Connacht Rugby celebrate New Year with victory over Munster

Connacht Rugby supporters could not have asked for a better start to 2015 with their team outplaying Munster in a 24-16 win at The Sportsground.

Pat Lam’s men fought back from 13 – 0 after 30 minutes to score three unanswered tries from Kieran Marmion, Aly Muldowney and Craig Ronaldson.
Ronaldson, Darragh Leader and Miah Nikora combined to score nine points from the kicking tee.

Former Connacht player Ian Keatley opened the scoring on six minutes when the hosts were penalised for being off their feet.

Munster captain Peter O’Mahony brought his side even further ahead after ten minutes when he forced his way over the line following a powerful driving maul from a lineout.

Keatley judged the wind to perfection with his touchline conversion and quickly followed up three minutes later with a penalty to make the score 0-13.

The momentum shifted on the half hour mark and Connacht began to take more control of the contest.

A delicate chip from Ronaldson was caught on the full by Robbie Henshaw who beat two defenders and timed a perfect pass to Marmion to run clear and touch down for his fourth try of the season. Ronaldson converted.

Despite dominating possession Connacht failed to score for the remainder of the half and coughed up a further penalty to leave the half time score 7-16.

Connacht, who hadn’t beaten Munster since 2008, got off to the best possible start in the second half when Henshaw broke the Munster line again and fed to his centre partner Bundee Aki to bring play up to the try line.

Aki was held up but Ronaldson was in support to pile over and celebrate his first try in a Connacht shirt.

The outhalf was injured in the move so Darragh Leader stepped up for the conversion and tapped it over to reduce the deficit to just two points.

After 55 minutes Connacht first took the lead, replacement Nikora striking a penalty kick between the posts.

Seven minutes later, that lead was extended again when Marmion picked a gap in the Munster defence and broke for the line.

He was held up but a couple of pick and drives saw Aly Muldowney squeeze over for five points for the second week in a row. Leader converted again to make it 24 – 16.

The last five minutes of the game saw Munster chase a late response but the resolute Connacht defence kept them at bay and secured a historic win for Pat Lam and his squad.