European Challenge Cup/Connacht 16 Newcastle 13:What a sight it was here in the last outpost of European rugby: the Connacht pack thundering against a ruined Newcastle unit, All Black prop Carl Hayman somewhere in the retreating mass of bodies and England poster boy Jonny Wilkinson helpless to do anything about matters as the clock died.
Rugby union has grown well accustomed to last-minute heroics from the England number 10, but last night it was the Connacht outhalf who delivered the rapier thrust. In the 80th minute Andy Dunne calmly nailed a 22-metre penalty to give the home side the lead for the first time in the match, having landed an audacious drop goal just three minutes before. It was a big night at the Sportsground.
Connacht have learned to think and play ambitiously under Michael Bradley, but this must rank as one of the Corkman's finest hours. In the immediate term, it keeps their interest in this competition alive, but it is another fine notch in the belt of a coach who has watched his team battered by late results like this too often.
Afterwards the crowd stormed the field and the joy among the players was unconfined. But when they retired to the privacy of the dressingroom, they will probably reflect that winning did not have to be as finely timed or as dramatic as it proved.
For it was Connacht who made all the running here. Newcastle took the field boasting Hayman, the marquee signing in their powerful frontrow as well as their array of blond England attack merchants: Matthew Tait, Jamie Noon, Toby Flood and their glittering number 10. But they seemed content to make Connacht play and ultimately paid dearly for it.
There were times when it looked distinctly worrying, particularly with Newcastle 13-7 ahead and the narrative of the match looking spent and shapeless from the 50th to the 60th minutes. The English team paid for their lack of adventure: their only purposeful second-half attack came through John Rudd, who lulled the Connacht centres into thinking he would take an elementary mark and burst out of his 22. After a concerted attack, Connacht found themselves back-pedalling and conceded a penalty out of nothing. Wilkinson stepped up to oblige.
In the first half, Connacht had been punished from the same source, with Rudd splitting the home cover with a basic fake pass and turning on the speed. Flood played a clever grubber kick on the run and Tom May won the race to dive over for the try. It was those seconds of inexperience that seemed destined to cost Connacht, and perhaps Newcastle believed they could live off them until the final whistle.
As it was, they were fortunate to be 10-7 ahead at half-time.
By then, Newcastle had watched the French referee, Franck Maciello - who showed up on the field six minutes late - disallow a Michael Swift try for offside. They got away with it when a decently struck penalty by Dunne - from the 10 metres line and dead in front of goal - hit the post, and they had lost hooker Andy Long to the sinbin during a tempestuous period of Connacht pressure when the visitors rushed offside with impunity.
Connacht's only try came after half an hour, when they trailed by 10 points. It began with one of many blindside forays from the base of the scrum by Conor O'Loughlin and a thumping run from Gavin Duffy before Michael McCarthy was stopped on the line. Connacht kicked for touch from the penalty and, after six phases of rucking and driving, they opted to move the ball wide and O'Loughlin somehow danced in to leave them nicely placed.
As always with Connacht, there were hairy moments throughout the last 40 minutes. Twice they spurned straightforward penalties and kicked for touch and three times they blew hard-earned lineout positions.
The night was punctuated by several lone bursts for glory, and a typically abrasive punch-run by Matt Mostyn resulted in the deliverance from Dunne. It was an early Christmas present for the fourth province.
CONNACHT: G Duffy; A Wynne, D Yapp (M Mostyn 49 mins), M Deane, O Treviranus; A Dunne, C O'Loughlin (C McPhillips 67 mins); B Wilkinson, A Flavin (J Fogarty 50 mins), R Morris; M Swift (D Gannon 60 mins), A Farley; M McCarthy (R Ofisa 60 mins), J O'Connor; J Muldoon.
NEWCASTLE: M Taie; T May, J Noon, T Flood, J Rudd; J Wilkinson, H Charlton (L Dickson 57 mins); J McDonnell, A Long, C Hayman; G Parling (S Tomes 70 mins), M Sorenson; B Wilson, B Woods; P Dowson (R Winter 35 mins).
Referee: F Maciello (France).
