Connacht snatch draw in Treviso

Editor

Dan Parks converted a Paul O'Donohoe try after the final hooter to earn Connacht a 23-all draw with Treviso at Stadio Monigo on Friday.

Dan Parks converted a Paul O'Donohoe try after the final hooter to earn Connacht a 23-all draw with Treviso at Stadio Monigo on Friday.

The Italians had kept a second-half lead after recovering from a half-time deficit until O'Donohoe's try gave Parks the opportunity to draw level.

Treviso coach Franco Smith made several changes to his starting line-up, giving a debut to Italy U20 centre Michele Campagnaro. Eric Elwood made five changes to his Connacht side, with top scorer Danie Poolman at outside centre.

The home side started this rearranged fixture brightly, and led through Alberto di Bernardo's early penalty, but it was Fetu'u Vainikolo who broke from great line-out work and powered over the line for the first try of the match to give Connacht the lead after 18 minutes.

Despite missing two earlier penalty attempts, Dan Parks slotted his effort on the half-time whistle to add to his conversion for a 10-3 lead to the visitors at the half-way point.

The scoreline wasn't fully reflective of the play, as the home side had put Connacht under tremendous pressure throughout the half.

Straight from the off after the break, Treviso reduced their arrears though a second di Bernardo penalty, before Eduardo Gori scored his side's first try of the night, and with the conversion, they were three points in front.

Parks added a third penalty to draw level at 13 points all on 52 minutes, before trading penalties once more with di Bernardo on the hour mark.

Treviso were awarded a penalty try with eight minutes to play after Connacht were penalised for collapsing a scrum near their line, and with di Bernardo converting, they were 23-16 ahead approaching the final phase of the game.

The home side were still keeping their visitors pegged inside their 22 metre line, but a penalty in the final minute allowed Connacht some breathing space, and it was O'Donohoe who took advantage to dot down, and with Parks' conversion, the points were shared.

The scorers:

Treviso:
Tries: Gori, Penalty try
Cons: di Bernardo 2
Pens: di Bernardo 3

Connacht:
Tries: Vainikolo, O'Donohoe
Cons: Parks
Pens: Parks 3

Treviso: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Ludovico Nitoglia, 13 Michele Campagnaro, 12 Gideon La Grange, 11 Giulio Toniolatti, 10 Alberto Di Bernardo, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Robert Barbieri, 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Simone Favaro, 5 Valerio Bernab?, 4 Francesco Minto, 3 Ignacio Fernandez-Rouyet, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini (capt), 1 Michele Rizzo.
Replacements: 16 Giovanni Maistri, 17 Alberto De Marchi, 18 Lorenzo Cittadini, 19 Antonio Pavanello, 20 Manoa Vosawai, 21 Marco Filippucci, 22 Tobias Botes, 23 Luca Morisi.

Connacht: 15 Gavin Duffy (c), 14 Matt Healy, 13 Danie Poolman, 12 Brian Murphy, 11 Fetu'u Vainikolo, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Kieran Marmion, 8 George Naoupu, 7 Eoin McKeon, 6 Andrew Browne, 5 Mike McCarthy, 4 Michael Swift, 3 Ronan Loughney, 2 Ethienne Reynecke, 1 Brett Wilkinson.
Replacements: 16 Adrian Flavin, 17 Rodney Ah You, 18 JP Cooney, 19 Mick Kearney, 20 John Muldoon, 21 Paul O'Donohoe, 22 Miah Nikora, 23 Tiernan O'Halloran.

Venue: Stadio Monigo
Referee: Neil Paterson (SRU)
Assistant Referees: Elia Rizzo, Filippo Navarra (both FIR)