Stuart Lancaster's Connacht heap more misery on Munster

Connacht bounced back to winning ways with a 26-7 victory over 14-man Munster.

The hosts made their attacking intentions known from the outset and Munster heroically defender their line on a couple of occasions but there was nothing they could do when Ben Murphy crossed the whitewash.

The referee sin-binned Munster’s Diarmuid Barron after a consultation with the TMO which was upgraded to red, and Connacht took advantage of the extra man when Shayne Bolton went over in the corner.

The home side managed to get one more before the break too, a well-worked maul and Shamus Hurley-Langton touched down.

Munster managed to get themselves on the scoresheet midway through the second period through Craig Casey to give them a little bit of hope.

United Rugby Championship

P

W

L

D

PF

PA

PD

BP T

BP-7

BP

Total

1

Glasgow

17

12

5

0

60

2

Stormers

17

12

4

1

59

3

Leinster

17

11

6

0

58

4

Bulls

17

11

6

0

54

5

Lions

17

10

6

1

53

6

Munster

17

10

7

0

51

7

Cardiff Rugby

17

10

7

0

50

8

Ulster

17

9

7

1

50

9

Connacht

17

9

8

0

49

10

Sharks

17

7

9

1

41

11

Ospreys

17

7

8

2

39

12

Edinburgh

17

7

10

0

38

13

Benetton

17

6

9

2

33

14

Scarlets

17

4

12

1

25

15

Dragons RFC

17

3

11

3

25

16

Zebre

17

2

15

0

15

But that hope was blown away with eight minutes to play when Sean Jansen extended the lead and made sure Connacht collected the points after defeat to the Lions last week.

Meanwhile, Edinburgh made it three successive victories with a hard-fought 24-15 victory over Dragons.

The visitors got the scoring underway early on with a penalty from Angus O’Brien but Edinburgh made their quality count for the first try from a slick lineout which allowed Ewan Ashman to make it 7-3.

Dragons re-established their lead afterwards, a lineout drive proved to be effective and they powered over through Dillon Lewis and O’Brien added the extras.

In a topsy-turvy encounter, Edinburgh were next to get their noses in front again just before the break, Tom Currie powering over after a massive carry.

Again, the scoreline flipped before the half-time break as Dragons got a one-point lead as Harrison Keddie finished a wonderful team move.

However, a Duhan van der Merwe double tilted the scales in Edinburgh’s favour, firstly he was able to finish off a move down the short side following a lineout drive nine minutes into the second period before he beat three defenders late on to cruise over the whitewash.