Connacht keep play-off hopes alive with Munster win

SATURDAY: Connacht made sure that they will enter the final round of the United Rugby Championship with a fighting chance of qualifying for the play-offs.

The Galway team recorded a valuable 26-7 bonus point win over fellow Irish outfit Munster in the penultimate round on Saturday.

Connacht now have 49 points, just one point shy of Ulster and Cardiff in eighth and seventh, respectively.

They are two points behind Munster (sixth) and four points behind the Lions (fifth).

Connacht will play Edinburgh in Scotland in the final round, and they will fancy their chance of getting a valuable win.

Connacht led 19-0 at half-time against Munster after tries from Ben Murphy, Shayne Bolton and Shamus Hurley-Langton.

Sean Jansen scored the all-important bonus point in the second half.

Munster’s only try was scored by Craig Casey in the second 40 after losing Diarmuid Barron to a 20-minute red card in the first half.

*In Saturday’s other game, Duhan van der Merwe scored a brace as Edinburgh beat Dragons 24-15 in Newport.

Ospreys edged Scarlets 27-20 in the Welsh derby.

See below for Saturday’s scores and scorers!

Ospreys 27-20 Scarlets

The scorers:

For Ospreys:
Tries: Edwards 2, Morgan
Cons: Edwards 3
Pens: Edwards 2

For Scarlets:
Tries: Douglas, Plumtree, Murray
Con: Hawkins
Pen: Hawkins

Teams:

Ospreys: 15 Jack Walsh, 14 Iestyn Hopkins, 13 Owen Watkin, 12 Keiran Williams, 11 Luke Morgan, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Kieran Hardy, 8 Morgan Morris, 7 Jac Morgan (captain), 6 James Ratti, 5 Ryan Smith, 4 Rhys Davies, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Sam Parry, 1 Steffan Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Lewis Lloyd, 17 Garyn Phillips, 18 Ben Warren, 19 Huw Sutton, 20 Ross Moriarty, 21 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 22 Keelan Giles, 23 Evardi Boshoff.

Scarlets: 15 Blair Murray, 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Joe Roberts, 12 Eddie James, 11 Macs Page, 10 Joe Hawkins, 9 Dane Blacker, 8 Fletcher Anderson, 7 Josh Macleod (captain), 6 Taine Plumtree, 5 Max Douglas, 4 Jac Price, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Kemsley Mathias.
Replacements: 16 Harry Thomas, 17 Josh Morse, 18 Harri O’Connor, 19 Dan Davis, 20 Jarrod Taylor, 21 Archie Hughes, 22 Carwyn Leggatt-Jones, 23 Ioan Jones.

Referee: Ben Connor (Wales)
Assistant referees: Carwyn Sion (Wales) and Gareth Newman (Wales)
TMO: Keith David (Wales)

Dragons 15-24 Edinburgh

The scorers:

For Dragons:
Tries: Lewis, Keddle
Con: O’Brien
Pen: O’Brien

For Edinburgh:
Tries: Ashman, Currie, Van der Merwe 2
Cons: Thompson 2

Teams

Dragons RFC: 15 Angus O’Brien (co-captain), 14 Jared Rosser, 13 Fine Inisi, 12 Aneurin Owen, 11 Rio Dyer, 10 Tinus de Beer, 9 Rhodri Williams,8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Thomas Young, 6 Harrison Keddie, 5 Ben Carter (co-captain), 4 Seb Davies, 3 Dillon Lewis, 2 Brodie Coghlan, 1 Rodrigo Martinez.
Replacements: 16 Elliot Dee, 17 Rhodri Jones, 18 Chris Coleman, 19 Matthew Screech, 20 Ryan Woodman, 21 Niall Armstrong, 22 Harri Ackerman, 23 Huw Anderson.

Edinburgh: 15 Harry Paterson, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Mosese Tuipulotu, 12 Findlay Thomson, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Hector Patterson, 8 Tom Currie, 7 Freddy Douglas, 6 Glen Young, 5 Grant Gilchrist (captain), 4 Callum Hunter-Hill, 3 Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Dylan Richardson, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Marshall Sykes, 20 Liam McConnell, 21 Magnus Bradbury, 22 Charlie Shiel, 23 Piers O’Conor.

Referee: Filippo Russo (Italy)
Assistant referees: Lucas Yendle (Wales) and Marcus Caudle (Wales)
TMO: Stefano Roscini (Italy)

Connacht 26-7 Munster

The scorers:

For Connacht:
Tries: B Murphy, Bolton, Hurley-Langton, Jansen
Cons: Gilbert 3

For Munster:
Tries: Casey
Con: Hanrahan

Teams:

Connacht: 15 Sam Gilbert, 14 Shane Jennings, 13 Harry West, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Shayne Bolton, 10 Josh Ioane, 9 Ben Murphy, 8 Sean Jansen, 7 Shamus Hurley-Langton, 6 Cian Prendergast (captain), 5 Josh Murphy, 4 Darragh Murray, 3 Sam Illo, 2 Dylan Tierney-Martin, 1 Billy Bohan.
Replacements: 16 Eoin de Buitléar, 17 Peter Dooley, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Joe Joyce, 20 Paul Boyle, 21 Matthew Devine, 22 Jack Carty, 23 Seán Naughton.

Munster: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Shane Daly, 13 Alex Nankivell, 12 Dan Kelly, 11 Andrew Smith, 10 JJ Hanrahan, 9 Craig Casey (captain), 8 Gavin Coombes, 7 John Hodnett, 6 Tom Ahern, 5 Fineen Wycherley, 4 Edwin Edogbo, 3 Michael Ala’alatoa, 2 Diarmuid Barron, 1 Jeremy Loughman.
Replacements: 16 Lee Barron, 17 Josh Wycherley, 18 Conor Bartley, 19 Jack O’Donoghue, 20 Brian Gleeson, 21 Ben O’Donovan, 22 Seán O’Brien, 23 Alex Kendellen.

Referee: Peter Martin (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Andrew Brace (Ireland) and Sam Holt (Ireland)
TMO: Mark Patton (Ireland)