Investec Champions Cup - Lyon 34-20 Connacht: Irish province's qualification hopes fade with loss

Thaakir Abrahams scored two of Lyon's four tries in their victory over Connacht

Lyon charged to the top of Pool 1 in the Investec Champions Cup with a dominant 34-20 bonus-point victory over Connacht at Matmut Stadium de Gerland.

The Irish province failed to gain even a losing bonus point and their qualification hopes could be over after this weekend's remaining pool games.

Thaakir Abrahams notched two Lyon tries with Alexandre Tchaptchet and Mickael Guillard also going over.

Sean Jansen, Cian Prendergast and Dylan Tierney-Martin scored Connacht's tries.

A third straight loss keeps Connacht bottom of the table with only one point. Not even a bonus-point win over Bristol on Friday looks to be enough to earn them a place in the last 16.

Connacht 'out-muscled and out-thought'

Connacht took an early lead, but it didn't last long as they were out-muscled and out-thought for most of the contest.

The opening score came after Darragh Murray won a line-out which moved through the hands of Michael McDonald to release Jansen and he blasted through the middle of the Lyon defence, rounding the last man to dot down in the corner.

But after JJ Hanrahan steered the conversion wide, Connacht's lead lasted only four minutes.

Tchaptchet produced a fantastic break from deep and, with Lyon recycling quickly to the left where Josiah Maraku tried to offload, Connacht centre Tom Daly could only deflect the ball into the path of Abrahams who ran in under the posts.

After ex-Ulster fly-half Paddy Jackson added the easy extras, the red tide kept coming and the impressive Tchaptchet was finally the man to get over the line in the 20th minute after a quick-tap penalty followed a sustained area of forward pressure.

After adding the simple extras once more, Jackson kicked six more first-half points before Connacht gave themselves a fighting chance with a try just before half-time.

The score was set up by a rare foray into the Lyon half as fly-half McDonald spun a looping pass to Ireland international Prendergast near the touchline and he touched down. Hanrahan missed the difficult conversion.

Cian Prendergast scored one of Connacht's three tries in Lyon

With that lifeline, Connacht were right back in the game in the 43rd minute as Tierney-Martin dotted down from the back of a maul, with Hanrahan nailing the extras to trim Lyon's lead to 20-17.

But as the second half progressed, the overall brute strength of Lyon's pack caused more and more problems for Pete Wilkins' side, and the pressure paid off in the 51st minute.

Guillard's dummy pass created a yard of space and he pounced over the line with Jackson again successful with the conversation to restore Lyon's 10-point lead

Connacht had short periods of pressure and came away with a penalty from Hanrahan to put them within a score heading into the last 10 minutes.

But the hosts put the game to bed as Thibaut Regard's superb off-load set up Abrahams's second touchdown with the wing racing to the corner.

Leo Berdeu's superb conversion completed Lyon's win and left Connacht needing all the remaining pool results to go their way over the next week to maintain interest in the competition. The Irish province will definitely need Bordeaux to win Sunday's home encounter against Saracens.

Next weekend's final round of Pool 1 games will also see the Bulls at home to Bordeaux and Saracens hosting Lyon.

Lyon: Tchaptchet; Ioane, Maraku, Regard, Abrahams; Jackson, Page-Relo; Kaabeche, Charcosset, Bamba; Kpoku, Taofifenua; Allen, Botha (capt), Guillard

Subs: Marchand; Rey, Tafili, Vignolles, Gouzou, Rimet, Berdeu, Parisien

Connacht: Hanrahan; Smith, Farrell, Daly, Bolton, Carty (capt), McDonald; Dooley, Tierney-Martin, Robertson-McCoy; Murray, Joyce; Prendergast, Butler, Jansen

Subs: McElroy; Buckley, Illo, Dowling, Oliver, Devine, Hawkshaw, Jennings