Connacht’s Returning Lions Fall in Bonus Point Loss to Bulls

By Conall Diggin

A last-minute retaken conversion was all that separated Connacht and the Bulls on Friday night as the westerners lost 28-27.

This match saw the return of Connacht’s three Lions, Bundee Aki, Mack Hansen and Finlay Belham all returning to the Dexcom Stadium for the first time since their successful summer tour down under.

Connacht started the scoring with Josh Ioane side-stepping the Bulls’ defence and waltzing across the tryline to score and converting to give Connacht an early 7-0 lead.

The Bulls’ first points of the game would come after Sebastian de Klerk found his way through the Connacht defence, doing all the hard work for Paul de Wet as he dotted down the Bulls.

A moment of madness saw Connacht back row Josh Murphy receive a red card after punching Bulls’ hooker Jan-Hendrik Wessels.

Murphy would claim he was grabbed in the groin area, resulting in a TMO, but without clear evidence, the Enniscorthy man would receive his marching orders.

Almost straight away Bulls would capitalise with Willie Le Roux turning back the clock, drawing in Aki and handing off to de Klerk, to get his second assist of the half, feeding back to Le Roux, who finished his sides move, earning them the lead.

The Bulls would fail to capitalise any further against the 14-man Connacht, going into the half up 12-7.

Keegan Johannes would begin the second half scoring, kicking a neat drop goal from a few metres out to extend the lead to 15-7.

Caolin Blade would help Connacht strike back 2 minutes later after Byron Ralston found a hole in the Bulls’ defence, offloading to an uncovered Blade for a try which Ionae converted to cut the deficit to one.

Before the hour mark, the Bulls and De Wet would score again. Some quick passing would find De Klerk, who would provide his 3rd assist of the day whilst losing his boot.

Johannes would bring the lead to double digits, converting a penalty to extend the gap to 11 points.

The home side would get back into the game after an amazing try from substitute Sean Naughton. A kick down the sideline from Shayne Bolton was not dealt with by the Bulls and was kicked on by Naughton, who would then follow up and dot down the loose ball to give Connacht life once again.

In the final 10 minutes Johannes and Naughton would trade long-range penalties, with neither team able to extend or close the six-point gap.

In the dying moments of the game, a late penalty would get Connacht inside the Bulls’ 22. After 15 phases Connacht would find returning lion Hansen, who would finish well in the corner to bring the home side within five with virtually no time remaining.

The resulting conversion from Naughton would have the distance but float agonisingly left of the post. However, Naughton would get a chance at redemption with the referee Mike Adamson judging that the Bulls had charged the kick too early. Unfortunately for Naughton, the retake would not produce a different result this once, going well wide of the mark, sealing a second loss of the season for the Westerners.

Connacht’s next match will only be an hour’s drive away in Limerick, as they take on a red-hot Munster side on the 25th of October.

Stuart Lancaster’s men will have their work cut out for them, as Munster currently remain unbeaten to begin the season and are coming off the back of a huge bonus point win away to Leinster in Croke Park and are already looking like a real handful with a young, rejuvenated roster.