Connacht battled their way to a hard-fought 22-19 victory over a plucky Benetton outfit at Stadio Monigo in PRO14 action on Saturday.
The first half was a cagey affair and a very even contest. Benetton looked the more likely to score, however, with wing Monty Ioane particularly threatening.
And it was the home side who finally opened the scoring five minutes before the interval through scrum-half Tito Tebaldi, who did well to sneak over off the back of a lineout. Marty Banks added the extras to give Benetton a 7-0 lead going into the interval.
Tebaldi injured himself in scoring the try and was immediately replaced by Giorgio Bronzini.
Connacht looked like a team that had received some stern words from their coach when they returned from the interval and it took just three minutes for Kieran Keane's men to respond when Finlay Bealham went over at the back of a powerful driving maul.
And the visitors wrested back the lead in the 58th minute when Banks' expertly weighted cross-field kick found Ioane, who showed searing pace to burn away down the left wing and score.
Jarrad Butler powered over after taking a pass from Cian Kelleher to extend Connacht's lead before Eoin Griffin put some distance between the sides with a magnificent individual effort.
Marco Fuser scored a try on the hooter for Benetton, but it was a little too late for the Treviso outfit as they eventually succumbed 22-19.
The scorers:
For Benetton:
Tries: Tebaldi, Ioane, Fuser
Cons: Banks 3
For Connacht:
Tries: Bealham, Butler, Griffin
Cons: Carty 2
Pen: Carty
Benetton: 15 Luca Sperandio, 14 Andrea Bronzini, 13 Tommaso Iannone, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Marty Banks, 9 Tito Tebaldi, 8 Whetu Douglas, 7 Marco Barbini, 6 Alberto Sgarbi (c), 5 Irné Herbst, 4 Marco Lazzaroni, 3 Matteo Zanusso, 2 Tomas Baravalle, 1 Federico Zani
Replacements: 16 Hame Faiva, 17 Riccardo Brugnara, 18 Cherif Traore, 19 Marco Fuser, 20 Nasi Manu, 21 Giorgio Bronzini, 22 Marco Zanon, 23 Michael Tagicakibau
Connacht: 15 Tiernan O’Halloran, 14 Cian Kelleher, 13 Eoin Griffin, 12 Tom Farrell, 11 Matt Healy, 10 Jack Carty, 9 Caolin Blade, 8 John Muldoon (c), 7 Jarrad Butler, 6 Sean O’Brien, 5 James Cannon, 4 Gavin Thornbury, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Tom McCartney, 1 Denis Buckley
Replacements: 16 Dave Heffernan, 17 Denis Coulson, 18 Dominic Robertson-McCoy, 19 Ultan Dillane, 20 Eoghan Masterson, 21 James Mitchell, 22 Craig Ronaldson, 23 Niyi Adeolokun
Referee: Lloyd Linton (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Eddie Hogan-O'Connell (Ireland), Oisin Quinn (Ireland)
Television match official: Leo Colgan (Ireland)
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