Connacht get third Magners win of the season

Fortress Galway
By LDTT
October 19 2006

Connacht flanker Ray Ofisa scored his first try of the season to see off the Newport-Gwent Dragons in Galway. Connacht scored 16 points unanswered in the first half, to earn a much needed win to keep them in the hunt for the Heineken cup playoff spot.

When the fixtures were announced, and Connacht had six home games on the trot, a lot of people thought we had to get wins from most of these games. Not many stopped to gauge to opponents we would face over those games. Had Glasgow and the Borders been on the list, then perhaps we should have expected more points. But to beat the Ospreys superstars, the revitalised Llanelli, the strongest Scots side Edinburgh, Leinster & Ulster back to back and finally the Dragons was never going to happen.

While 3 points were earned from Edinburgh & Ulster, the Ospreys were beaten by a professional performance and beating the Dragons should be expected. Connacht produced the goods in the first half and delivered the win in the second.
The forwards as a whole worked well on a day when only one scrum stayed up in the first half. The ref was at a loss with what was going on, but it was clear that Lee Harrison wasn't up to the task for the dragons.

In the first half Connacht played away from college road with the wind at their backs, and while they ultimately got the points on the board that they needed, the Keane-McHugh combination at half back combined to give slow ball to the backs, and to repeatedly lose ground.
From a lineout on the Dragons 22, Connacht ended back on the Dragons 10-metre line after 3 phases.

Mark is excellent when place kicking, kicking drop goals, or booting the ball out of defence, but he hasn't got the hands of an outhalf. For Ofisas try, Mark took the ball into contact, and from the resulting ruck slow ball was popped to the forwards who took it into contact, and the quick ball was popped to Riordan on the charge who got away from almost everyone, to all Ofisa score.
While Riordan was always a live wire, Warwicks pace was causing all kinds of problems for the dragons backs, and Matt Mostyn was smashing through backs & forwards alike. The first half was a mixture of the Dragons sticking the ball up their jerseys, and Connacht looking to kick for field position.

By the time Connacht handed the wind to the welsh region, the men from the west were in control. And though the second half was lost 0-9, it doesn't accurately reflect the quality of Connachts play. Tom Tierney was making huge yards with his breaks and the forwards were coping with the Dragons pack.
The Dragons scores stemmed from turnovers in the dragons half, where posession was kicked back into Connacht territory. Usually a penalty was forced during repeated phases of forward play trying to work their way back up the field.

This was good play by the dragons, just repeating the Connacht tactics of the first half. However, with no real spark in their backline outside of Ceri Sweeney, they never looked likely to score the all important try.

And so Connacht got four points, and the Dragons were lucky to get one. Connacht can look forward to Harlequins next week with no fear. The men of the west have good defensive capabilities and a good sharp attack when quick hands are used to set Warwick and the back 3 free.

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