United Rugby Championship: Cardiff 12-16 Connacht - Visitors edge out 14-man hosts

Connacht edged 14-man Cardiff in the United Rugby Championship (URC) for their first win there for seven years.

Cardiff produced a gutsy display in front of a sell-out 12,000 crowd after centre Rey Lee-Lo's early red for a head-on-head tackle on Shayne Bolton.

Ben Thomas and Lopeti Timani, who was also shown a yellow card, scored either side of half-time to lead 12-6.

But Connacht replacement Peter Dooley defied his team's error-strewn display to barge over for the winning score.

JJ Hanrahan added the conversion and three penalties as Connacht claimed a club record eighth successive win over Welsh opposition to move up to ninth.

It was another case of what could have been for Cardiff who out-scored their visitors in tries and maintained their remarkable record of picking up points in every league game - but have still only managed three wins.

Cardiff were without the spine of their team with 10 players in the Wales camp yet still managed to sell-out the Arms Park, such is the positivity around the club.

However, they made a disastrous start as Hanrahan kicked an early penalty, new signing Ben Connell's debut was cut short after just 15 minutes to a head injury and Lee-Lo was sent off.

The red card galvanised Cardiff and Thomas stepped off his right foot and showed real power to get over for the game's opening try.

Thomas Young thought he had doubled Cardiff's total, but his effort was ruled out for a forward pass.

If Cardiff faced a battle with 14 men, it got even harder when number eight Timani was shown a yellow card for a reckless high tackle on scrum-half Caolin Blade.

Hanrahan kicked a second penalty, but it should have been more given Cathal Forde ignored unmarked players out wide and was denied on the line by Thomas.

The break helped 13-man Cardiff gather their thoughts and manage the sin-bin period before Timani scored with his first touch of the ball after returning to the field.

But even with 14 men, the defensive effort told and Cardiff tired.

Connacht were frustrated by their mistakes before prop Dooley barged over from close range on 62 minutes for the decisive score.

Cardiff head coach Matt Sherratt said: "We showed so much fight after going down to 14 men and I'm sure we will reflect on this as a point gained rather than four lost.

"We lost a key player in Rey (Lee-Lo) and having been forced to adapt to the conditions, we then had to play an even more limited game after the red card.

"We're disappointed but we were without 10 Wales players, spent 65 minutes down to 14 men and still took something from it, so there's a lot of encouragement there."

Connacht head coach Pete Wilkins said: "We never really got going but we're delighted to win because we know from experience how tough it is to win at Cardiff.

"The red card added more fire to their (Cardiff's) bellies and a lot of our game was frustrating. We weren't at our best.

"But we stayed in the fight, backed our fitness and showed another way of winning."

Cardiff: Jacob Beetham; Owen Lane, Rey Lee-Lo, Ben Thomas, Aled Summerhill; Tinus de Beer, Ellis Bevan; Rhys Carre, Liam Belcher, Will Davies-King, Shane Lewis-Hughes, Seb Davies, Ben Donnell, Thomas Young, Lopeti Timani.

Replacements: Efan Daniel, Rhys Barratt, Ciaran Parker, Alun Lawrence, Mackenzie Martin, Jamie Hill, Arwel Robson, Willis Halaholo.

Sin bin: Timani (36)

Red card: Lee-Lo (15)

Connacht: Tiernan O'Halloran; Shayne Bolton, David Hawkshaw, Cathal Forde, Andrew Smith; JJ Hanrahan, Caolin Blade (capt); Denis Buckley, Dave Heffernan, Jack Aungier, Niall Murray, Joe Joyce, Shamus Hurley-Langton, Conor Oliver, Cian Prendergast.

Replacements: Tadgh McElroy, Peter Dooley, Sam Illo, Oisín Dowling, Jarrad Butler, Michael McDonald, Jack Carty, Tom Farrell.

Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)

Assistant referees: Craig Evans & Gwyn Morris (WRU)

TMO: Stefano Penne (FIR)