Connacht beat Cardiff Blues in Sportsground thriller

Danie Poolman's try helped Connacht to a 19-17 first half win.

Connacht beat Cardiff Blues for only the second time in 12 meetings as they won a Guinness PRO12 thriller 36-31 at the Sportsground.

Cardiff have proved a real bogey team for the Irish province, who lost their grip on two winning positions against the Blues last season.

Pat Lam's men finally got the win with a five-try performance on Saturday, however they will be frustrated to have allowed Sam Hobbs over for an injury-time effort which earned the visitors two bonus points.

Cardiff book-ended an entertaining first half with tries from Aled Summerhill and Josh Turnbull, while Nepia Fox-Matamua and Danie Poolman - with their third PRO12 scores of the season - and Kieran Marmion all touched down during a superb 16-minute spell for the hosts.

Connacht's 19-17 interval lead was quickly erased by a Dan Fish seven-pointer, but converted tries from Tiernan O'Halloran and replacement Aly Muldowney, coupled with a Jack Carty penalty, had the home side out of reach before Hobbs' last-gasp response.

The Blues burst into a seventh-minute lead in Galway, their defence pushing up hard and winger Summerhill intercepted Tom McCartney's pass to race away from his 22 for a try that Rhys Patchell converted.

Connacht were level just three minutes later when Marmion showed great pace off the mark, sniffing out the try-scoring opportunity off the base of a ruck. His half-back partner Carty, who had missed an earlier penalty, split the posts with the conversion.

With fit-again number eight Eoin McKeon prominent, the hosts began to hit their stride and back-to-back tries from man-of-the-match Fox-Matamua and Poolman catapulted them into a 19-7 lead.

The former plunged over from a line-out maul and great hands from Bundee Aki and Rory Parata played in Poolman for a fine finish near the corner flag. Carty tagged on one conversion, with the ball falling off the kicking tee for the
second one as he drop-kicked wide.

Patchell missed a chance to punish a Finlay Bealham scrum offence, but Danny Wilson's side dominated the closing stages of the half.

Number eight Turnbull's pushover score was converted by Patchell, who also fired over a penalty after Connacht full-back O'Halloran was sin-binned for a professional foul - offside at a ruck.

Fourteen-man Connacht were under huge pressure on the restart, needing try-saving interventions from Marmion and Parata, but the pressure told when Blues full-back Fish chased down his own chip and dribbled through to score with
Patchell converting.

Despite struggling to gain a foothold in Cardiff territory, Connacht managed to hit back in the 57th minute when Carty's cross-field kick bounced neatly for the unmarked O'Halloran to dot down.

The hosts then turned the screw with a brilliant 20-plus phase attack which resulted in Muldowney breaking through to leave the Blues trailing 33-24.

Replacement Gareth Davies missed two kickable penalties for the Welshmen while Patchell nursed an ankle injury.

All was not lost, though, as despite leaking a three-pointer to Carty, prop Hobbs ensured the battling Blues took home a brace of points.