AMLIN CUP/Olympus Madrid 0 Connacht 66:CONNACHT SECURED the top seed in the Challenge Cup as they completed their pool campaign by winning all six matches. The amateurs of Olympus Madrid provided little resistance as Michael Bradley's men sailed home with a 10-try rout in Spain on Saturday.
Connacht are the only team out of the 44 competing in Europe to win all their pool games.
“It represents a lot of progress and fair play to the lads for the manner in which they achieved this,” Bradley said. “It was a tall order when the pools were drawn, especially as the rule change meant that only the top team would go through.”
He selected his strongest possible side for this final pool game as Connacht advanced to the quarter-finals for the seventh time. The bonus point was in the bag by half-time as they wore down the Spanish resistance by spreading it wide at every opportunity.
They led 28-0 at the break, with Fionn Carr settling their nerves with a try after just two minutes, and he then put Niva Ta’auso through for their second after 20 minutes.
Olympus Madrid, made up of players from clubs all over Spain, were steamrolled as Adrian Flavin, who came on after 10 minutes when hooker Seán Cronin was taken off with an ankle injury, crossed for a try in the left corner just past the half-hour mark. Skipper John Muldoon sealed the bonus point just before the break.
Bradley said that home advantage could be crucial when they take on Bourgoin in the quarter-finals. “We wanted to avoid a Magners League team and we have done that and now that we know who we will be playing in April we can start preparing for that.”
OLYMPUS MADRID: M Tudela; J Cano, M Heredia, J Canosa, B Pardo; M Mazo, P Feijoo; A Onega Camacho, C Bohorquez, D Gurgenadze; S Souto, J Recuerda; R Camacho, M Acena, I Criado. Replacements: C Sempere for Mazo (32 mins); J Arbelaitz for Bohorquez, L Fernandez for Souto (both half-time); M Serrano for Gurgenadze (47 mins); G Palmers for Acena (52 mins); H Quirelli for Cano (65 mins); S Hattori for Onega Camacho (74 mins).
CONNACHT: T Nathan; L Bibo, N Ta’auso, K Matthews, F Carr; I Keatley, F Murphy; R Loughney, S Cronin, R Morris; M Swift, M McCarthy; J Muldoon, J O’Connor, G Naoupu. Replacements: A Flavin for Cronin (10 mins); B Upton for McCarthy (32 mins); J Hagan for Morris (half-time); C O’Loughlin for Murphy, M Nikora for Keatley, A Wynne for Ta’auso (all 47 mins); M McComish for Muldoon (50 mins).
Referee: S Traversi (Italy).
