Celtic League: With all the hallmarks of a seasonal opener, it was Connacht who ground out victory on Saturday. The one try - midway through the second half - was almost the sole bright spot in a game littered with unforced errors and lacking creativity.
Cardiff, returning to the Galway Sportsground after four successive wins home and away over Connacht, could have expected to prevail - not only for their ball-winning skills from the lineout, but also from a wind-assisted second half after holding Connacht 3-3 at the break.
Although they were rarely under pressure from a rusty Cardiff back line, Connacht again demonstrated their trademark defence, where debutant Keith Matthews came up trumps.
The home team made their one try-scoring chance count when Conor McPhillips crossed after 51 minutes to break the stalemate.
"Most sides would not criticise Connacht for our defence, and where we would get criticism is our creativity - this game was no different," said coach Michael Bradley. "I felt quite nervous about this game because if we lost this first home match we would then be facing into two away matches to Edinburgh and Llanelli."
That nervousness was transferred onto the pitch as both sides were tentative in the opening half. Connacht outhalf Paul Warwick took over where Eric Elwood left off with some pin-point kicking to the corners to put Cardiff under pressure.
Frequently it resulted in a tit-for-tat kicking duel as the Blues controlled the lineout and returned fire. Similarly Nicky Robinson's fifth-minute penalty was cancelled out by Warwick's 15th-minute effort, with David Slemen's angled burst the only creative play from either side.
"Close to awful," said Bradley. "We used the wind in the second period of the first half to put pressure on their lineout, but we could not get our hands on the ball . . . I thought Cardiff comfortably controlled the game in the first half and maybe they relaxed a little at half-time knowing they were going into the second half with the wind."
Bradley's charges did show greater urgency after the restart and were rewarded for their superior distribution after establishing some territorial control.
From the scrum on the right touchline, flanker John Muldoon scooped the ball to scrumhalf Chris Keane culminating in Darren Yapp finding McPhillips on an inside diagonal on the 22. The right wing did well to sidestep fullback Nick McLeod before finding the line for the crucial try, which Warwick converted.
Cardiff upped their tempo, having more success when recycling the ball through their pack.
It earned them two penalties, yet Robinson missed a sitter in front of the posts before firing over a 64th-minute effort to close the gap to 10-6. Thereafter Warwick closed out the game with a 73rd-minute drop-goal. Cardiff could only muster a bonus point, with Robinson striking a penalty four minutes before full-time.
CONNACHT: D Slemen; C McPhillips, D Yapp, K Matthews, M Mostyn; P Warwick, C Keane; R Hogan, J Fogarty, S Knoop, C Short, A Farley, J Muldoon, M Lacey, C Rigney. Replacements: C Venter for Fogarty (45 mins), B O'Connor for Lacey (67 mins), A Clarke for McFarland (71 mins), M Swift for Farley (77 mins), D Riordan for Rigney (81 mins).
CARDIFF: N Macleod; C Czekaj, R Williams (capt), T Davies, C Morgan; N Robinson, M Phillips; J Yapp, G Williams, M Jones, D Jones, R Sidoli, M Molitika, R Sowden-Taylor, A Powell. Replacement: C Quinell for D Jones (73 mins).
Referee: A Ireland (SRU).
