Relief for Friend as Mack grabs a try double

By JOHN FALLON

Connacht………..36pts

Tries: Murray 1, Hansen 35, 78; Aungier 54, Penalty 75

Penalties: Carty 8, 28, Hawkshaw 61

Scarlets…………. 14pts

Tries: Evans 15

Penalties: Costelow 5, 31; Patchell 58

THERE were contrasting fortunes for the coaches in this one between two sides who went into this contest with just one win apiece.

By the end it was Andy Friend of Connacht who was breathing a sigh of relief after carving out a deserved bonus point win.

He is now hoping that his men can push on from this when they head to play Ospreys next weekend.

But for Dwayne Peel, who hastily departed the Sportsground with his squad to get a charter flight back to Cardiff, his hopes of building on their win the previous week against Zebre never looked like materialising.

They were blown away in the second-half by a Connacht side for whom Irish winger Mack Hansen was the star performer and Friend says the five tries to one win was achieved without hitting top gear.

“There was relief in the coaching box and no doubt among the players that the result went our way as it was a good win in terms of what we needed,” Friend said.

“However, we still have more in us.”

It looked promising for Scarlets when they only trailed 16-11 at the break, having played against the wind and rain and who lost Leigh Halfpenny to a hamstring injury at the captain's run on Friday.

But with flanker Dan Thomas, on loan for two weeks from Bristol, impressing, they did well to contain Connacht even if Niall Murray was gifted a try after just 27 seconds when he charged down a clearance from scrumhalf Kieran Hardly.

Scarlets countered for a superb try from Steff Evans after 15 minutes after a break from deep by full-back Johnny McNicholl, and a couple of penalties from fly-half Sam Costelow, set for his Welsh debut in the autumn internationals, kept them in contention despite Hansen crossing before the break.

However, Scarlets never recovered when prop Jack Aungier got over for Connacht while they had Paul Boyle in the bin for a dangerous tackle on Tom Price.

The bonus point came from a penalty try which earned Sione Kalamafoni a yellow card after repeat infringements and Scarlets finished with 13 when Thomas was also binned for killing the ball before Hansen wrapped up the win. n Scarlets forward Sam Lousi has been banned for four weeks following his red card in last week's win over Zebre.

Lousi, 31, was dismissed for a dangerous tackle on Geronimo Prisciantelli in the 52nd minute.