Connacht 22 Harlequins 30:The usual platitudes about Connacht, that they were brave and honest in defeat tonight doesn't suffice as a description of this performance.
Yes, they were brave and honest but equally enterprising, showing signs of a team that doesn’t merely hang on the coat tails of Europe’s elite.
But still, they are not yet equal to the power and individual ability that a club like Harlequins posses throughout their squad.
Around the half hour mark of this enthralling contest the thought occurred that Danny Care, the mercurial English scrumhalf, hadn’t featured much.
A salivating Connacht pack hadn’t allowed him to breath. The hosts were strategic, with Dan Parks making use of a stiff breeze, but there was so much more to Eric Elwood’s team. They played with pace and Care’s opposite number Kieron Marmion was like a wasp, looping around first receivers to prick holes in the Premiership champions’ defence.
Quins, ominously, did grind out a fourth-minute penalty, confidently landed by Nick Evans’s stand-in, and fellow Kiwi, Ben Botica - son of the famous cross-code merchant Franno.
Then something surprising occurred; Connacht proved their game has evolved markedly by exposure to this standard of rugby. From the game’s first scrum they were awarded a free kick which Marmion tapped and fed big George Naopu, who was smashed by Chris Robshaw and the mammoth Quins defensive line. However, the quick recycle saw Parks cut out pass find Dave McSharry, running a sumptuous line that carried him all the way under the posts.
Botica and Parks proceeded to swap penalties but there were signs of what might happen it Harlequins began to click.
The Connacht scrum was creaking but Willie Faloon was making hay at the breakdown, winning penalties for Parks to make it 16-9.
There followed the most thrilling sequence of play in Connacht’s entire season. Young Robbie Henshaw leaped out of his fullback shell to catch the re-start before carries by John Muldoon and Michael Swift felt like scores in themselves, such was the Tribe’s eruption when seeing their chieftains in full, marauding mode.
Fetu’u Vainikolo straightened matters up for the initial line break and a clever Parks chip eventually resulted in another penalty that allowed the Australian (of Scottish descent of course) make it 19-9.
The west was awake and all that.
The only problem was they also rustled a sleeping giant from its slumber. An avalanche of 15 points landed on Connacht.
Quins gathered the re-start, unforgivably for the second time in the first half, and proceeded to lift the tempo to their expected standard.
Connacht looked in dire straits when the match was played as the increased pace.
Sure enough, Care came to life, sprinting down a vacant blind side for an old school try off a solid scrum.
Another scrum, when Connacht were utterly smashed, sparked a relentless march to their try-line, with Care burrowing over after Jordan Turner-Hall was held just short.
It got worse before the break with Botica landing another penalty to leave it 24-19 to the visitors.
You feared for Connacht but Elwood’s coaching team did their work and Parks brought them back in touch with his sixth penalty of the evening.
It was a good old battle, at ever breakdown and in every collision players were either hurting themselves or their opponent.
It seemed like a good time to put Johnny O’Connor into the trenches.
Really though the result was sorted when Adrian Flavin was penalised for not rolling away on 62 minutes and Botica completed his impressive impersonation of Evans to make it 30-22 from 45 metres out.
SCORING SEQUENCE – 4 mins:B Botica pen, 3-0; 6 mins:D McSharry try, 3-5; D Parks conv, 3-7; 10 mins:B Botica pen, 6-7; 13 mins:D Parks pen, 6-10; 15 mins:B Botica pen, 9-10; 17 mins:D Parks pen, 9-13; 25 mins:D Parks pen, 9-16; 27 mins:D Parks pen, 9-19; 30 mins:D Care try, 14-19; 38 mins:D Care try, 19-19; B Botica conv, 21-19; 40 mins:B Botica pen, 24-19. half-time. 43 mins:D Parks pen, 24-22; 55 mins:B Botica pen, 27-22; 63 mins:B Botica pen, 30-22
CONNACHT:R Henshaw; E Griffin, D McSharry, F Vainikolo; D Parks, K Marmion; D Buckley, A Flavin, N White (capt), M Swift, M McCarthy, J Muldoon, W Faloon, G Naoupu.
Replacements:J O'Connor for W Faloon (55 mins), E McKeon for M Swift, J Harris-Wright for A Flavin, B Wilkinson for D Buckley (all 64 mins), M Fifita for E Griffin (65 mins), R Loughney for N White (67 mins), M Nikora for M McCarthy (76 mins)
HARLEQUINS:M Brown; T Williams, M Hopper, J Turner-Hall, S Smith; B Botica, D Care; J Marler, R Buchanan, J Johnston, O Kohn, G Robson, M Fa'asavalu, C Robshaw (capt), N Easter.
Replacements:T Guest for M Fa'asavalu (67 mins), C Matthews for O Kohn (72 mins)
Referee: J Garces(France).
Attendance:8,191
