Connacht miss out by a whisker

Connacht 25 Edinburgh 26

It was billed as the biggest rugby match in Connacht’s 118-year history, but the win proved unattainable as two-try Brendan Laney helped Edinburgh to a smash-and-grab Celtic Cup semi-final win at the Sportsground.

The home side were dealt early blows with injuries to prop Ray Hogan and Australian lock Andrew Farley inside the first ten minutes.

Edinburgh's Craig Smith opened the scoring on 12 minutes when he collected a well-timed pass from New Zealand flanker Todd Blackadder, and had little to do but dive over on the line under the challenge of Connacht wing Conor McPhillips.

Laney, Edinburgh’s top points scorer in Celtic competition, slotted the conversion brilliantly over from a tight angle, and six minutes later the out-half added a second try and conversion as he ghosted onto Alistair Kellock’s flipped pass to outpace centre Mark McHugh to the line.

Farley returned to the action and Connacht soon had their first points on the board, as Eric Elwood punished a ruck infringement to drive over a left-sided penalty on 26 minutes.

The veteran out-half was central to Connacht’s revival and his switch move in the 34th minute off the back of a ruck inside the Edinburgh 22 saw Buccaneers centre Darren Yapp ease through slack defence to touch down, with Elwood converting.

Half-time came and went with Michael Bradley’s charges staying 14-10 behind until Elwood again proved the ideal provider, sending Yapp in for his second try after five second half minutes.

Elwood missed with the conversion but he did manage to dink over a penalty from the Edinburgh ten metre line three minutes later.

That was 18 unanswered Connacht points, and possibly too good to be true for the Irish province.

And so it proved to be the case, in a dizzying ten-minute period, Edinburgh full back Derrick Lee crossed in the left corner for his fifth Celtic try, and Laney, elusive in broken play throughout, scored a breakaway try from the halfway line.

He converted moments later for a 26-18 lead.

Yapp incredibly made it in for his and Connacht’s third try with five minutes remaining, again released and converted by Elwood.

Mark McHugh, scorer of seven kicks against Ulster last weekend, lined up three drop goals and a 50 metre penalty during four stoppage time minutes, but the one-point deficit failed to be turned over.

Edinburgh now meet Ulster in a December 20 final.

Scorers:

Connacht: Tries: Yapp 3; Con: Elwood 2; Pen: Elwood 2

Edinburgh: Tries: Smith, Lee, Laney 2; Con: Laney 3

Connacht: D Hewitt, M Mostyn, D Yapp, M McHugh, C McPhillips, E Elwood, M Walls, R Hogan, B Jackman (capt), A Clarke, D Browne, A Farley, M Swift, P Neville, J O’Sullivan. Replacements: J Fogarty, F Boiroux, M McCarthy, T Carter, C O’Loughlin, T Allnutt, W Munn.

Edinburgh: D Lee, S Webster, M Di Rollo, C Joiner, H Southwell, B Laney, R Lawson, A Jacobsen, A Kelly, C Smith, S Murray, A Kellock, T Blackadder, S Cross, A Hogg. Replacements: C Di Ciacca, R Mathieson, N Pike, A Dall, G Burns, A Warnock, M Dey.