Connacht maintain winning form

Connacht 15 Dragons 10

Bottom side Connacht celebrated back-to-back wins in the Celtic League for the first time since November 2004 as fly-half Mark McHugh kicked them to victory against the Dragons.

Dragons lock Luke Charteris scored the only try of the match as McHugh, playing out of position at number 10, landed five penalties from six attempts to help his province to a third win in four League outings.

With captain and lock Andrew Farley (back) and impressive centre Keith Matthews (leg) out through injury – and facing a Dragons side containing nine Welsh internationals – Connacht might have been expected to struggle.

But against the wind, the westerners played a good deal of the rugby and were unfortunate to be 10-6 down at the interval.

One-cap Ireland international McHugh slotted in at fly-half in a reworked back-line and kept Connacht on the move with a series of booming kicks for touch.

Having drawn an early drop goal shot wide, McHugh opened the scoring with an eighth-minute penalty from 38 metres out.

The Dragons were looking for their first win in eight trips across the Irish sea and replied with a try from 6ft 9in Charteris – the league’s tallest player - who notched his first score of the campaign.

Paul Warwick, playing at full-back, tried to work the ball out of the Connacht 22, was tap-tackled by Ian Gough and his fellow lock Charteris gobbled up possession to make the corner.

Fly half Craig Warlow converted and he kicked a 33rd-minute penalty – replying to McHugh’s second – to chalk up his 100th point in the league this season and push Paul Turner’s outfit into a 10-6 lead.

With the wind behind them, Connacht wasted little time in taking the lead after the break. McHugh arched over a quick brace of penalties after 45 and 49 minutes to punish the Dragons for ruck offences.

At 12-10 in front, Michael Bradley’s host began to dominate but tries eluded them on a couple of occasions – had New Zealand centre Gavin Williams not knocked on in a late attack, it might have been a different scenario.

Warwick pushed a drop goal attempt wide from the halfway line and with a two-point advantage, Connacht nerves were left jangling until McHugh’s fifth successful kick – nine minutes into injury-time.

In the race for the Heineken Cup qualification play-off spot, Connacht are now four points behind the ninth-placed Dragons, who have two games in hand.