Connacht hang on to beat Welsh

Connacht survived a second-half onslaught and escaped with a one-point victory for the second time in this season¹s Celtic League against Cardiff in the Sportsground last night.

The Welsh side, beaten by Connacht in last year¹s opener, seemed to be cruising for a satisfying retribution, notching three tries in 10 minutes of the second half.

Cardiff had eaten into Connacht¹s 16 - 0 half time lead immediately after the restart with the wind at their back. Having survived an initial onslaught, Connacht¹s porous defence saw out half Nick Robinson waltz through to score under the posts and convert after just two minutes.

The out half was instrumental in Cardiff¹s second try, launching a Garry Owen that bounced twice before winger Craig Moragan was able to latch onto the ball just yards from the line and make it try number two.

The left winger, who failed to score a try all last season, seemed to have found his scoring ability against Connacht, and he crossed the line for his second try after 49 minutes to give Cardiff the lead for the first time in the match.

Robinson added a 40m penalty to stretch the lead to 16 - 22 after 62 minutes and it looked like Cardiff would runaway with the points. Yet Connacht upped the tempo and in their first foray into the Cardiff 22, were rewarded with a try from hooker Marnus Uijs.

Opting for a penalty kick to touch, Connacht forced Cardiff to drop the maul close to the line and at the second attempt after warwick Waugh¹s catch, Uijs came up trumps. Elwood¹s conversion put Connacht back into a slender lead by 23 - 22 after 66 minutes.

The Cardiff out half Nick Robinson, who had proved instrumental in Cardiff¹s resurgence, had the opportunity to sneak a last minute victory with the last kick of the match. However, he sent his 50m effort well wide to seal another famous victory for Connacht.

Cardiff: R Williams, N Walne, J Robinson, M Allen, C Morgan, N Robinson, R

Smith, P Rogers, A Lewis, K Fourie, A Jones, J Tait, R Appleyard, M Williams

(cpt)C, J Brownrigg. Replacements, G Woods for Lewis (ht), G Powell for

Rogers (56m), D Baugh for Appleyard (56m)C Stamatakis for Brownrigg (60),

Connacht: M McHugh, T Robinson, D Yapp, T Allnutt (capt), W Munn, E Elwood,

E Reddan; R McCormack, M Uijs, P Bracken; W Waugh, R Frost; M Swift, P

Neville, E Peters. Replacements: D McFarland for McCormack, C Rigney for

Peters, J O¹Sullivan for Swift (all 58), C Keane for Reddan (59).

Referee: J Hogg (Scotland)

Scorers: Connacht, M Uijs (try), P Neville (Try), E Elwood (two conversions,

three penalties). Cardiff, C Morgan (two tries), N Robinson (one try, two

conversions, one penalty).