8 Ray Ofisa’s superb offload from the floor that found Carr, who crashed over.

Ian Keatly missed the conversion and thereafter it seemed last weekend’s costly litany of mistakes had returned to haunt the hosts.

Three overthrown lineouts — albeit in a stiff wind — did not help, and Edinburgh capitalised. The Scots’ out-half, Greig Laidlaw, had no difficulties with his goal-kicking, nailing a fourth-minute penalty before adding the conversion to Scott Newland’s 24th-minute try in Edinburgh’s first sustained attack.

While Connacht struggled to get over the line, Keatley struck a 28th-minute penalty, but a forward pass handed the initiative back to the Scots and centre James King sliced a hole through the central defence to race in from 22 metres.

Laidlaw added the extras to open up a 17-8 lead, while at the other end Keatley failed with his 34th-minute penalty attempt.

A rehearsed move led to Connacht’s next score. Keatley, on the loop, found Brian Tuohy with a long pass and just yards from the line offloaded to the supporting Carr, who was tackled from behind from centre Nick De Luca. Italian referee Damarsco did not hesitate in awarding the penalty try, which Keatley converted, while sending the offending Edinburgh player to the bin.

Five minutes later Connacht attacked up the right wing again. Troy Nathan and the ever-present Ofisa handled before Gavin Duffy cut an inside line to supply Carr, who grabbed his second try.

Within two minutes of the restart Edinburgh had narrowed the gap to two, with Laidlaw potting a straightforward penalty, and it took another 20 minutes in this full-blooded encounter before the stalemate was broken.

With Connacht camped inside their opponents’ half, a stolen Scottish lineout set up a series of drives before Keatley’s neatly executed chip was grounded by Duffy for Connacht’s fourth try. Keatley missed the conversion and when Laidlaw replied with a penalty on 67 minutes, the Scots remained within striking distance until the final whistle ended their hopes.

CONNACHT: G Duffy, B Tuohy, T Nathan, K Matthews, F Carr; I Keatley, F Murphy, R Loughney, S Cronin, J Hagan, B Upton, M McCarthy, A Browne, J O’Connor, R Ofisa.

Replacements: M McComish for Ofisa (62), B Wilkinson for Loughney 68m, R Ah You for J Hagan (73), A Flavin for Cronin (75), B Wilkinson, A Flavin, R Ah You, M McComish, J Muldoon, M Dolan, E Griffin, S Monahan.

EDINBURGH: J Thomson, S Webster, B Cairns, J King, T Visser, G Laidlaw, M Blair, K Traynor, A Kelly (capt), G Cross, S McLeod, E Lozada, F McKenzie, S Newlands, D Denton.

Replacements: R Grant for McKenzie (54), L Niven for K Traynor (60), S Turnbull for Lozada (66).

Referee: C Damasco (Italy).

Picture: Connacht's Fionn Carr scores his side’s third try. Picture: James Crombie