Blade-led Connacht see off Ospreys challenge
CLINICAL: Connacht's Caolin Blade celebrates after scoring his team's third try and his hat trick with JJ Hanrahan. Pic: ©INPHO/Ben Brady
Scrum-half Caolin Blade provided the cutting edge as Connacht got their URC campaign up and running with a bonus point win in perfect conditions at the Sportsground.
It was the perfect start to Pete Wilkins’ first game in charge of the province and with home matches to follow in the next two weeks against Glasgow and Ulster, there is a great chance for last year’s semi-finalists to build a platform.
Stand-in skipper Blade shredded the Ospreys with a hat-trick in just 34 minutes and while the Welsh came back and salvaged a try bonus point, the outcome was never in doubt from the early stages.
Ospreys, after a summer which saw 19 players depart and just five arrive, did well to recover from 27-0 behind to salvage a bonus point with four tries.
Connacht led 27-5 at the break after some superb running but Toby Booth’s men got their act together either side of the break to prevent a rout and leave Galway with a bonus point.
Six players made their Connacht debut in the win but it was two of the older newcomers, out-half JJ Hanrahan and lock Joe Joyce, who made big impacts for a side where Tom Farrell, making his 100th appearance, and Cathal Forde were superb in the centre.
The displays of these players helped form a foundation which Blade, who scored eleven tries last year including two hat-tricks, exploited.
He got in for his first after 12 minutes after Hanrahan and Farrell combined, with Hanrahan adding the convert to two earlier tries to lead 13-0.
A break from Forde on halfway sent Blade through for his second and Joyce’s dominance at the breakdown provided him with the pathway to his hat-trick after 34 minutes.
Keelan Giles pulled back a try to make it 27-5 at the break and touchdowns from scrum-half Reuben Morgan-Williams and flanker James Ratti after the restart cut the gap to 27-19.
But Connacht got back on top and a penalty to touch down the left ended with Forde cutting a superb line to wrap up the bonus point and ease the nerves of the home crowd, with Hanrahan maintaining his 100% record with his sixth kick of the afternoon.
Ospreys never gave up and secured a try bonus point four minutes from time when lock Rhys Davies got over and Jack Walsh added his third conversion but they never looked like catching an impressive Connacht side
Connacht: Tries: C Blade (3), Forde. Cons: JJ Hanrahan (4). Pens: Hanrahan (2).
Ospreys: Tries: K Giles, R Morgan-Williams, J Ratti. Cons: J Walsh (2).
A Smith (J Carty 64); D Kilgallen (L McNamara 72), T Farrell, C Forde, B Ralston; JJ Hanrahan, C Blade (C Reilly 55); D Buckley (P Dooley 55), D Tierney-Martin (T McElroy 64), J Aungier (D Robertson-McCoy 64); O Dowling (N Murray 55), J Joyce; C Prendergast, S Hurley-Langton, J Butler (S O’Brien 67).
M Nagy; L Morgan, O Watkin, K Williams (D Morris 55), K Giles (L Davies 72); O Williams (J Walsh 48), R Morgan-Williams; G Phillips (R Henry 48), E Lewis (L Lloyd 55), T Botha (B Warren ’53); R Davies, W Griffiths (H Sutton 48); J Ratti (H Deaves 60), J Tipuric, M Morris.
Federico Vedovelli (Italy)
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