Nolan and O’Brien impress against Portugal

Date Published: 11-Nov-2008

CONNACHT marked the opening of their new state of the art gym at the Galway Sportsgroud in style on Sunday, defeating a spirited Portugal on a wet and windy night. Debutants David Nolan and John O’Brien didn’t disappoint on the night with Nolan putting in a gutsy effort throughout in the second row and O’Brien scoring a try and showing plenty of flashes of his undoubted pace from full back.

The duo have come through the very successful Connacht academy in recent years and were two of six recent graduates to shine on the night with Ronan Loughney, Aidan Wynne, Daniel Riordan and Joe Merrigan all to the fore.

Connacht scored four tries in all, two in each half with Troy Nathan getting on the scoreboard in the opening forty minutes and Brett Wilkinson and Mel Deane adding scores in the second half but this was not easy run out as Portugal battled bravely throughout.

In fact, early second half scores had narrowed the gap to just six before the home side steadied the ship.

The home side struggled …