Connacht too strong for Kings
PRO14 REPORT: Jack Carty guided Connacht to a second consecutive Pro14 victory as they overpowered the Southern Kings 31-14 at the Madibaz Stadium.
The flyhalf scored seven points and set up the first try for Cian Kelleher, before Matt Healy’s score and a penalty try gave them a confident lead.
Kings fought back with two well-worked tries, the first through Masixole Banda and the second Ntabeni Dukisa, but youngster Paul Boyle secured the victory with a powerful second-half score.
Carty opened the scoring for Connacht with a penalty against a strong wind in Port Elizabeth.
The visitors increased their lead after Carty put an inch-perfect kick into the corner for Kelleher to catch unopposed and touch down, with the flyhalf bending the conversion over.
Kings gathered themselves though and responded through Banda, who danced through the defence from 15 metres out to dot down.
But the hosts went down to 14 men when prop Lupumlo Mguca repeatedly pulled down the scrum, and Connacht took immediate advantage of the dominance in the push to earn a penalty try.
It only got worse for Kings as Connacht span the ball beautifully from one touchline to the other to put Healy in for their third try on the stroke of half-time, with Carty again adding the extras to make it 7-24 at the break.
Mguca made amends when he came back on the pitch, bursting through Connacht’s 22 with a storming run.
The ball was recycled to Dries van Schalkwyk, who broke through and popped to Dukisa for an easy run-in.
Banda converted to reduce the gap to 10 points with 25 minutes to play, as Kings started gathering real momentum.
Coming off the bench 21-year-old Boyle made an instant impact, taking a crash ball and holding off four defenders to muscle his way over for Connacht’s bonus-point try.
David Horwitz converted to put the visitors back in the driving seat with a 31-14 lead, which they retained to the final whistle.
The scorers:
For Kings:
Tries: Banda, Dukisa
Cons: Banda 2
For Connacht:
Tries: Kelleher, Penalty try, Healy, Boyle
Cons: Carty 2, Horwitz
Pen: Carty
Teams:
Southern Kings: 15 Masixole Banda, 14 Michael Makase, 13 Harlon Klaasen, 12 Berton Klaasen, 11 Yaw Penxe, 10 Martin Du Toit, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Ruaan Lerm, 7 Jurie van Vuuren, 6 Cyril-John Velleman, 5 JC Astle (captain), 4 Stephan Greeff, 3 Nicolaas Oosthuizen, 2 Alandre van Rooyen, 1 Lupumlo Mguca.
Replacements: 16 Tango Balekile, 17 Alulutho Tshakweni, 18 Luvuyo Pupuma, 19 Andries van Schalkwyk, 20 Martinus Burger, 21 Godlen Masimla, 22 Ntabeni Dukisa, 23 Tertius Kruger.
Connacht: 15 Tiernan O’Halloran, 14 Cian Kelleher, 13 Kyle Godwin, 12 Tom Farrell, 11 Matt Healy, 10 Jack Carty, 9 Caolin Blade, 8 Jarrad Butler (c), 7 Colby Fainga’a, 6 Sean O’Brien, 5 James Cannon, 4 Ultan Dillane, 3 Conor Carey, 2 Shane Delahunt, 1 Denis Buckley.
Replacements: 16 Tom McCartney, 17 Peter McCabe, 18 Dominic Robertson McCoy, 19 Gavin Thornbury, 20 Paul Boyle, 21 James Mitchell, 22 David Horwitz, 23 Darragh Leader.
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Paul Mente (South Africa), Ruhan Meiring (South Africa)
TMO: Sean Veldsman (South Africa)
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