Connacht see off Scarlets
Niall O'Connor's 69th-minute penalty proved enough to give Connacht an 11-9 victory over Scarlets at the Sportsground.
Last Updated: 10/09/11 6:55pm
Niall O'Connor's 69th-minute penalty proved enough to give Connacht an 11-9 victory over Scarlets at the redeveloped Sportsground.
The replacement held his nerve on a blustery afternoon to help his team register their first back-to-back wins at the start of a season since 2005.
Dan Newton had landed a brace of penalties to give the wind-backed Scarlets a 6-3 advantage at the break, with former Ospreys fly-half Matthew Jarvis kicking one of his three first half attempts for the hosts.
Aaron Shingler's 47th-minute try in the left corner stretched the visitors' lead to 11-3 after Ben Morgan broke from a close range scrum.
Tempers flared
Newton could not add the extras, though, and tempers flared a couple of minutes later when Michael Swift and Rob McCusker threw punches at each other, leading to a double sin-binning.
When play resumed Connacht put together some of their best phases, with man-of-the-match George Naoupu and Rodney Ah You both carrying well.
Henry Fa'afili then tied in a couple of defenders on a surge up the right and passed one-handed for Mark McCrea to glide over.
Jarvis converted to put just a point between the sides, although it was Connacht who were now firmly on top.
An offence at a ruck gifted them the chance to move ahead for the first time, O'Connor kicking it just eight minutes after coming off the bench.
