Blade hat-trick seals crucial win for Connacht
MATCH REPORT: Caolin Blade scored his second hat-trick of the season as Connacht maintained their push for a top-eight finish in the United Rugby Championship with a 41-26 bonus-point win over Edinburgh at the Sportsground.
Captain Blade’s intercept try on the stroke of half-time gave Connacht a 20-7 advantage, cancelling out a Lee-Roy Atalifo seven-pointer after earlier efforts from Cathal Forde and Conor Oliver.
Having watched Jarrad Butler go over, Edinburgh hit back through Viliame Mata and replacement Glen Young. The hosts lost Oliver and Oisin Dowling to the sin bin and Edinburgh full-back Emiliano Boffelli also saw yellow.
Eight points is as close as the Scots came, as a Blade double early in the final quarter settled the issue. An opportunist late try from Blair Kinghorn gave Edinburgh a bonus point of their own.
It was a fantastic solo try that launched Connacht into a seventh-minute lead, young centre Forde bursting through midfield before grounding the ball out wide despite the best efforts of Kinghorn and Damien Hoyland.
A David Hawkshaw penalty – following Oran McNulty’s charge-down on Boffelli – made it 8-0, and Connacht built from a scrum for flanker Oliver to crash over in the 20th minute.
Edinburgh had a couple of maul attempts thwarted but penalties led to them closing the gap to 15-7, prop Atalifo burrowing over for Boffelli to convert.
However, Blade plucked down a Kinghorn pass and scooted clear from his 22 to give the Irish province a decent interval cushion.
Jack Aungier’s well-timed pass sent Butler over in the 44th minute, with Hawkshaw converting, but Edinburgh, who visit Leicester Tigers next week in the Heineken Champions Cup, got back into contention.
Mata thundered over on the back of a Mark Bennett break, and Young took advantage of Oliver’s yellow to reduce the arrears to 27-19, just four minutes later.
A subsequent high tackle saw Connacht lock Dowling binned and then Boffelli was guilty of taking out John Porch in the air.
Tom Farrell led Connacht’s charge back downfield and Blade sniped over from a ruck. Replacement Tom Daly converted and also added the extras to the scrum half’s 64th-minute clincher.
Connacht’s fifth straight victory was confirmed, but Edinburgh completed the scoring when Kinghorn dotted down before Kieran Marmion could kick the ball clear.
Player of the Match
Mark Bennett and Boan Venter had good outings for Edinburgh, the pair both featuring in the build-up to second half tries. Blade shown brightest for Connacht and was a very deserving URC player-of-the-match medal winner. Not just for his sharp finishing from near and far, but his marshalling of the victors' workmanlike pack.
Play of the Match
Blade sealed the deal with 16 minutes remaining, sidestepping inside Connor Boyle and showing his footballing skills to dribble his own kick through twice and beat the cover to score. But some of the credit for the try must go to young replacement Shane Jennings, whop ripped the ball away from Mata initially and then won another turnover at the feet of Darcy Graham.
The scorers
For Connacht
Tries: Forde, Oliver, Blade 3, Butler
Cons: Hawkshaw 2, Daly 2
Pen: Hawkshaw
For Edinburgh
Tries: Atalifo, Mata, Young, Kinghorn
Cons: Boffelli 3
Yellow cards: Conor Oliver (Connacht, 47), Oisín Dowling (Connacht, 54), Emiliano Boffelli (Edinburgh, 58)
Teams
Connacht: 15 Oran McNulty, 14 Diarmuid Kilgallen, 13 Tom Farrell, 12 Cathal Forde, 11 John Porch, 10 David Hawkshaw, 9 Caolin Blade, 8 Jarrad Butler, 7 Conor Oliver, 6 Cian Prendergast, 5 Niall Murray, 4 Oisín Dowling, 3 Jack Aungier, 2 Dylan Tierney-Martin, 1 Peter Dooley.
Replacements: 16 Dave Heffernan, 17 Jordan Duggan, 18 Dominic Robertson-McCoy, 19 Darragh Murray, 20 Shamus Hurley-Langton, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Tom Daly, 23 Shane Jennings.
Edinburgh: 15 Emiliano Boffelli, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 James Lang, 11 Damien Hoyland, 10 Blair Kinghorn, 9 Henry Pyrgos, 8 Viliame Mata, 7 Connor Boyle, 6 Ben Muncaster, 5 Grant Gilchrist (captain), 4 Sam Skinner, 3 Lee-Roy Atalifo, 2 Stuart McInally, 1 Boan Venter.
Replacements: 16 Dave Cherry, 17 Luan de Bruin, 18 WP Nel, 19 Marshall Sykes, 20 Glen Young, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Chris Dean, 23 Nathan Sweeney.
Referee: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
Assistant referees: Chris Busby (Ireland), Paul Haycock (Ireland)
TMO: Sean Brickell (Wales)