Connacht tamed by Lions as top eight finish sliding out of reach
TOUGH DAY AT THE OFFICE: Hugh Gavin of Connacht is tackled by Renzo Du Plessis of the Emirates Lions. Pic: ©INPHO/Steve Haag Sports/Christiaan Kotze
Connacht’s outside chances of making the knockout stages of the URC and qualifying for next season’s Champions Cup all but died when they were outplayed at altitude by the Lions at Ellis Park.
Connacht still have a mathematical chance of making the top half but it is a very long shot after failing to pick up anything from a Lions side in disarray on and off the field all season and who came into this one having lost their last five games in the league and Challenge Cup.
The contest had a real end of season feel to it in front of a tiny crowd in the vast stadium while the surface of Emirates Airline Park was cutting up from the outset and made it difficult for both sides.
Connacht were forced into a double change in the front row before the game with hooker Dave Heffernan and Irish tighthead Finlay Bealham both ruled out through illness, with Dylan Tierney-Martin and Jack Aungier coming straight into the side as the visitors left their selected bench unchanged.
The Lions struck first when quick hands back and forth the field eventually yielded a crack for flanker Renzo du Plessis to squeeze through and score after 14 minutes. There was a double blow for Connacht as Sean Jansen suffered a head injury and had to go off when he slipped on the dreadful surface and collided with a leg.
Out-half Kade Wolhuter missed the relatively easy conversion but he made no mistake from 30 metres five minutes later after Aungier was pinged for offside.
Connacht struggled to make an impact in breaking down the Lions cover and they fell further behind four minutes from the break when Shane Jennings was penalised for a forward pass and then loosehead Peter Dooley went to ground in the resultant scrum and Wolhuter tapped over the penalty in front of the posts from 25 metres.
Winger Shayne Bolton was penalised for a deliberate knock-on as the Lions attacked three minutes later. This time Wolhuter went for the kill rather than take the points from 30 metres and Connacht managed to smother the ball at the five-metre lineout to leave it 11-0 at the break.
Wolhuter extended the lead with a third penalty two minutes after the restart but lost try scorer du Plessis to the bin for a trip on interval replacement full-back Santiago Cordero after 50 minutes. Connacht went to the corner with the penalty and looked to get back in the game when Tierney-Martin scored but the try was scratched on review when Tierney-Martin pulled for clearly sliding through the pack at the back of the maul.
The Lions also had a try disallowed after Edwill van der Merwe scored as Connacht centre David Hawkshaw was tackled high moments earlier by Henco van Wyk who was fortunate not to be binned.
Connacht’s cause was further impacted by a string of backline injuries, the most serious which seemed to be a leg injury picked up by replacement scrum-half Colm Reilly in the build-up to a try from flanker JC Pretorious down the left which pushed the lead out to 19-0 ten minutes from time.
Connacht got a consolation score six minutes from the end when replacement hooker Eoin de Buitléar scored beside the posts after a good patient move where Connacht managed to build the phases without making an error.
The Lions butchered a few good try-scoring chances — Matthew Devine did superbly to dispossess Nico Steyn over the line — but the Johannesburg side finished on a high when van der Merwe hacked ahead after a turnover and then raced through to score and complete a miserable out for Connacht.
: Q Horn; R Kriel, H van Wyk (R Jonker 62), B Mills, E van der Merwe; K Wolhuter (L Dobela 70), M van den Berg (N Steyn 56); M Naude (SJ Kotze 67), J Visagie (PJ Botha 67), A Ntlabakanye (RF Schoeman 67); R Schoeman, R Delport (D Landsberg 71); JC Pretorius, R du Plessis, J Cairns (I Esterhuizen 14-41).
P O’Conor (S Cordero half-time); S Bolton, D Hawkshaw, C Forde (C Reilly 67-70), S Jennings; J Carty (H Gavin 46), M Devine; P Dooley (J Duggan 61), D Tierney-Martin (E de Buitléar 61), J Aungier (S Illo 53); J Murphy, J Joyce (O Dowling 61); C Prendergast, C Oliver, S Jansen (P Boyle 14).
: Hollie Davidson (Scotland).
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