Furious Connacht caught on the line by Leicester's late surge
DRAMA: Leicester's Hosea Saumaki scores a last-minute winning try despite John Porch's best efforts.Â
Connacht’s hopes of making the knockout stages of the European Cup for the first time suffered the cruellest of blows on Saturday evening with a dramatic Hosea Saumaki try denying them the win with just seconds to play in Galway.
Hats off to the Tigers, who were 10-0 up and then 28-10 down at different stages, but the entire ground felt sure that the replacement back’s foot had brushed the whitewash prior to touching down when the replays were shown in the ground.
Referee Mathieu Raynal saw the same images as everyone else on the big screen before running the length of the pitch to where the action had happened and signalling the try. The 30,000 in attendance roared their disapproval but it seemed to be the right decision.
There were only millimetres in it either way.
Jack Carty tried to argue the toss with the official before the conversion, and Bundee Aki was clearly disgusted as he spoke to the Frenchman after, but the bottom line is that Connacht’s hopes and dreams are now seriously compromised.
The manner of the last, crucial act will hurt but not so much, when the dust settles, as their inability to see out this game after clawing their way back from a dismal start and fashioning an 18-point lead with half-an-hour to play.
So much of the pre-match talk had centred on the province’s struggles up front in the first meeting of the sides last month and it was those very same issues that allowed the visitors establish such an imposing base in the opening ten minutes.
Tighthead prop Joe Heyes broke the home try line inside three minutes, Leicester piling over on the back of a lineout maul. It was all far too easy and so too was their second try just seven minutes later.
This one came via a scrum and, messy though it was, all it took was a feed to out-half Freddie Burns whose simple chip kick wide left to Kini Murimurivalu allowed the winger to go over with the minimum of fuss.
The only upside was Burns’ inability to land either conversion. Jack Carty skewed his first penalty attempt wide soon after too but that was just the start of Connacht’s revival rather than a sign that this would be a long day.
Connacht would repeatedly turn their noses up at three kickable points in the first-half and they reaped early dividends when the ball was worked wide from a lineout maul for Tiernan O’Halloran to sweep over for a converted opener.
The worm had turned now and, as the penalties piled up against the Tigers, Connacht huffed and puffed to make the dominance count. They finally managed it close to the half-hour when blindside Cian Prendergast squirmed under after another attacking maul.
The game had opened up as the half went on, a turn of events that suited the more expansive hosts far more, and they took the interval with a 14-10 lead that would have been impossible to predict after those opening exchanges.
Things would only get better for Andy Friend’s side who continued to apply the pressure. Leicester’s penalty count continued to creep up and Tommy Refell eventually paid for collective sins in the form of a yellow card.
An attacking maul that had produced the crucial game-winning try here in Galway on New Year’s Day against Munster was ushered into use yet again shortly after and the end result this time was a sniping try for scrum-half Kieran Marmion.
There’s a theory about not fixing something that isn’t broken but Connacht called the Tigers’ bluff just five minutes later when they moved the ball wide quickly off another attacking lineout and worked it brilliantly through the hands for O’Halloran to go over again.
This was eye-rubbing stuff: a try bonus point secured against England’s best team this season and with over half-an-hour of rugby yet to play. It was only inevitable that the Tigers would bite back at some stage and they did that in some style.
A superb turnover from Jasper Wiese turned defence into attack in the blink of an eye and some penetrative running led to another thundering run from Murimurivalu who went over for his second try in the left corner.
Burns’ successful conversion left Leicester 28-17 in arrears.
An absorbing game, further decorated by a handful of second-half flashpoints, still had a way to go as the benches began to empty of available reinforcements and Ellis Genge found himself held up over the line with 15 minutes still to run.
The let-off was temporary.
All the momentum was with Leicester now and it eventually produced a converted bonus point of their own. This one was a taste of Connacht’s own medicine with replacement hooker Charlie Clare hitchhiking over off the back of a lineout maul with eight minutes to go.
Connacht still held a four-point lead but the most bitter of endings was still to come.
Meanwhile Racing 92 qualified for the quarter-finals with a hard-fought 25-10 victory over Ospreys in a game played behind closed doors in Swansea.
Racing 92 took charge in the second period, with Teddy Thomas and Virimi Vakatawa touching down, Antoine Gibert converting both and Finn Russell adding a penalty. Julian Imhoff's try and a Maxime Machenaud penalty had come in the first half.
T O’Halloran, J Porch, S Arnold, B Aki, M Healy, J Carty, K Marmion, M Burke, S Delahunt, F Bealham, O Dowling, N Murray, C Prendergast, C Oliver, J Butler.
D Heffernan for Delahunt (48); J Aungier for Bealham (50); U Dillane for Dowling (52); P Boyle for Butler (62); T Farrell for Healy and C Blade for Marmion (both 63); T Tuimauga for Burke (64); Burke for Aungier (67).
: B Hegarty, F Steward, M Scott, JP Socino, K Murimurivalu, F Burns, R Wigglesworth, E Genge (C), N Dolly, J Heyes, H Wells, C Green, O Chessum, T Reffell, J Wiese.
: C Clare for Dolly and D Kelly for Socino (both 48); J van Porrtvliet for Wigglesworth (53), H Saumakli for Murimurivalu (60); N Leatigaga for Heyes (72).
: M Raynal (France).
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