Connacht maintained their inpressive home record with a convincing 16-3 win over Newport Gwent Dragons at the Sportsground.

A Fionn Carr try after 19 minutes provided the foundation for the victory. Ian Keatley, who had earlier landed two penalties, added the conversion to put Connacht 13-0 in front.

James Tovey landed a penalty for the Welsh side to leave it 13-3 at the break and while Connacht continued to dominate after the restart, they had to settle for another penalty from Keatley as they ran out convincing winners.

Connacht: G Duffy; L Bibo, N Ta’auso, K Matthews, F Carr; I Keatley, C O’Loughlin; B Wilkinson, A Flavin, J Hagan; M Swift, M McCarthy; J Muldoon, R Ofisa, G Naoupu.
Replacements: A Wynne for Ta’auso, 59 mins; R Morris for Hagan, 59 mins; K Campbell for O’Loughlin, 64 mins; M McComish for Ofisa, 66 mins; B Upton for Swift, 74 mins; M Nikora for Keatley, 74 mins; R Loughney for Wilkinson, 78 mins.

Dragons: M Thomas; W Harries, M Watkins, A Smith, A Brew; J Tovey, W Evans; H Gustafson, T Willis, B Castle; R Sidoli, H MacDonald; T Faletau, G Thomas. G Webb.
Replacements: T Riley for Smith, 37 mins; A Coombs for Webb, 50 mins; P Palmer for Castle, 50 mins; A Brown for Faletau, 66 mins; J Leadbeater for Evans, 74 mins; J Arlidge for Watkins, 78 mins.

Fionn Carr retains possesion despite the attention of 2 Dragons players. (C) INPHO Mike Shaughnessy