Connacht break Aironi hearts

Matthew Jarvis held his nerve to hand Connacht a last-gasp 19-16 Pro12 victory over Aironi on Saturday.

 In their final ever game away from Italian soil Aironi looked set for a first win on the road as Azzurri pair Quintin Geldenhuys and Luciano Orquera offered them an early lead. But the Irish outfit was not to be denied.
 
In the other Saturday match Wales flyhalf Rhys Priestland ended the Scarlets' 14-game losing run against Munster with a 70th-minute penalty from a testing angle to steal a 20-20 draw which leaves the Welsh side's Pro12 play-off hopes hanging in the balance.

We look at Saturday's matches!

Connacht 19-16 Aironi:

Matthew Jarvis held his nerve to hand Connacht a last-gasp 19-16 Pro12 victory over Aironi.

In their final ever game away from Italian soil Aironi looked set for a first win on the road as Azzurri pair Quintin Geldenhuys and Luciano Orquera offered them an early lead.

But Connacht are in good form at the moment and they were not to be denied, edging their way back from a 16-3 half-time deficit before Jarvis' late show.

Eric Elwood's men are searching for a highest-ever Pro12 finish and made it three wins on the bounce with this success, gaining some revenge from their defeat at the Stadio Luigi Zaffanella in the reverse fixture.

Aironi meanwhile, who will not be part of the league next season, fell short of a first away success by the narrowest of margins as they faded in the second half.

It was Italian flyhalf Orquera who gave Aironi the early lead as he fired over a drop goal just before the quarter hour.

Miah Nikora levelled the scores midway through the half but Connacht were not level for long as second row Geldenhuys made his entrance.

The South African-born lock went over for his first Pro12 try on 23 minutes, Orquera's conversion making it 10-3.

The flyhalf was on target again three minutes later and he stretched the lead to 13 with four minutes remaining in the half to make it 16-3 at the break.

Elwood reacted with three substitutions early in the second half with Adrian Flavin, Jonny O'Connor and Rodney Ah You all entering the fray.

And they edged back into the game when Nikora knocked over his second penalty on the hour mark.

Connacht continued to work their way back into it with Nikora slotting a third penalty of the day at the Sportsground to move the home side back to within a converted try.

With five minutes remaining Connacht were handed a boost when replacement Aironi second row Josh Furno was sin-binned.

And they capitalised immediately with Ah You going over, Nikora slotting the conversion to draw the home side level.

Having seen the Irish side claw their way back into it, Aironi then had to watch on in horror as replacement Jarvis found the target with a penalty in the final seconds of the game.

The scorers:

For Connacht:
Try: Ah You
Con: Nikora
Pens: Nikora 3, Jarvis

For Aironi:
Try: Geldenhuys
Con: Orquera
Pens: Orquera 2
DG: Orquera

Yellow card: Joshua Furno (Aironi, 74)

Teams:

Connacht: 15 Gavin Duffy (captain), 14 Tiernan O'Halloran, 13 Kyle Tonetti, 12 Henry Fa'afili, 11 Fetu'u Vainikolo, 10 Miah Nikora, 9 Frank Murphy, 8 George Naoupu, 7 Ray Ofisa, 6 John Muldoon, 5 Mike McCarthy, 4 Michael Swift, 3 Ronan Loughney, 2 Ethienne Reynecke, 1 Denis Buckley.
Replacements: 16 Adrian Flavin. 17 Stewart Maguire. 18 Rodney Ah You. 19 Mick Kearney. 20 Johnny O'Connor. 21 Paul O'Donohoe. 22 Matthew Jarvis. 23 Eoin Griffin.

Aironi: 15 Tito Tebaldi, 14 Giulio Toniolatti, 13 Sinoti Sinoti, 12 Matteo Pratichetti, 11 Giovanbattista Venditti, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Tyson Keats, 8 Josh Sole, 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Nicola Cattina; 5 Marco Bortolami (cap), 4 Quintin Geldenhuys; 3 Lorenzo Romano, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 1 Matias Aguero.
Replacements: 16 Tommaso D'Apice, 17 Alberto De Marchi, 18 Luca Redolfini, 19 Joshua Furno, 20 Nick Williams, 21 Naas Olivier, 22 Gilberto Pavan, 23 Paolo Buso

Referee: Ian Davies (Wales)
Assistant referees: Simon McDowell (Ireland), Stuart Gaffikin (Ireland)
TMO: Jude Quinn (Ireland)

Scarlets 20-20 Munster:

Wales flyhalf Rhys Priestland ended the Scarlets' 14-game losing run against Munster with a 70th-minute penalty from a testing angle to steal a 20-20 draw which leaves the Welsh side's Pro12 play-off hopes hanging in the balance.

