Connacht picked up their second win in three Celtic League outings with a well-deserved victory over Llanelli to show further signs of life at the bottom of the table.
Second-half tries from number eight Colm Rigney, influential fly-half Paul Warwick, who kicked six of his seven attempts at goal for a 21-point haul, and his replacement David Slemen helped Connacht to their fourth straight win at the Sportsground.
For Gareth Jenkins’ visitors, it was a fourth defeat on the bounce. The Welsh side led 16-12 at half-time thanks to tries from young winger Darren Daniel and New Zealand centre Regan King, but their efforts waned after the restart.
The Westerners began well in sunny conditions, grabbing the lion’s share of possession. Warwick, making his first start in four league games, landed penalties on seven and 14 minutes to erase Mike Hercus’ fourth-minute opener.
But Llanelli showed signs of their intent as the first quarter came to a close. Wales Under-19 international Daniel broke from his own 10-metre line to romp in at the left corner for his first league try.
Hercus missed the conversion and the Scarlets were down to 14 men soon after when Kiwi King was yellow-carded for hands in the ruck. Warwick mopped up by slotting over the resultant penalty. The former Australia Sevens captain added another but a third Hercus penalty and King’s try, scored in the right corner right on half-time, saw the visitors go in at the break with a 16-12 buffer.
However, the hosts hit back within 70 seconds of the restart when scrum-half Chris Keane mounted a blindside attack and he offloaded for Rigney, cutting through on a lovely line, to thunder over.
Warwick converted and added the extras to his own 52nd-minute try, created again by a Keane break. Although Gareth Bowen, on as a half-time replacement for Hercus, reduced the deficit to 26-19 with a 30-metre penalty, Connacht claimed their third try on the hour through Slemen.
Tongan centre Andrew Mailei gobbled up turnover ball and Slemen was on the end of a quick attack to touch down and convert.
Connacht’s hunt for a fourth try was ended in injury time when replacement hooker Joe Merrigan was yellow-carded for a ruck offence.
