Both teams scored three tries in the match, however, it ultimately came down to the Connacht being the better disciplined of the two teams on the night.

The Cheetahs were the first to open the scoring in Galway when the winger, Rabz Maxwane, dotted down in the 11th minute for his 10th try of the campaign.

Six minutes further into the match, Jack Carty, made no mistake in converting a penalty from right in front of the uprights to get the hosts on the board.

Five minutes, later, the Cheetahs fullback, Louis Fouché, flew over the white-wash for the South African’s second try of the night, however, Tian Schoeman was unable to convert the try from a rather difficult angle. Schoeman would not hit the mark again for the remainder of the match.

In the 25th minute, the Connacht centre, Tom Farrell, powered his way over the line for the first try by the side from the western province of Ireland. Carty added the extra two points.

In the 33rd minute, the Cheetahs centre, Nico Lee, was sent to the naughty chair for a swinging arm in the tackle which hit his opponent high. Despite wave-after-wave of pressure by Connacht, they weren’t able to crack the 14-man Cheetahs defence, and the match went into the half time break with the visitors leading 12-10.

The Cheetahs discipline started letting them down in a big way in the second stanza, and it took Connacht just six minutes to exploit this by forcing a penalty, which led to the hooker, Tom McCartney, scoring to put his side into the lead for the first time.

The Cheetahs captain, Shaun Venter, leveled matters with just over 20 minutes left to play when he outstripped the Connacht defence to score in the corner for an outstanding long-range try, which was also his 7th of the campaign.

Carty slotted a second penalty in the 73rd minute to almost secure the game for Connacht, however, it was the captain, Jarrad Butler’s 79th minute try which sunk the Cheetahs.

The Cheetahs travel to Wales next week and will be based in Cardiff ahead of their game against the Scarlets in Llanelli. The discipline will be a key issued which will need to be addressed, however, the normally solid lineout was far from firing on all cylinders, and on a few occasions, they blew scoring opportunities close to the Connacht line by not finding their jumpers, or not being able to get the lineout-drive functioning. This will most certainly be the highest priority on the list of things that need to be remedied.

Scorers:

Connacht: Tries – Tom Farrell, Tom McCartney, Jarrad Butler Conv. – Jack Carty 3 Pen. – Carty 2

Cheetahs: Tries – Rabz Maxwane, Louis Fouché, Shaun Venter Conv. – Tian Schoeman 1 Yellow Card – Nico Lee (33rd).

@MorganPiek OFM Sport