Connacht - 24 Edinburgh -35: With an eye on Europe and another joust with French opponents Narbonne, Connacht's Michael Bradley can take some comfort in his side's disappointing loss to Edinburgh at the Sportsground on Saturday.
His players came through unscathed; centre Darren Yapp made a welcome, if slightly rusty, return to action after a long lay-off with injury, as did Matt Mostyn, while the second-half replacement of some six players ensured the competitive edge remains high within Connacht's squad.
Yet, in isolation it was an unsatisfying result, coming as it did after the province's bonus victory over Llanelli the previous week, and from what had been a perfect opportunity to continue their push from a creditable fourth place.
"In the context of last week it was disappointing," said Bradley. "We felt if we had got the win it would give us full credit for last week's performance. That was our objective and we fell short of the mark."
Edinburgh, belying their lowly status, produced a determined display of continuity rugby, overshadowing their opponents up front and capitalising on Connacht turnovers.
A trio of tries in a 10-minute period in the second half put paid to Connacht's hopes of recording a hat-trick of wins, with two of Edinburgh's tries coming from counter-attacks, an area in which Connacht, missing number eight John O'Sullivan and wing Conor McPhillips, struggled defensively.
Flanker Matt Lacey managed to cover an awful lot of ground, but the forwards lacked their traditional punch.
"We looked a bit ragged and don't seem to have the same dominance up front that we had last year, but our last three results have produced nine points from a possible 15, which is good enough form going into Europe," added Bradley.
"We also have a competitive squad, and it was great to see Yapp on the park. He's a top-class player."
Yapp was the instigator of Connacht's first try with an emphatic break before Peter Bracken found lock Pieter Myburgh, who crossed after a sweeping movement.
It was a timely effort, coming after Edinburgh had fought their way back into the game from a sluggish start during which Connacht outhalf Paul Warwick had kicked his side into a 9-0 lead.
Edinburgh had shown their determination when Marcus Di Rollo crossed after their first meaningful attack, and they prevented the home outfit from gaining a stranglehold when Todd Blackadder scored from a patient build-up.
Although Mark McHugh had edged Connacht in front at the break with a long penalty, the visitors wrested the initiative soon after and prop Alan Jacobsen struck for the first of their three second-half tries.
However, it was outhalf Brendan Laney's 57th-minute try that proved critical, exemplifying Connacht's difficulties on the day and Edinburgh's superiority.
On the attack, Connacht lost lineout possession on their opponents' line, and when Nathan Hines set off a counterattack involving backs and forwards, Connacht's defence was at sixes and sevens as Laney sold the dummy to scamper across.
Having found the weakness, Edinburgh exploited it with replacement Simon Webster following suit.
And so Matt Lacey's 66th-minute effort was not enough for Connacht to rescue even a point from what had started as a confident and composed display.
Scoring sequence: 5 mins: Warwick penalty 3-0; 9: Warwick penalty 6-0; 18: Warwick penalty 9-0; 22: Di Rollo try, Patterson conversion 9-7; 30: Myburgh try 14-7; 41: Blackadder try, Patterson conversion 14-14; 45: McHugh penalty 17-14 (half-time 17-14); 51: Jacobsen try, Patterson conversion 17-21; 57: Laney try, Patterson conversion 17-28; 62: Webster try, Patterson conversion 17-35; 66: Lacey try, Warwick conversion 24-35.
CONNACHT: M Mostyn; T Robinson, D Yapp M McHugh, N O'Brien; P Warwick, C O'Loughlin; R Hogan, J Fogarty, P Bracken, P Myburgh, A Farley, M Swift, M Lacey, M Carroll. Replacements: C Short for Myburgh, J Downey for O'Brien, A Clarke for Bracken (half-time); M Walls for Robinson (46 mins), B Jackman for Fogarty (61 mins), E Elwood for Warwick (74 mins)
EDINBURGH: D Lee; C Patterson, M Di Rollo, C Joiner, H Southwell; B Laney, R Lawson; A Jacobsen, D Hall, C Smith, N Hines, A Kellock, T Blackadder, S Cross, A Hogg. Replacements: S Webster for Lee (60 mins), A Strokosch for Cross (68 mins), A Kelly for Hall (68 mins).
Referee: H Watkins (WRU)
