Last night the Blues welcomed back Martyn Williams, Tom Shanklin and Gethin Jenkins from their exertions at France 2007. And Gareth Thomas made a somewhat low key debut, coming on as a replacement on the wing for Rhys Williams in the 52nd minute. But they failed to fire their side to any significant degree, possibly feeling their way back into domestic rugby after such a long break.
However it was a fellow who didn t make the World Cup, 20-year-old wing Tom James, who proved the hero in the end, going over for two critical tries in the final 10 minutes to make sure of the result and claim the bonus point. Young makes a habit of declaring that Connacht are something of a bogey side for the Blues. Whether they quite merit that tag is questionable, but the Blues have come unstuck against the Galway-based outfit in the past and the first half suggested it could happen again.
So much of the action was disjointed and scrappy. The Blues were full of good intentions but too often slow ball at the breakdown hindered their progress and made life easier for the Irish defenders who pushed the offside law to its limits. When the home side did cut loose they looked a class above, as was proved in the 10th minute when Kiwi Ben Blair claimed the first try, cutting into the line after the ball had been worked left from a ruck at a rare pace.
Blair improved his own score, but the Blues trailed 9-7 a minute before half-time because of three penalties by Connacht fly-half Tim Donnelly. Clearly indignant at the prospect of going into the break behind though, Young s men struck at just the right time, Martyn Williams dummying after a series of thrusts to gallop home under the posts. But it was Connacht who began the second half with greater purpose and urgency and had the Blues been up against a more clinical side they could well have found themselves paying dearly on the scoreboard.
The visitors chose a number of wrong options when they appeared to have the Arms Park boys back-pedalling, but in the 51st minute they did take advantage. A poor cross-field kick from young Blues stand-off Dai Flanagan landed straight in the arms of full-back Gavin Duffy who went on an arcing run into enemy territory. The move ended with replacement scrum-half Connor O Loughlin pouncing from a ruck at close range and Donnelly adding the conversion.
News RSS