The newly refurbished Sportsground hosted Connacht’s 1^st home game of this season on Saturday and over 3000 supporters turned up to witness the new chapter in Connacht Rugby’s history.

Connacht kicked off into the swirling wind and though they retained the majority of possession the Scarlets were the first on the score board when after 8 minuet Dan Newton kicked a penalty from 20m out. Another heroic display of defence saw Ronan Loughney, Michael Swift and Mark McCrea stand firm in the Connacht line and their efforts were rewarded with a 13^th minute penalty opportunity 2m inside their own half. Matthew Jarvis pushed the kick wide and Connacht were forced back into defence once again. A slick backline move from inside the Connacht half saw centre Eoin Griffin link with Henry Fa’afili who offloaded to winger Mark McCrea who was brought down just before the Scarlets line. 10 minutes later Fa’afili was brought down yards from the line after the Connacht forwards had put in a lot of hard graft with a succession of quick rucks. Connacht looked dangerous everytime they touched the ball and, with 3 minutes to go before the halftime break Matthew Jarvis brought Connacht to within 3 with a 30m penalty. 2 penalties in a row saw Connacht march back into the Scarlets half but Jarvis wasn’t able to capitalise and drew his kick just left of the posts to leave the half time score Connacht 3 Scarlets 6

The secon half started with the visitors making the early headway. they were awarded a penalty three minutes in and Newton kicked for the corner. Connacht stole the lineout but a turnover and quick hand sent second row Aaron Shinger over in the corner. The ref went upstairs but the TMO gave the decision without too much deliberation. Newton missed the conversion. The try seemed to wake Connacht up and a huge maul into the Scarlets 22 almost made the line. The resulting ruck saw some fisticuffs between Michael Swift and Rob McCusker saw both players go to the bin. The loss of the man didn't seem to affect Connacht and a huge break from George Naoupu and Ronan Loughney created a good platform before the ball swung out to centre Henry Fa'afili who ran past three defenders and offloaded to Mark McCrea for the Ulsterman to run in for his first try for Connacht. Jarvis added the conversion to bring Connacht to within one point. One of the loudest cheers of the night went up on 61 minutes as Brett Wilkinson made his return to the Connacht side after injury. Connacht continued to pressure the Scarlets with Rodney Ah You making great yardage. on 67 minutes Connacht were awarded a penalty outside the Scarlets 22 which substitute Niall O'Connor slotted to give Connacht a two point lead. as the clock ticked down, the Scarlets tried to respond but Connacht's defence stood strong and they held out for a 13-11 win in front of a 3,408 strong crowd. next up for Connacht is an away trip to face Michael Bradley's Edinburgh in Murrayfield before they return to the Sportsground to welcome the Dragons on Friday 23rd September at 7.30pm

Speaking after the match Head Coach Eric Elwood said he was happy with the 4 points but there were areas that needed improvement:

“The 2 good occasions we got into their 22 in the first half we threw the last pass away so maybe we lacked a little composer in some areas but we got ourselves back into the game, got ourselves a foothold at scrumtime, got big George carrying some ball, Rodney carrying some ball and Henry showed some great footwork and with Mark running a great line off his shoulder it was a well taken try. We ground it out, we squeezed it out and thankfully we were able to guide it home.”

Man of the Match George Naoupu goes on another barnstorming run with Ray Ofisa in close support

Mark McCrea touches down for Connacht (above left) and Captain Gavin Duffy sidesteps Rhodri Gomer Davies (above right) All pics (C) www.inpho.ie