A controversial penalty try three minutes into injury time denied Connacht a second European Conference success as they went under to Racing Club de Nice yesterday. Leading 16-13, Connacht were defending their line when English referee John Pearson penalised the pack for going over the top. The decision to award the penalty try was greeted by bewilderment from both teams before realisation hit home. Nice out-half Lionel Fausto slotted over the easy conversion and with it went dreams of what would have been a well deserved away win for the Connacht side.
Coach Warren Gatland said the referee's decision was "astounding." "For a referee to decide the match by a penalty try is beyond me - if we did offend, it was certainly not deliberate. It put a sour note on a good day and an excellent performance from our players."
Connacht's victory over Northampton last Tuesday had certainly boosted the squad's confidence, as they were unaffected by the Cote d'Azur heat or the passionate and noisy home support.
Dominating the line-put, overturning possession with intent and hitting the opposition with punishing tackles, the visitors pinned Nice back for most of the match. There were only glimpses of French flair - the elan came from Connacht as out-half Eric Elwood once again was precise with his kicks despite having to withstand a barrage of boos from the home supporters.
Connacht had led 7-3 at half-time. Fausto had put Nice in front in the 14th minute when Connacht were penalised for not releasing the ball, but they hit back when Elwood jinked his way through the cover and found centre Pat Duignan on his shoulder. The Australian-born centre raced through to score under the posts, with Elwood adding the conversion.
With Mark McConnell and Graham Heaslip soaring in the line-outs, and Barry Gavin, Shane McEntee and prop John Maher punching holes, Connacht created several chances in the second half. Each time Nice offended, Elwood punished them with two further penalties to put Connacht in front, 13-3 after 52 minutes.
Nice stormed back with a try which hooker Eric Dasal-Martini claimed following a classic line-out catch and maul. But when Elwood landed his third second-half penalty after 66 minutes, Connacht looked to be on their way to a rare away victory.
Nice, however, refused to capitulate. Left wing Nicolas Martin caught the ball on the bounce from a clever kick-ahead by flanker Pierre Rautennbach to go in for the home side's second try, narrowing the margin to just three points. Connacht still looked to have enough in reserve in the last five minutes but they were forced to withstand a series of assaults, conceding a number of penalties which Nice opted each time to run before referee Pearson made his fate-sealing decision.
Scoring sequence: - 14 mins: L Fausto penalty, 3-0; 21 mins: P Duignan try, E Elwood conversion, 3-7; 48 mins: Elwood penalty, 3-10; 52 mins: Elwood penalty, 3-13; 55 mins: E Dasailil-Martini try, 8-13; 66 mins: Elwood penalty, 8-16; 74 mins: N Martin try, 13-16; 83 mins: penalty try, L Fausto conversion, 20-16.
Connacht: W Ruane (Ballina); N Barry (CLontarf), P Duignan (Galwegians), N Murphy (Galwegians), N Carolan (Galwegians); E Elwood (Galwegians), C McGuinness (St Mary's); J Maher (Bucaneers) B Mulcahy (Skerries), M Finlay (Galwegians), G Heaslip (Galwegians) capt, M McConnell (Buccaneers), M Reilly (St Mary's), S McEntee (Wanderers), B Gavin (Galwegians). Replacements: R Ward (Old Belvedere) for Maher (70 mins), M O'Neill (Blackrock) for Reilly (77 mins). NICE: E Berdeu (capt); R Rolland, J Cassus, F Pomarel, N Martin; L Fausto, S Campasol; A Tolofua, E Dasal-Martini, F Camoin, R Bekkal, L Vaitanaki, P Rautenbach, P Furet, D Mandic. Replacements: G Bats for Campasol (64 mins), D Spasaro for Dasal-Martini (72 mins).
Referee: J Pearson (English RFU)
