Sloppy Connacht squeeze past 14-man Cardiff
Written by I Dig Sports
Connacht edged 14-man Cardiff in the United Rugby Championship (URC) for their first win there for seven years.
Cardiff produced a gutsy display in front of a sell-out 12,000 crowd after centre Rey Lee-Lo's early red for a head-on-head tackle on Shayne Bolton.
Ben Thomas and Lopeti Timani, who was also shown a yellow card, scored either side of half-time to lead 12-6.
But Connacht replacement Peter Dooley defied his team's error-strewn display to barge over for the winning score.
More to follow.
Cardiff: Jacob Beetham; Owen Lane, Rey Lee-Lo, Ben Thomas, Aled Summerhill; Tinus de Beer, Ellis Bevan; Rhys Carre, Liam Belcher, Will Davies-King, Shane Lewis-Hughes, Seb Davies, Ben Donnell, Thomas Young, Lopeti Timani.
Replacements: Efan Daniel, Rhys Barratt, Ciaran Parker, Alun Lawrence, Mackenzie Martin, Jamie Hill, Arwel Robson, Willis Halaholo.
Sin bin: Timani (36)
Red card: Lee-Lo (15)
Connacht: Tiernan O'Halloran; Shayne Bolton, David Hawkshaw, Cathal Forde, Andrew Smith; JJ Hanrahan, Caolin Blade (capt); Denis Buckley, Dave Heffernan, Jack Aungier, Niall Murray, Joe Joyce, Shamus Hurley-Langton, Conor Oliver, Cian Prendergast.
Replacements: Tadgh McElroy, Peter Dooley, Sam Illo, Oisín Dowling, Jarrad Butler, Michael McDonald, Jack Carty, Tom Farrell.
Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)
Assistant referees: Craig Evans & Gwyn Morris (WRU)
TMO: Stefano Penne (FIR)
Phone: (800) 737. 6040
Fax: (800) 825 5558
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