United Rugby Championship: Cardiff Rugby 33-21 Connacht

Cardiff Rugby overcame losing two injured Wales fly-halves to secure victory in the opening United Rugby Championship match against Connacht.

Cardiff freakishly lost Rhys Priestland and Jarrod Evans in the opening 21 minutes as scrum-half Lloyd Williams filled in at 10 for just under an hour.

Two Owen Lane tries and scores from Hallam Amos, Willis Halaholo and Liam Belcher sealed the win.

Connacht responded with two Kieran Marmion tries and 11 Jack Carty points.

Wales scrum-half Tomos Williams was outstanding as he created tries for his side and slotted over three conversions.

It was the first competitive Cardiff match had played in front of fans at the Arms Park since February 2020 when the home side defeated Benetton.

The region also successfully marked their first competitive game since the summer name rebrand from Cardiff Blues to Cardiff Rugby.

Wales lock Matthew Screech began his second stint with the region as one of 11 internationals named in Dai Young's starting side, led by new captain Josh Turnbull.

Centre Tom Daly led the side on his 50th Connacht appearance as Carty opened the scoring with a penalty.

Young had to decide which Wales fly-half he would start with before losing his two options in the opening quarter.

Priestland was making his competitive Cardiff debut after arriving from Bath, but his first start proved short-lived.

Jarrod Evans' departure left Cardiff without a specialist fly-half against Connacht

He suffered an accidental stray knee in the face from Connacht prop Finlay Bealham and was forced off the field after just a minute to be replaced by Evans.

Cardiff were not fazed by the change at 10 as scrum-half Lloyd Williams released Amos for the opening try.

Connacht responded almost immediately with flanker Conor Oliver passing to scrum-half Marmion for the visitors' opening try.

But the hosts lost another fly-half as Evans was involved in an aerial collision with John Porch in the 21st minute.

Evans suffered a suspected fractured sternum and was replaced by scrum-half Tomos Williams, with namesake Lloyd switching to fly-half.

Cardiff continued to attack despite the disruption with try opportunities for Turnbull and wing Jason Harries going astray, while Connacht were initially more clinical with a second Carty penalty.

Tomos Williams showed his class with a searing break from a scrum to give Halaholo a simple scoring pass.

Replacement Williams had taken over the kicking duties and slotted over the conversion to give the home side a 14-13 half-time lead.

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The Cardiff fly-half jersey appeared cursed as Lloyd Williams received a facial injury early in the second half, but he was able to continue.

The expansive approach paid dividends for Cardiff's third try for Wales wing Lane, with Tomos Williams again effortlessly slotting over the touchline conversion.

Carty reduced the deficit to five points with his third penalty before Harries missed the chance of a fourth Cardiff try after just failing to collect his own kick with the Connacht line beckoning.

Continued Cardiff indiscipline saw lock Seb Davies yellow-carded before Connacht quickly had two players join him in the sin-bin.

Carty charged into a ruck before wing Mack Hansen took out Lane off the ball to earn their time on the sidelines.

Cardiff took advantage of their 14-13 man advantage when Tomos Williams enabled Lane to score his second, which was also the bonus-point try.

Replacement hooker Belcher stormed over for the fifth Cardiff try before Marmion claimed a consolation.

Earlier, in the opening game of the revamped tournament, South African team Lions won 38-26 at Zebre while Ulster overcame Glasgow Warriors 35-29.

Cardiff director of rugby Dai Young told BBC Sport Wales: "I am thrilled. Before the game we would have settled for a bonus point win and halfway through the first-half we certainly would have.

"We have dealt with the adversity of losing two 10s which is not easy but the boys overcame every obstacle tonight.

"Lloyd did a great job and Tomos was excellent when he came on. It's very hard to spend time practicing without your two 10s but they are players of real quality."

Cardiff Rugby: Hallam Amos; Owen Lane, Rey Lee-Lo, Willis Halaholo, Jason Harries; Rhys Priestland, Lloyd Williams; Corey Domachowski, Kirby Myhill, Dmitri Arhip, Seb Davies, Matthew Screech, Josh Turnbull (capt), Ellis Jenkins, James Ratti.

Replacements: Liam Belcher, Rhys Carré, Dillon Lewis, Rory Thornton, Will Boyde, Tomos Williams, Jarrod Evans, Max Llewellyn.

Connacht: Tiernan O'Halloran; John Porch, Tom Farrell, Tom Daly, Mack Hansen; Jack Carty, Kieran Marmion; Matthew Burke, Shane Delahunt, Finlay Bealham, Oisin Dowling, Ultan Dillan, Cian Prendergast, Conor Oliver, Jarrad Butler (capt).

Replacements: Dave Heffernan, Jordan Duggan, Dominic Robertson-McCoy, Niall Murray, Paul Boyle, Hubert Gilvarry, Conor Fitzgerald, Sammy Arnold.

Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)

Assistants: Elgan Williams & Steff Edwards (WRU)

TMO: Alan Falzone (FIR).