MAGNERS LEAGUE/Connacht 11 Cardiff Blues 39:ANOTHER SEASON over for Connacht and another disappointing end. Their faint prospects of making the long-awaited Heineken Cup breakthrough died an ignominious death at the Galway Sporstground last night.
On this evidence Connacht are still far removed from the type of quality required in the premier competition. A stark reminder of that came last night from a Cardiff side that this year reached the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup. Last night they consolidated their second position in the Magners League and assumed the bragging rights in Wales at least.
Connacht's inability to perform last night was symptomatic of an erratic season. Last night they were outclassed, but on other occasions they have lacked the necessary finishing power to seal victories when they had the chances.
If they had more frequently mustered performances as they were able to do against the likes of Leinster and Munster, last night's defeat would not have felt so final.
Admittedly Connacht were disrupted by injury from an early stage, with the loss of Matt Mostyn, Keith Matthews (temporarily), replacement Andy Dunne, and Mel Deane, but they were simply outmuscled by a slicker and stronger Welsh outfit.
In the first half they tried to utilise the boot of Troy Nathan, who kicked two early penalties and then missed two, while in the second half they attempted to run the ball at every opportunity. Neither tactic made an impression against a Cardiff side that showed its pedigree with the opening try.
It was a beauty - a missed tackle from Daniel Riordan allowed the Welsh set up second-phase ball that was spun wide. Tom Shanklin made the initial burst before the perfect offload in the tackle, and Nicky Robinson found the Tom James, who finished off the move in the corner.
After Nathan missed a penalty, a somewhat harsh penalty against John Muldoon proved costly. Cardiff went for touch and and from a seemingly innocuous position Ben White found a gap and strode in for a nine-point lead - 6-15.
Maam Molitika and Xavier Rush were influential as battering rams for the much-vaunted Cardiff backline to capitalise as Connacht struggled to gain a foothold.
The home side could not take advantage of another penalty opportunity before the break and when Robinson raced through a missed tackle, he set up Rush for a super try without four minutes of the second-half resumption.
At 6-22 in arrears, Connacht had little chance of recovery despite the increasing urgency to their game. Such urgency is of course risky, and Connacht could not execute their game plan without unforced errors.
And so Cardiff simply waltzed away in the end, adding a 59th-minute penalty before wrapping up the game with two more tries.
During that period Gareth Thomas was sinbinned for a foot trip on Duffy, but still Connacht could make no impact through the Cardiff defence.
It was only a matter of time as on two occasions the referee's whistle intervened before Gareth Williams capitalised when replacement scrumhalf Robbie Shaw's clearance was blocked.
Gareth Thomas added the fifth to bring the score to 39-6, and Colm Rigney's single try for Connacht in injury time was little consolation in a poor end to Connacht's seasonal ambitions.
And with injury concerns over Mostyn and Dunne, Connacht's resources will be stretched again for their final outing, against the Ospreys, who will also be without their internationals on a training camp in Ireland.
CONNACHT: G Duffy; M Mostyn, M Deane, K Matthews, D Riordan; T Nathan, C McPhillips; B Wilkinson, A Flavin, R Morris; D Gannon, A Farley; J Muldoon, J O'Connor, C Rigney. Replacements: O Treviranus for Mostyn (17 mins), A Dunne for Nathan (half-time), R Ofisa for O'Connor (47 mins), M McCarthy for Gannon, R Loughney for Morris, R Shaw for Dunne (all 54 mins), J Fogarty for Flavin (59 mins), T Nathan for Deane (75 mins).
CARDIFF: B Blair; J Roberts, T Shanklin, G Thomas, T James; N Robinson, J Spice; G Jenkins, R Thomas, T Filise; D Jones, S Morgan; M Molitika, M Williams, X Rush. Replacements: B White for Williams (11 mins), B Davies for D Jones (35 mins), M Lewis for White (75 mins).
Referee: N Owens (Wales).
EDINBURGH grabbed victory over the Ospreys with an Alan McDonald try in the ninth minute of injury time at the Liberty Stadium last evening, the final score 19-18.
Allister Hogg and Nick De Luca had scored earlier tries for the winners, both converted by Calum McCrae, who failed to add the extras to the third.
James Hook scored all the Ospreys' points with six penalties.
