Blade And McCartney Bag Braces In Connacht’s Opening Win

Two tries each from Caolin Blade and Tom McCartney did most of the damage as Connacht overcame Benetton Rugby 41-5 at the Sportsground for their first win of the GUINNESS PRO14 season.

Beaten 18-10 by the Scarlets in their Championship opener, Andy Friend’s men rebounded in bonus point-winning fashion with the foundations laid by a three-try first half – Kyle Godwin, with a smashing solo score, Blade and McCartney all touch down to establish a 22-0 lead.

Man-of-the-match Blade and McCartney crossed again during the third quarter, sandwiching a lone Luca Sperandio score for the Italians, before replacement Kieran Marmion wrapped up the six-try success with five minutes remaining.

Benetton ran defending champions Leinster to just five points last week, but the westerners had them under early pressure. A big carry from Connacht captain Jarrad Butler preceded a Conor Fitzgerald penalty goal before Australian centre Godwin countered superbly from 60 metres out, weaving through midfield and shrugging off Sperandio to score wide on the right.

Scrum half Blade added a smartly-taken 18th-minute effort, firstly luring the Italians into conceding a penalty before attacking off the maul where a couple of deft sidesteps took him around his opposite number Luca Petrozzi. Fitzgerald converted to open up a 15-point advantage.

A barnstorming 23rd-minute maul put hooker McCartney over for another converted try, following an initial lineout steal from Gavin Thornbury and Fitzgerald’s booming kick to touch from a penalty near halfway.

The province’s swarming defence negated the influence of former Connacht fans’ favourite Ian Keatley, with Quinn Roux’s forceful tackling driving them back behind the gain-line. Their pacy back-three also did well to cover the kicking threat posed by the Treviso-based club.

Connacht failed to score from some late scrum pressure before half-time, but the bonus point arrived within three minutes of the restart. Blade combined with Peter Robb, Godwin’s decoy run causing confusion in the Benetton defence and the nippy half-back needed no second invitation as he zoomed through the gap to complete his brace.

Fitzgerald converted for a 29-0 scoreline, the concession bringing the best out of the Benetton attack as Keatley looped around to exploit space on the right and feed full-back Sperandio to finish past Tiernan O’Halloran in the 47th minute.

That score went unconverted as did Connacht’s fifth, McCartney burrowing over on the back of a defence-splitting run by Robb who was stopped short just a few metres short by the chasing Keatley.

O’Halloran went close from a chip over the top and Ultan Dillane was foiled by Ian McKinley’s try-saving rip, but a sixth try did eventually come for Connacht when Marmion grounded the ball with an outstretched left arm following some determined carrying from his forwards.

Giving his reaction to the performance afterwards, Connacht head coach Friend said: “We were disappointed with the Scarlets game, but we felt most of that was our game control, and I thought Caolin Blade and Conor Fitzgerald (half-back) did that really well (tonight).

“You put the ball in front of the forwards and it becomes an easy game. We have talked about making the Sportsground a fortress but you have to go out and do it and we did for this one.”