Carty Becomes Connacht’s Record Points Scorer With Classy Cameo

Jack Carty showed his class off the bench with a key 10-point contribution and a try assist as Connacht triumphed 29-14 at the Sportsground to bring Benetton Rugby’s eight-match GUINNESS PRO14 unbeaten run to an end.

Two opportunist tries from Caolin Blade (16 minutes) and Matt Healy (29) had Andy Friend’s men 14-7 to the good at half-time, with the in-form Italians enjoying purple patches at either end of the first half. They opened their account late on thanks to replacement Antonio Rizzi’s third try in as many games.

Dewaldt Duvenage’s 55th-minute score moved the Treviso side level, only for replacement Carty, who won his first three Ireland caps during the Six Nations, to seize the momentum with a brilliant 24-minute cameo. He landed a difficult 63rd-minute penalty, had two involvements in the build-up to Healy’s second try, and then finished off a breakaway last-minute bonus point try.

The maximum return keeps the province in third place in Conference A on scoring difference, just ahead of Cardiff Blues who visit Galway in mid-April. Carty’s 10-point haul also made him Connacht’s all-time record points scorer with 691 points from 123 appearances, eclipsing the previous mark set by Ian Keatley (688).

A large chunk of the opening ten minutes was eaten up by scrums, which eventually gave way to some breathless attacking phases with Benetton eager to make a physical imprint on the game and Connacht’s Shane Delahunt and Darragh Leader spearheading a threatening counter attack. The visitors also forced two early scrum penalties against loosehead Denis Buckley.

However, it was the westerners who hit the front when an attack off a lineout swung back into midfield and scrum half Blade took advantage of a missing pillar, breaking from a ruck and stepping inside last man Ian McKinley to go in under the posts. Kyle Godwin converted and Tiernan O’Halloran, who offered a significant running threat from full-back, soon led another pacy team break from deep.

Despite the best efforts of Toa Halafihi at the breakdown, Benetton leaked a second try after Connacht wore them down through 27 phases. Ultan Dillane and Finlay Bealham made crucial incisions, and although O’Halloran lost the ball close to the line, James Cannon’s immediate tackle on Duvenage forced possession loose over the line and winger Healy swooped in to touch it down.

After Godwin was successful with the difficult conversion from the right, the Italian pack was able to exert some pressure approaching the interval. They were rewarded when Kiwi number 8 Halahifi broke from a five-metre scrum and linked with Rizzi who grounded under pressure from Leader and converted to suddenly halve the deficit.

Benetton soaked up what Connacht threw at them on the resumption, including Blade’s upping off the pace with a quick tap. Indeed, it was the Galway man’s opposite number Duvenage who brought the visitors level, raiding in behind the posts after Godwin’s poor kick led to a tired chase and Connacht were duly punished as Marco Barbini charged into space and combined with Halahifi and Rizzi to release the scrum half.

Rizzi’s levelling conversion was cancelled out by that crisply-struck Carty penalty from just inside the Benetton half, before the hosts showed the greater accuracy and energy down the final stretch. Carty got his offload away to put Eoin McKeon through a gap in the visitors’ 22, the out-half then popping up on the left to send Healy sliding over in the corner with 12 minutes remaining.

With Stephen Fitzgerald also impressing off the bench, Carty’s clever chip-and-collect launched a frenetic 79th-minute attack. Fellow replacement Kieran Marmion was brought to ground but the move swept across to the right where Benetton were caught for numbers and Marmion fed his half-back partner to dive over and convert.

Giving his reaction afterwards, record breaker Carty said: “The game was in the balance in the first half and second half. I think a lot of the groundwork was laid down early in the first half. The ball was in play for eight or nine minutes at one stage, we kept them out. They’re probably the most physical team we’ve played this year.

“They’ve some big men in the pack and the performance we gave just to meet them physically was really, really pleasing. I suppose the first thing I saw was their nine defending in the line and I thought there might chip space at some stage, luckily there was at the end.

“And then the deep-lying sweepers, you had to maybe going through them a bit, they didn’t really give us space on the edge so we had to play a bit of an attritional game which, look, we’re happy to do. Sometimes you just have to roll up the sleeves and do dirty. We did that and we wore them down, especially in the first half. It was just a really good team effort.”

He added: “I had a great couple of weeks, being in the Six Nations squad, making my Ireland debut and getting two more caps, and then coming off the bench tonight. I’m just lucky to have really good players around me making my job easy, and yeah, I’m just really enjoying my rugby at the moment. It’s really enjoyable to be playing.”