DISAPPOINTING DRAW IN GALWAY
Connacht: 22 (10) Edinburgh: 22 (16)
If last week's result against Ulster gave new coach Lynn Howells an idea of the heights this team is capable of, this evening's disappointing result merely confirmed that the Gunners lack the ruthlessness of true champions.
The Edinburgh side squandered a 16-10 half-time lead to come away from windswept Galway tonight with only a high-scoring draw, skipper Chris Paterson notching their only try. In the process, the Gunners inched up to 11 points, already 4 points behind league pacesetters Ulster. For now, however, they remain in fourth place in the league.
It was Connacht stand-off Mark McHugh who broke Edinburgh hearts with a last gasp penalty deep into injury time to give the home side a share of the points in a bad-tempered game that saw Edinburgh having only 12 men on the park towards the end, as Murray, Turnbull and Rennie were all carded by referee Jones for killing the ball.
SCORERS
Connacht: McHugh 5P 1C, Mostyn 1T
Edinburgh: Paterson 1T 1C 4P, Hodge 1P
Connacht: D Riordan; M Mostyn, John Hearty, G Williams, K Matthews; M McHugh, C Keane; B Wilkinson, J Fogarty, B Sturgess; D Gannon, A Farley; J Muldoon, M Lacey, C Rigney.
Replacements: A Flavin, M Diffley, M Swift, R Ofisa, T Tierney, D Slemen, D Yapp.
Edinburgh Gunners: Hugo; C Paterson; B Cairns, R Dewey; S Webster, P Godman, M Blair, A Jacobsen, D Hall, A Dickinson, M Mustchin, S Murray, A Strokosch, A Hogg, R Rennie. Replacements: A Kelly, D Hewett, S Turnbull, D Callam, G Laidlaw, D Hodge, M Di Rollo.