Connacht thrash Treviso

Editor

Connacht ran in an impressive six tries in the second half alone as they hammered Italian visitors Treviso 53-5 in Galway.

Connacht took the lead at half time courtesy of two penalties for Craig Ronaldson and a try for Tiernan O'Halloran. Treviso did manage to get some points on the board in the first 40 with a try for Sam Christie but they were trailing 13-5 at half-time.

Connacht blew away their visitors in the second half with six tries, two for Matthew Healy and the others courtesy of Jake Heenan, Dennis Buckley, Aly Muldowney and Danie Poolman.

Treviso had no reply and were well and truly beaten 53-5. The home side crossed the line after just five minutes had been played.

Healy threw an excellent dummy and offloaded the ball to O'Halloran who crashed over for the try. Ronaldson then added two penalties for Connacht to give them a healthy 13-point lead.

However, on 34 minutes, a Treviso line-out turned into a maul and the ball was flicked back out to centre Christie who dived over the line to bring the score to 13-5 at half-time.

Heenan got the scoring off to a start in the second half when he was driven over the line in the maul to score the try. Healy was in just minutes later after a fantastic initial break from Poolman, making up for his earlier disallowed try.

It was not long before Buckley was also driven over the line in the maul and he claimed the fourth and bonus point try for his team.

The TMO allowed Muldowney's try over in the left corner before things got worse for Treviso when they had Salesi Manu sent to the sin-bin.

Connacht of course took advantage with a second try for Healy and one on 79 minutes for Poolman to claim the 53-5 victory.

For Connacht:
Tries: O'Halloran, Heenan, Healy 2, Buckley, Muldowney, Poolman
Cons: Ronaldson 6
Pens: Ronaldson 2

For Treviso:

Try: Christie

Yellow Card: Manu

Connacht: 15 Tiernan O’Halloran, 14 Niyi Adeolokun, 13 Danie Poolman, 12 Dave McSharry, 11 Matt Healy, 10 Craig Ronaldson, 9 John Cooney, 8 Eoghan Masterson, 7 Jake Heenan, 6 John Muldoon (c), 5 Aly Muldowney, 4 Quinn Roux, 3 Nathan White, 2 Tom McCartney, 1 Denis Buckley
Replacements: 16 Shane Delahunt, 17 Ronan Loughney, 18 Rodney Ah You, 19 Mick Kearney, 20 George Naoupu, 21 Ian Porter, 22 Jack Carty, 23 Conor Finn

Treviso: 15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Henry Seniloli, 13 Andrea Pratichetti, 12 Sam Christie, 11 Ludovico Nitoglia, 10 James Ambrosini, 9 Alberto Lucchese, 8 Mat Luamanu, 7 Dean Budd, 6 Nicola Cattina, 5 Meyer Swanepoel, 4 Tomas Vallejos, 3 Rupert Harden, 2 Davide Giazzon (c), 1 Matteo Zanusso
Replacements: 16 Albert Anae, 17 Romulo Acosta, 18 Salesi Manu, 19 Corniel Van Zyl, 20 Paul Derbyshire, 21 Alberto Saccardo, 22 Joe Carlisle, 23 Francesco Menon

Referee: Andrew McMenemy (Scotland)
Assistant Referees: Mark Connolly (Ireland), Ken Imbusch (Ireland)
TMO: Dermot Moloney (Ireland)