mens
United-rugby-championship
Connacht let their second-half lead slip away in the first leg in Galway ace Stormers he hit back with two late tries to seal a 29-15 victory for the South African side.
The Stormers punished Connacht for their sloppy opening, with an early Jurie Matthee penalty and a superb try from fullback Warrick Gelent putting the visitors 10-0 up.
Connacht finished the first half strongly and five minutes before the break, winger Mack Hansen followed a Cathal Forde charge to pounce for the converted score.
The home side struck again to lead 12-10 at half-time when a break from Hansen ended with Josh Ioane slotting over and full-back Sam Gilbert’s penalty put them 15-10 ahead.
Connacht back-row Paul Boyle was sent to the sin bin in the 55th minute and the Stormers capitalized to go 17-15 ahead thanks to a converted try from prop Sazi Sandi.
And in the final two minutes, the Stormers struck twice more through Vernon Paul’s hook and substitute Ezekiel Ngobeni, who raced to the box to seal victory for the visitors.
meanwhile, Scarlets fly-half Tinus de Beer hit the post with a last-ditch conversion attempt as the Welsh side opened their campaign with a 19-19 draw against Benetton Treviso.
Benetton center Francois Mey and winger Bautista Bernasconi both converted tries to give the Italian side a 14-0 lead.
Scarlets reduced the deficit with De Beer’s touchdown, which he converted, but Benetton, with former Wales coach Wayne Pivac, in charge of his first match, struck again before the break with a goal from winger Ignacio Mendy.
Tonga center Fine Inisi got the Scarlets back five minutes after the restart after some good work from the pack and after De Beer converted they trailed 19-14.
The visitors thought they had equalized when scrum-half Che Hope raced over but his effort was ruled out by the television match official for a knock on Huw Anderson.
The Scarlets then had a chance to seal the win after hooker Elliot Dee touched down from a free-kick in the 78th minute, only for De Beer to hit the upright with a free-kick.
