England centre Will Greenwood's try 12 minutes from time robbed Connacht of an
historic Parker Pen Challenge Cup final place on Sunday.
The Irish province claimed victory 23-18 - but lost out agonisingly on
aggregate by just four points, 49-45.
Man-of-the-match Eric Elwood scurried over in the 57th minute for brave
Connacht's second try, which handed them a four-point lead in the tie.
But 52-times capped Greenwood was on hand to end a rare Quins forward drive
with a try.
Although Paul Burke pushed the conversion wide, a tension-filled ending was
eased for the visitors with the diminutive outside-half's 79th-minute penalty
rounding off a 13-point personal haul.
Burke was to play a pivotal role as, following a ninth-minute penalty and a
left-sided penalty leveller for Mark McHugh, he managed to turn Connacht
full-back Dave Hewitt to force a lineout.
Tony Diprose's take was straightened by Burke five metres out and he dummied
number eight John O'Sullivan to ghost over after 18 minutes.
That opened up a 10-3 lead and a 16-point aggregate advantage, but with the
visitors coughing up seven turnovers in all in the first half, Connacht were not
lax in drawing level again by the interval.
Outside-half Elwood kick-started the revival with a 22nd-minute kick to the
corner which saw Diprose in open country and Quins not rolling away from the
tackle.
Following a brace of disruptive scrums, Elwood fired a switch to centre Darren
Yapp and he picked a brilliant line past prop Ceri Jones to touch down on 26
minutes.
McHugh converted and his initial break almost saw Yapp in again, but for the
bounce of Mike Walls' box kick two minutes later.
With the heavier home pack forcing the issue - and Quins onto the back foot -
Connacht wasted little time in hitting the front in the second half.
Elwood's 43rd-minute drop goal was not a thing of beauty but the 26-metre
effort had that galvanising effect.
Jammed into the Quins' 22 for the first 15 minutes after the restart, Connacht
edged their share of possession towards 70% and pinned the visitors' aggregate
lead back to six points with a second McHugh penalty on 50 minutes.
Seven minutes later a superb close-range burst by prop Dan McFarland was taken
on by Elwood and the 35-year-old clambered over the Quins try line.
Amid rapturous scenes McHugh clipped over his fourth success of the afternoon
for a 23-10 lead, and an unlikely four-point aggregate advantage.
Critically, with Monye and George Harder pummelling the Zurich Premiership men
back into Connacht territory, Simon Keogh flicked inside for Greenwood to find
the Connacht line past McHugh and Yapp.
Burke missed a straight on 30-metre drop goal with five minutes remaining, but
his penalty and Diprose's last-gasp tackle on McFarland 10 metres out means the
English side are in with a chance of repeating their 2001 success when they take
on Montferrand next month.
Teams:
Connacht: Hewitt, McPhillips, Yapp, McHugh, Munn, Elwood,
Walls, McFarland, Jackman, Bracken, Browne, Farley, Swift,
Lacey, O'Sullivan.
Replacements: Fogarty, Clarke, McCarthy, Neville, O'Loughlin,
Moore, Robinson.
Tries: Yapp, Elwood.
Cons: McHugh 2
Pens: McHugh 2.
Drop Goals: Elwood.
Harlequins: Duffy, Harder, Greenwood, Deane, Monye, Burke,
Keogh, Jones, Hayter, Dawson, Rudzki, Miall, Sanderson, Vos,
Diprose.
Replacements: C. Dott, Gomez, Worsley, Davison, Sheriff, Willis,
Dunne.
Tries: Greenwood, Burke.
Cons: Burke.
Pens: Burke 2.
Att: 6,000
Ref: N Whitehouse (Wales).
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook