Timely lift for Connacht in long-awaited away victory

Scarlets 23

Connacht 29

BY JOHN FALLON

CONNACHT coach Andy Friend is hoping that their first ever win at Parc y Scarlets will get their season back on track after four successive losses in Europe and the URC.

Their 29-23 win was their first time to taste victory in a dozen visits to the Llanelli venue and with ground to be made up if they are to be involved in the business end of the competition, Friend knows their first away victory of the season couldn’t have come at a better time.

“We needed that win. I said before the game we put a lot of energy into our last few performances but hadn’t done enough to get the win and that was a really important one for us. Scarlets are a good side and you have to work really hard to win over here and the boys did that.

“I just thought 10-0 down after ten minutes and it was all one-way traffic, and I thought we fought really hard to dig our way out of that,” said Friend.

The win was marred by a controversial dismissal of Tongan lock Leva Fifita. It was an eventual night for the 32-year old who scored his first try for Connacht just before the break since his summer move from Grenoble, but he was binned for impeding replacement scrum-half Kieran Hardy and a penalty try was awarded. And then four minutes from time he was harshly adjudged to have taken out full-back Ioan Nicholas and was sent off with a second yellow.

Friend kept his counsel on the dismissal and said he was just relieved they held out for the win having coughed up big leads in recent games.

“The try just before half-time was excellent and I just thought the way they rallied at the end when we went down to 14 men and Scarlets threw everything at us, I thought the boys really showed some resolve there and it was impressive,” said Friend.

“I think it is a really important win for us and with Kieran Marmion’s 200th game and John Porch’s 50th, big milestones for those two boys, and for us as a team to get that win, it’s really the tonic that we need and hopefully now we will push on.”

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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