Late Forde kick clinches Connacht win against Scarlets

United Rugby Championship: Scarlets v Connacht

Scarlets (14) 23

Tries: G Davies 2 Cons: Costelow 2 Pens: Costelow 2, Lloyd

Connacht (21) 24

Tries: O'Conor, Hansen, Murphy Cons: Carty 3 Pens: Forde

Centre Cathal Forde kicked a 78th minute penalty to give Connacht a thrilling United Rugby Championship (URC) 24-23 victory against Scarlets in Llanelli.

Wales fly-half Sam Costelow appeared to have given Scarlets a much-needed victory with a late penalty of his own before Forde's even later intervention, which lifted the Irish side to second in the table.

Connacht scored tries through wings Piers O'Conor and Mack Hansen and scrum-half Ben Murphy, while Wales scrum-half Gareth Davies scored two tries for the hosts.

It was a second victory for Connacht this season with winless Scarlets having suffered two defeats and a draw in the opening three games.

It was a 11th successive win for Connacht against Welsh opposition.

Quick start for Connacht

Connacht called up Ireland centre Bundee Aki and fly-half Carty for their first starts of the season, while Scarlets lock Sam Lousi and full-back Ioan Nicholas returned from injury.

Nicholas produced an early clanger when he threw a wayward ball straight into the hands of O'Conor who scored with Carty converting.

Scarlets wing Tom Rogers was shown a yellow card for preventing a quick Connacht attacking line-out after O'Conor's 50/22 kick.

The visiting wing appeared to have scored from the driving maul, but the try was ruled out after Connacht flanker Josh Murphy was penalised for obstruction.

Connacht made their numerical advantage tell with an easy second score as the visitors created the space for Carty to produce a clever kick for a walk-in for wing Hansen.

So after building up an early 15-point lead against Cardiff last weekend, roles were reversed as Scarlets found themselves 14 points down in the early exchanges against the Irish province.

Aki was shown a yellow card for a high tackle on Costelow before the hosts burst into life with a try from scrum-half Davies after incisive breaks from wing Blair Murray and flanker Dan Davis.

Centres Johnny Williams and Eddie James then combined expertly to send the supporting Davies over for his second try to level the scores as Scarlets scored 14 points with Connacht down to 14 men.

Opposing number eights Cian Prendergast and Taine Plumtree were forced off the field after a clash of heads, with the Scarlets back row later returning.

Connacht scored a length-of-the-field try as they took advantage of some weak tackling with flanker Conor Oliver and replacement Paul Boyle combining to release scrum-half Murphy with Carty converting.

The officials ruled out any hint of a forward pass as Connacht led 21-14 at half-time.

Late heartbreak for Scarlets

During the interval, Wales prop Kemsley Mathias came on for Alec Hepburn, who had been penalised three times at the scrum in the opening 40 minutes.

Costelow, who spent time off the field before passing a head injury assessment (HIA), and Ioan Lloyd reduced the deficit to a point with two penalties that both came off the same post.

Costelow was caught off the ball by Connacht replacement hooker Dylan Tierney-Martin, but climbed off the turf to slot over a 73rd-minute penalty.

But hopes of victory were dashed when Scarlets replacement hooker Marnus van der Merwe was penalised at a ruck.

With Carty off the field, Forde slotted over the match-wining penalty.

Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel: "We were disappointed with the end result. Those are two out of three games where we have lost it now in the dying seconds.

"It could have been a different story. We fought hard in the game and there are signs we were getting better.

"It is just two heart-breaking finishes in games which have cost us."

Connacht head coach Peter Wilkins: "Once the dust settles, we will be delighted with four points from the visit to Scarlets in terms of the material outcome.

"It is a tough place to get a result for us and Scarlets deserve credit for the way they defended, took advantage of our errors and pressurised us.

"I think we have got away with the win and it could be a significant result in our season."

Scarlets: Ioan Nicholas; Tom Rogers, Johnny Williams, Eddie James, Blair Murray; Sam Costelow, Gareth Davies; Alec Hepburn, Ryan Elias, Henry Thomas, Sam Lousi, Max Douglas, Josh Macleod (capt), Dan Davis, Taine Plumtree.

Replacements: Marnus van der Merwe, Kemsley Mathias, Sam Wainwright, Alex Craig, Carwyn Tuipulotu, Efan Jones, Ioan Lloyd, Macs Page.

Sin-bin: Rogers 12

Connacht: Santiago Cordero; Mack Hansen, Cathal Forde, Bundee Aki, Piers O'Conor; Jack Carty, Ben Murphy; Denis Buckley, Dave Heffernan, Finlay Bealham, Niall Murray, David O’Connor, Josh Murphy, Conor Oliver, Cian Prendergast (capt).

Replacements: Dylan Tierney-Martin, Peter Dooley. Temi Lasisi, Oisín Dowling, Paul Boyle, Caolin Blade, David Hawkshaw, Shayne Bolton.

Sin-bin: Aki 20

Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen (SARU)

Assistant referees: Mike English & Ben Connor (WRU)

TMO: Christopher Allison (SARU).