Connacht crisis deepens after a heavy away loss to Italians

Treviso 23 Connacht 3

THIS was Benetton Trevio’s eighth win in their last nine home games at the Stadio Monigo on Friday night and based on the scoreboard at least, it will be filed under convincing as a worryingly error-strewn Connacht came away from Italy with just one penalty to show for their efforts.

The home side scored two tries, both in the second half and the first of those all but sealed the win when Allessandro Zanni crashed over minutes after Connacht had narrowed the nine point gap to three. The men in green and white hoops didn’t look back from there.

Connacht came into the game somewhat depleted with Robbie Henshaw unavailable and a long term injury list that is mounting. Their woes were added to when Eoin Griffin picked up a calf injury during the warm up and had to be replaced by Brian Murphy in the starting line up. 

Early on, Connacht showed some spark with Gavin Duffy’s chip and break leading to a lineout deep in Treviso territory. Craig Clarke recieved the throw from Sean Henry but they visiting pack couldn’t orchestrate any points.

Things got worse not long after that as their defence was carved open with ease 30 metres out and while the Treviso forward was hauled down five metres short, scrum half Paul O’Donohoe was penalised for killing the ball in the ruck when he had been warned to roll away. He was yellow carded and from the resulting penalty, Alberto di Bernardo kicked Treviso into a 3-0 lead.

 Dan Parks then continued his inconsistent form with the boot by missing a kick to bring his side level but Connacht did at least survive the sin bin period without conceding any further points.

Trevisor edged most of the first quarter in terms of territory and dominance but stern defence kept Connacht in touch. Neither side could make much of their chances though. Pat Lam’s side spent a strong spell in Treviso territory and also failed to get a return.

The injury situation was compounded for Connacht when Nathan White came on for Ronan Loughney, only to be forced off himself after no more than five minutes on the field. The reshuffle saw Brett Wilkinson take to the field with Rodney Ah You switching to tighthead.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.