Cardiff's Tom Bowen, who scored a hat-trick in his team’s defeat to Munster last weekend, helped himself to a brace as the Welsh side beat Connacht 14-8 in the URC at the Arms Park.
Stuart Lancaster’s side took the lead through an 11th-minute Cathal Forde penalty but fell behind three minutes later to Bowen’s first try, which was converted by Callum Sheedy.
The visitors couldn’t make a breakthrough and Bowen picked up an interception try with four minutes to play to seal the result.
A David O’Connor try with the last play of the game secured a losing-bonus point for the Westerners.
Connacht, who won their opening game against Benetton but had their round-two match against Scarlets postponed due to Storm Amy, host the Bulls next weekend.
After Forde kicked an early penalty for the visitors, Cardiff scored the opening try in the 14th minute when Bowen collected Sheedy's cross-field kick to touch down in the corner.
Cardiff then suffered another injury blow when Wales lock Teddy Williams came down on his ankle during a maul from a lineout and was given lengthy treatment off the side of the pitch before being taken away on a stretcher. George Nott came on as a replacement for his competitive debut.
There was a delayed restart following half-time because of a technical issue with the referee’s communication equipment, with both sides going on to make a number of replacements as the tempo of the match dropped heading towards the hour mark.
Connacht thought they had the ball down in the corner after 69 minutes, but Finn Treacy was ruled to have knocked on just short under a challenge from Sheedy.
Cardiff made the most of their reprieve when Bowen made an interception on the 10-metre line and sprinted clear to run in his second of the night with just four minutes left which made sure of victory despite a late Connacht try from O’Connor.
Additional reporting: PA
