Last gasp try saves Connacht

Connacht 22 Edinburgh 22

Mark McHugh was once again Connacht’s hero at the Sportsground as he landed an injury-time penalty to salvage a 22-22 draw against the Gunners.

Seven minutes into time added on, the fly half landed his sixth kick from seven attempts to deny Edinburgh their first consecutive hat-trick of wins over Irish opponents.

New Gunners coach Lynn Howells’ first game in charge was going well up until the final quarter.

The Scottish side had turned their 16-10 interval lead into a 19-13 advantage by the hour mark, with Chris Paterson bagging all 19 points, but some over zealous refereeing from Wales’ James Jones turned the final 20 minutes into a lottery.

Jones sin-binned five players – three from Edinburgh and two Connacht – in the closing half hour as his no-nonsense attitude ruined a game in which there was little malice.

Two early penalties from Paterson sandwiched an eighth-minute try from Connacht winger Matt Mostyn, who did well to collect a powerful pass from McHugh after an initial fumble.

Connacht’s 7-6 lead lasted more than 20 minutes as the visitors struggled to turn their territorial dominance into points. Yet the prominent Paterson grabbed a 10-point salvo just before the break to edge his side back in front.

The Scottish winger kicked his third penalty and then weaved his way in under the posts for a converted try. Connacht replied in injury-time through McHugh.

The kickers swapped further penalties as the second half opened with Jones keen to put his stamp on proceedings. He produced his first yellow card on 54 minutes when Connacht lock David Gannon walked for a ruck offence.

Incredibly Gunners prop Alasdair Dickinson, flanker Ross Rennie, lock Scott Murray and the hosts’ number seven Matt Lacey all followed suit amid farcical scenes.

The visitors were whittled down to 12 players at one stage and Connacht took their cue, creeping back up on the Scots with McHugh booting over two penalties to a single effort from replacement Duncan Hodge.

Connacht looked to have missed the boat when five phases of flowing rugby failed to net them the winning try, but they got the next best thing when the Gunners were penalised for not releasing in the tackle and the nerveless McHugh walloped over from 47 metres out.