Connacht have beaten Bayonne 21-35 in their Amlin Challenge Cup Pool 1 encounter at Stade Jean Dauger.
Three Julien Audy penalties for Bayonne kept the home-side in touch as Connacht dominated the first half.
Connacht’s scores came from Ian Keatley, who matched Audy’s three penalties, as well as adding another two penalty kicks.
Keatley also converted a penalty try after Fionn Carr was taken out before he could collect Brian Tuohy’s chip through.
Skipper Johnny O’Connor was subbed off for Shane Conneely after half an hour and Sebastien Fauque and Andrew Browne were both sin-binned.
Thibault Lacroix scored a try on the stroke of half-time which Audy converted to leave the half-time score Bayonne 16-22 Connacht.
Bayonne’s number 8 Marc Baget scored a try for the home side three minutes into the second half to bring the gap to just one point, but Audy was unsuccessful with the conversion.
Keith Matthews replaced Eoin Griffin and Michael Swift came on for Bernie Upton in a half that saw both sides playing very different styles. Connacht spread the ball wide and made use of every inch of the pitch and Bayonne opted to maul the ball up the middle.
Ronan Loughney, Adrain Flavin and Rodney Ah You all made appearances in the front-row for Connacht.
A clever block by Frank Murphy and an acrobatic offload let Sean Cronin, now playing on the flank, loose down the wing, the hooker held the defender just long enough to release Brian Tuohy for a try.
Fionn Carr put the icing on the cake for Connacht when he sprinted 60 metres to score after 77 minutes to leave the final score Bayonne 21-35 Connacht
Connacht:
15 Fionn Carr, 14 Shane Monahan, 13 Eoin Griffin, 12 Niva Ta'auso, 11 Brian Tuohy 10. Ian Keatley, 9 Frank Murphy, 1 Brett Wilkinson, 2 Sean Cronin, 3 Jamie Hagan, 4 Bernie Upton, 5 Mike McCarthy, 6 Andrew Browne, 7 Jonny O'Connor, 8 Mike McComish
Replacements:
16 Adrian Flavin, 17 Rodney Ah You, 18 Ronan Loughney, 19 Shane Connelly, 20 Michael Swift, 21 Cillian Willis, 22 Keith Matthews, 23 Miah Nikora
Bayonne:
15 Pepito Elhorga, 14 Garth Ziegler, 13 Thibault Lacroix, 12 Sebastien Fauque, 11 Johnan Pietersen, 10 Benjamin Boyet, 9 Julien Audy, 1 Tonga Lea'aetoa, 2 Arnaud Heguy, 3 Denis Avril, 4 Robin Linde, 5 Cameron Treloar, 6 Guillaume Bernad, 7 Dwayne Haare, 8 Marc Baget
Replacements:
6 Francois Da Ros, 17 Pierre Philippe Lafond, 18 Walter Desmaison, 19 Ross Filipo, 20 Jean-Jo Marmouyet, 21 Francois Carillo, 22.