The Scarlets are level on 57 points with fourth-place Glasgow, who play Treviso on Sunday, while a draw did not suit Munster who were chasing down the second-place Ospreys for a home semi-final berth.

Munster looked good for the win at 20-10 up until Aaron Shingler's try on 61 minutes got Scarlets back into the match and, after Priestland had expertly levelled things up, the Welsh region went hell for leather for the win but fell short.

The home side's determination to overturn their losing streak against Munster was obvious from the start at Parc y Scarlets.

After seeing Munster flyhalf Ian Keatley's early penalty go wide they took the lead with a sensational try from left wing Sean Lamont.

Scrum-half Gareth Davies started the move inside his own 22 with Liam Williams, George North, Stephen Jones, Shingler and Matthew Rees all getting their hands on the ball in a move that culminated in the Scottish wing going over for a converted score.

But Munster are chasing a second consecutive title and responded with two tries inside four first-half minutes.

Lock Donnacha Ryan crossed on 17 minutes after the Irish province stole a line-out on the Scarlets' throw, ten metres from the try line. Scrum-half Conor Murray fed Ryan and the big second-row ploughed through the home side's flailing tacklers.

The score gave Keatley the chance to atone for his earlier miss with a conversion, and he then set up wing Simon Zebo who touched down for his seventh league try of the season.

Keatley added the extras and then slotted a penalty to put Munster firmly in charge in south Wales.

Priestland could have brought the Scarlets to within a whisker of the champions but where he succeeded with his first attempt on goal he failed with his second, making it 17-10 at half-time.

Keatley restored Munster's ten-point cushion five minutes after the break with a coolly taken penalty.

But then the home side gave themselves a lifeline in the match, and of making the semi-finals, when Stephen Jones pulled two Munster defenders onto him and slipped the ball to a charging Shingler and the flanker ran over from 22 metres out.

Priestland converted and with ten minutes to go he took his chance to level from 40 metres out.

Buoyed by the always-vocal home support, Wales' new pin-up boy calmly put it through the posts.

The Scarlets were on a mission and trusted their chances to the off-load game. Forwards and backs all combined around the fulcrum of Jones, who popped up everywhere.

But while there was no doubting intentions, their execution in a gripping finale was lacking as they could not find the killer pass and both teams were ultimately left frustrated.

The scorers:

For Scarlets
Tries: Lamont, Shingler
Cons: Priestland 2
Pens: Priestland 2

For Munster:
Tries: Ryan, Zebo
Cons: Keatley 2
Pens: Keatley 2

Teams:

Scarlets: 15 Liam Williams, 14 George North, 13 Adam Warren, 12 Stephen Jones, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Josh Turnbull, 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 Dominic Day, 4 Sione Timani, 3 Deacon Manu, 2 Matthew Rees (captain), 1 Rhodri Jones.
Replacements: 16 Emyr Phillips, 17 Phil John, 18 Simon Gardiner, 19 Mat Gilbert, 20 Kieran Murphy, 21 Tavis Knoyle, 22 Jordan Williams, 23 Viliame Iongi.

Munster: 15 Felix Jones, 14 Luke O'Dea, 13 Johne Murphy, 12 Lifeimi Mafi, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Ian Keatley, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Peter O'Mahony, 7 Tommy O'Donnell, 6 Donnacha Ryan, 5 Paul O'Connell (captain), 4 Mick O'Driscoll, 3 BJ Botha, 2 Mike Sherry, 1 Dave Kilcoyne.
Replacements: 16 Damien Varley, 17 Wian du Preez, 18 Stephen Archer, 19 Donncha O'Callaghan, 20 Peter Butler, 21 Tomas O'Leary, 22 Scott Deasy, 23 Ian Dineen.

Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Gwyn Morris (Wales), David Jones (Wales)
TMO: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)