Connacht 61 Brive 5
Connacht showed no mercy against a callow Brive outfit when delivering a third Challenge Cup win with a nine-try scoring spree at the Galway Sportsground.
The home side were 33-5 ahead at the break against a French outfit that arrived in Galway with a youthful team playing for little but pride and European experience.
Connacht were quick of the mark, delivering two tries within the opening eight minutes – the first as early as the third minute when, from a penalty, Jack Carty deceived the visitors by kicking crossfield where right wing John Porch collected and scored with ease, Carty adding the conversion.
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Five minutes later Finlay Bealham bagged the second try after Alex Wootton and Mack Hansen carved space upfield before the prop had the legs to finish with Carty converting.
The one-way traffic continued with Cathal Forde adding the third try before Wootton went over twice in eight minutes.
Brive finally got on the scoreboard before the break when a chip ahead bounced ideally for right wing Kevin Fabian to cross, but the game went further out of reach when Connacht stretched the lead to 38-5 by the 52nd minute when man-of-the-match Wootton bagged his third try, becoming the 12th Connacht player to score as hat-trick in the professional era.
Before the final whistle, Conor Oliver and replacements Conor Fitzgerald and Kieran Marmion also added to the tally to make it the biggest winning margin against a French side in Europe.
SCORING SEQUENCE – 3 mins: J Porch try, J Carty con 7-0; 8: F Bealham try, Carty con 14-0; 17: C Forde try, Carty con 21-0; 24: A Wootton try 26-0; 32: Wootton try, Carty con 33-0; 35: K Fabien try 33-5. HT 33-5; 52: Wootton try, Carty con 40-5; 57: C Oliver try, Carty con 47-5; 71: C Fitzgerald try, Carty con 54-5; 77: K Marmion try, Carty con 61-5.
CONNACHT: M Hansen; J Porch, B Ralston, C Forde, A Wootton; J Carty, C Reilly; P Dooley, D Heffernan, F Bealham; J Murphy, N Murray; C Prendergast, C Oliver, J Butler.
Replacements: J Duggan for Dooley and J Aungier for Bealham (both 52 mins), T Daly for Forde and C Fitzgerald for Porch (both 58), L Fifita for Murray (59), C Booth for Butler (60), K Marmion for Reilly and D Tierney Martin for Heffernan (both 63).
BRIVE: M Biasotto; K Fabien, W Douglas, N Lee, V Tirefort; T Raffy, V Lobzhanidze; H Thompson-Stringer, V Karkadze, T Tuimauga; A Zafra, O Rixen; M Voisin, S Gue, A Papali’i.
Replacements: T Danovaro for Tirefort (21 mins), F Coria Marchetti for Tuimauga (38, HIA), L Carbonneau for Lobzhanidze and E Herve for Lee (both 46), N Fraissenon for Thompson-Stringer, J Matalaweru for Papali’i (both 52), A Tronc for Karkadze and N Bedou for Biasotto (both 59).
Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy).
