Elwood frustrated by another slow start

CONNACHT racked up their eighth loss on the trot, falling to Italian visitors Treviso in the Galway Sportsground last night, once again paying the price for a poor start.

Down 15-0 after 20 minutes, Connacht held Treviso scoreless in the second half and came within two points, but they could not make possession count.

“It’s hard to take,” said coach Eric Elwood. “It was a game we should have won. There were a lot of positives, but when it mattered, we turned over ball and did not show enough composure.”

The home side dominated the opening 40 minutes but it was Treviso who took their chances.

Trailing 15-0, Connacht rolled up their sleeves and were rewarded with two penalties that provided the momentum for Dave McSharry to reply with his first try after 31 minutes.

Niall O’Connor added the extras to close the gap before the break, and he added two second-half penalties as the hosts turned the screw, forcing two sin-binnings but ultimately failing to make their pressure pay.

Scorers for Connacht: Try: D McSharry. Con: N O’Connor. Pens: N O’Connor (2).

Scorers for Treviso: Tries: L Nitoglia, I Tommaso. Con: W de Waal. Pen: W de Waal.

CONNACHT: G Duffy, M McCrea, K Tonetti, D McSharry,T O’Halloran, N O’Connor, F Murphy, B Wilkinson, E Reynecke, R Loughney, M Swift, G Naoupu, D Gannon, J Muldoon, R Ofisa.

Replacements: R Ah You for Loughney (53), M Kearney for Swift (70).

BENETTON TREVISO: L Nitoglia,

T Iannone, E Galon, A Pratichetti, B Williams, W De Waal, F Semenzato, M Rizzo, F Sbaraglini, I Fernandez-Rouyet, F Minto, B Vermaak, M Vosawai, P Derbyshire, M Filippucci.

Replacements: L Cittadini for Rizzo and C Van Zyl for Derbyshire (52), G Padro for Minto and M Muccignat for Fernandez-Rouyet (both 66), K Burton for Tommaso (67), V Bernabo for Vosawai (76).

Referee: P Hennessy (WRU).