Dragons 17 Connacht 16:CONNACHT FELL to an agonising one-point defeat at the hands of Newport Gwent Dragons at a bitterly cold Rodney Parade last night. Troy Nathan grabbed his side's only try in between Aled Brew and Tom Riley efforts for the hosts. The deadly boot of Ian Keatley kept Connacht in touch and twice put them into the lead but the Dragons just about held on for a hard fought victory.
The loss sees Eric Elwood’s men remain in 11th place, with only Aironi below them, as their losing streak was extended to nine games.
Elwood’s men were targeting their first double over the Welsh region since 2008 after triumphing 40-17 in the return fixture in September. Elwood feared a five-day turnaround since losing to Leinster would count against his men but they more than held their own in a helter-skelter encounter.
However Elwood’s men made a nightmare start with the visitors crossing for their first try within three minutes. Welsh powerhouse Brew slipped the ball to Riley on the left and the centre drew Ian Keatley to put Brew away. Tovey slotted the simple conversion to give the hosts an early 7-0 lead.
Things could have got worse for Connacht had it not been for jet-heeled Fionn Carr. Cillian Willis cleaned up a probing Tovey chip but audaciously tried off-loading out of contact. The bobbling ball was hacked on by the chasing Dragons but Carr showed great pace to save a second Dragons try.
Connacht fought hard to get themselves back in the game. They looked like breaking the Dragons’ defence shortly before the 20 minute mark but Keatley left behind Eoin Griffin’s pass.
Will Harries scooped up the ball and looked to punish Keatley’s mistake but he was hauled down short of the 22. But Connacht hit back after 23 minutes when they were rewarded for some pressure with a well-struck Keatley penalty.
And Connacht took the lead shortly after the half-hour mark thanks to Nathan, but it was Griffin that did all the hard work.
Elwood publicly praised the 20-year-old for his performance in the defeat to Leinster and he came up with the goods again.
After working the ball wide, Griffin showed some neat footwork to suck in two Dragons’ defenders and release Nathan to score. Keatley added the extras to hand Connacht a 10-7 lead.
But that lead proved short-lived with Brew and Riley combining again, this time Riley touching down. Brew received the ball deep inside his own half and tore up the wing, he then timed his pass to perfection to nullify Keith Matthews and return the favour to Riley. Tovey again converted to restore the hosts’ lead.
But Keatley chipped away at that and added a penalty just before half-time to reduce the deficit to 14-13 at the interval.
Connacht kept fighting in the second-half and Keatley nudged them back in front with his third penalty after 51 minutes.
But Tovey hit back with a penalty of his own after 64 minutes to regain a slender one-point lead. Connacht were dealt another blow after Seán Cronin left the field injured after receiving a heavy knock. Both sides gave it their all in the final stages but were hampered by mistakes.
Keatley tried to steal a victory with a drop-goal after a sustained spell of pressure with five minutes to go but his effort was charged down and the Dragons held on to secure the win.
NEWPORT-GWENT DRAGONS:Harries; Hughes, Riley, Smith, A Brew, Tovey, J Evans, Gustafson, Willis, Castle, A Jones, Sidoli, L Evans, G. Thomas, Faletau. Replacements: Price for Gustafson (53 mins), S. Jones for Willis (65 mins), Charteris for A Jones (56 mins), Coombs for L Evans (71). Not used: Palmer, M Jones, Petri, Leach.
CONNACHT:Keatley; Nathan, Griffin, Matthews, Carr, Nikora, Willis, Wilkinson, Cronin, Hagan, Swift, McCarthy, A Browne, O'Connor, McKeown. Replacements: Ta'auso for Matthews (73 mins), F Murphy for Willis (47 mins), Flavin for Cronin (66 mins), Ah You for Hagan (69 mins), Upton for McCarthy (79 mins), McComish for McKeown (55 mins). Not used: Rogers, Tuohy.
Referee:Alan Lewis (Ireland).
