Stunning Connacht floor Euro aristocrats

Connacht 22 Biarritz 14

A Heineken Cup victory over French side Biarritz is without doubt Connacht’s most significant triumph in this elite competition.

Last year they grabbed a final round win over Harlequins that saw the English champions fail to qualify; last night they repelled twice Heineken Cup finalists on the French side’s first foray to the Galway Sportsground.

It was an evening when Connacht’s youngsters stood up to their more illustrious counterparts — Biarritz’s wage bill is over €17m, Connacht’s is about €2.5m — and were superbly led by Dan Parks, whose 72nd-minute drop goal put the game out of the French side’s reach.

Having kept them scoreless throughout the second half, Biarrtiz were awarded an injury-time try by TMO, but Dimitri Yachvili failed with his touchline conversion, denying the visitors a losing bonus point.

If Parks was Connacht’s most influential player, Andrew Browne played a leading role in the opening half when Connacht were fighting a lop-sided penalty and the sin-binning of No 8 Eoin McKeon. Add in the appearance of young Denis Buckley in the second half and the Connacht scrum became the superior, winning them two valuable penalties that pushed them ahead and then beyond reach.

For the opening 20 minutes the visitors were content to let the big boys bully their way against the Connacht youngsters and kick their penalties through scrum-half Yachvili. And their game plan worked. Four penalties conceded at the breakdown and one offside gave Biarrtiz sufficient momentum as Yachvili kicked them ahead after just two minutes.

However, Connacht set the Sportsground alight when Fetu’u Vainikolo struck from halfway. Dave McSharry supplied the Tongan international from turnover ball in the Biarritz three-quarters and Vainikolo had the pace to run in untouched on six minutes. Out-half Parks added the conversion to give Connacht a 7-3 lead.

But as the penalty count continued to mount against the home side, Connacht struggled to get a foothold.

Yachvili dropped one attempt short from 60m, while two minutes later Danie Poolman did well on the attack to force a penalty, but Parks was well wide.

With Connacht continuing to get on the wrong side of referee Greg Garner, three successive penalties gave the visitors enough possession to stretch their lead. Yachvili’s 15th-minute effort, after Connacht had strayed offside, drifted right of the posts, but five minutes later he nailed his fourth effort when Connacht were pinged for falling off their feet at ruck time.

A valuable penalty from the scrum gave Connacht the opportunity for only their second worthwhile attack, with Poolman kicking through for chasing O’Halloran. From a resulting lineout the forwards worked their way inwards and Parks grabbed the opportunity to kick a super 24th-minute drop goal.

However a sinbinning for McKeon for tackling Yachvili without the ball enabled the French international to narrow the gap to one point just before the break.

If the 6,800 crowd were expecting a second-half onslaught from the visitors, it never materialised. Instead it was Connacht who took over, denying Biarrtiz possession and territory.

Parks led his young back line with deft kicking, quick passing, and several encouraging pats on the back, while up front Mike McCarthy led the pack whose defensive effort was immense.

A 46th-minute Parks penalty stretched the lead to 13-9 and by the 57th he had added another as Poolman, Dave McSharry, and O’Halloran continued to ask questions of the Biarritz defence.

With Connacht ahead by seven points, Biarrtiz went in search of a try in the final 15 minutes. Emptying their bench, they pressed forward, trying to bully their way over the line. Every step was repelled by Connacht until replacement Imanol Harinordoquy grabbed a try in the dying moments.

However, it did not detract from what coach Eric Elwood described as a “huge scalp” for Connacht.

“I felt something special was going to happen tonight. It was a shaky first half, but in the second half we wanted to play.

“I just felt it was going to be our night and there is a feeling of sheer joy. It is such a huge scalp for us. They were at full strength and we were under the pump all week.”

Scorers for Connacht: Try: Vainikolo. Con: Parks. Pens: Parks (3). DGs: Parks (2)

Scorers for Biarritz: Try: Harinordoquy. Pens: Yachvili (3).

CONNACHT: R Henshaw; T O’Halloran, D Poolman, D McSharry, F Vainikolo; D Parks (capt), K Marmion; B Wilkinson, J Harris-Wright, R Loughney; M Kearney, M McCarthy; A Browne, W Faloon, E McKeon.

Replacements: J O’Connor for Faloon (38-40); D Buckley for Wilkinson, P O’Donohue for Marmion (both 59); O’Connor for Browne (70); E Reynecke for Harris-Wright, D Qualter for Kearney, M Nikora (all 77); JP Cooney for Loughney; M Jarvis for Henshaw (both 78).

BIARRITZ OLYMPIQUE: I Balshaw; T Ngwenya, M Bosch, C Gimenez, A Brew; M Berquist, D Yachvili (capt); F Barcella, B August, F Gomez Kodela; E Lund, T Dubarry; W Lauret, B Guyot, R Lakafia.

Replacements: S Burotu for Bosch (40); JP Barraque for Berquist; I Harinordoquy for Guyot (both 45); P Taele for Dubarry (48); T Synaeghel for Gomez Kodela (59-74); L Blaauw for Barcella (63); J-Philippe Genevois for August (70).

Referee: Greg Garner (England).