Connacht hold off Scots

Both sdes earned a bonus point as Connacht edged an entertaining contest against Edinburgh at the Sportsground in Galway.

Two first-half tries from Fionn Carr, a penalty try and a second half effort from Gavin Duffy earned the Irish side their sixth successive home win.

For Edinburgh, Scott Newlands and James King grabbed well-taken first-half tries and Greig Laidlaw made light of the windy conditions to convert both scores, in addition to an early penalty.

Driving rain made for a scrappy second half and although Laidlaw added two more penalties, Duffy's 60th-minute try proved crucial.

There were barely 30 seconds on the clock when Ray Ofisa fed Carr, a metre out, for the hosts' opening try. Duffy showed early adventure when running a kick back and Carr's support paid off.

Ian Keatley's missed conversion was followed by Laidlaw's first penalty, and David Denton, Esteban Lozada and Fraser McKenzie all began to impress with ball in hand for Edinburgh.

Nick De Luca broke out of a couple of tackles, Mike Blair raced into the 22 and his long pass had flanker Newlands getting in at the right corner ahead of the covering Keatley and Mike McCarthy.

Laidlaw added an excellent conversion, which Keatley cancelled out with a penalty, but Nick Scrivener's men moved 17-8 in front on the half-hour mark.

King flew through a gap between Troy Nathan and Keith Matthews and had the strength to crash over to the left of the posts for a terrific individual try.

However, Connacht finished the first half on a high with two late tries. A right-wing raid led to a penalty try that saw De Luca sin-binned for tackling Carr before he received the scoring pass.

Then a neat backline move involving Nathan and Keatley saw Connacht flood to the right again and Duffy added enough momentum to put Carr over for his second try.

Collisions

Laidlaw opened the scoring after the break for 14-man Edinburgh, clipping over a close-range penalty, but Connacht were winning the collisions and boasted the more reliable set-piece.

It took a clever grubber kick from Keatley to unlock the Edinburgh defence, allowing Duffy to touch down in the left corner.

The conversion was missed and a third penalty from Laidlaw set up a tense finish with 12 minutes to go.

Play remained in the Connacht half, but a promising run from Edinburgh danger man Tim Visser was snuffed out when Keith Matthews, who was making his 100th appearance for Connacht, won a relieving penalty at the next ruck and the hosts held on.