Connacht 14

Edinburgh 27

Connacht went down to a disappointing defeat to Edinburgh at a windswept Sportsground on Friday night.

Two converted tries in the second-half were not enough to haul Connacht back into contention after Edinburgh pulled away before the break.

Edinburgh, playing with the wind, led10-0 at the half hour mark thanks to a try from Simon Webster and the boot of Chris Paterson.

But tries from Paterson and Mike Blair pushed Edinburgh into a 27-0 lead by the interval.

It remained that until the end of the third quarter when Gavin Duffy broke for a try under the posts which Ian Keatley converted.

Connacht reduced the margin further witha fine try which was finished by full-back Fionn Carr, with Keatley again adding the points with sixteen minutes remaining.

But that was as near as Connacht got to catching Edinburgh.

Connacht:

Tries: Duffy, Carr

Cons: Keatley (2)

Edinburgh:        

Tries: Webster, Paterson, Blair

Cons: Paterson (3)

Pens: Paterson (2)

Connacht: F Carr; A Wynne, G Duffy, M Deane, J Hearty; I Keatley, F Murphy; J Lyne, S Cronin, R Morris; M Swift, A Farley; J Muldoon, J O’Connor, C Rigney.
Replacements: A Browne for Swift, 25 mins; D Gannon for Farley, half-time; T Nathan for Hearty, 48 mins; K Campbell for Murphy, 52 mins; A Flavin for Cronin, 52 mins; A Dunne for Deane, 58 mins.

Edinburgh: C Paterson; M Robertson, B Cairns, N de Luca, S Webster; P Godman, M Blair; A Jacobsen, R Ford, G Cross; C Hamilton, B Gissing; S Newlands, A MacDonald, A Hogg.

Replacements: M Mustchin for Hamilton,57 mins; J Houston for Webster, 66 mins; R Rennie for McDonald, 66 mins; G Kerr for Cross, 68 mins.

Referee: J Jones (Wales).