RUGBY PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY Connacht 7 Harlequins 40:ERIC ELWOOD'S reign as Connacht's director of coaching proved a baptism of fire when his side went down to Harlequins at the Galway Sportsground last night.
Trailing by 21-9 at half-time, Connacht leaked another three tries in the second half in a display that was anything but an impressive start under Elwood’s stewardship.
Elwood had hoped the game would test Connacht’s new defensive systems and attacking patterns, but the ease with which Harlequins found gaps in their defence will send alarm bells ringing.
Connacht rarely threatened the Harlequins’ line as an over-eagerness in attack too often led to turnovers from which Harlequins capitalised.
The opening two tries from Nick Evans and Matt Cairns were a direct result of Connacht coughing up ball too readily.
Mike Brown added a third and the only bright light in Connacht’s first-half display came from scrumhalf Conor O’Loughlin, who raced in from 40 metres.
Despite several new recruits making their debuts for the home side, including Ezra Taylor, Shane Monahan and Cillian Willis, it was Harlequins, running in three more tries in the last 10 minutes, who drew first blood before the two sides meet again in the European Challenge Cup.
CONNACHT: T Nathan, T O'Halloran, N Ta'auso, A Wynne, F Carr, I Keatley, C O'Loughlin, B Wilkinson, A Flavin, J Hagan, M Swift, B Upton, A Browne, J O'Connor (capt), M McComish. Replacements: R Ofisa for O'Connor, C Willis for O'Loughlin, M Nikora for Wynne, M McCarthy for Brown, E Taylor for Swift and R Sweeney for Hagan, S Monahan for O'Halloran, D Murphy for Flavin, D Nolan for McComish, E Griffin for Ta'asuo.
HARLEQUINS: M Brown, T Williams, O Smith, J Turner-Hall, G Lowe, N Evans, K Dickson, J Marler, M Cairns, M Lambert, O Kohn, T Vallejos, W Skinner (capt), T Guest. Replacements: T Casson for Turner-Hall, H Johnston for Lambert, J Gray for Cairns, C Jones for Marler, L Stevenson for Kohn, R Clegg for Evans, G Camacho for Lowe, D Moore for Dickson.
Referee: George Clancy.
