Connacht 27-24 Gloucester: Robin Copeland snatches late winner in Champions Cup
By Marc Bazeley
Last Updated: 14/12/19 3:13pm
A last-gasp try from replacement Robin Copeland saw Connacht snatch victory from the jaws of defeat against Gloucester to keep their hopes of qualifying for the Champions Cup knock-out stages alive.
Luke Fitzgerald's penalty and a converted try from Caolin Blade put the hosts into a 10-point lead despite having a man in the sin-bin, but Gloucester hit back before the interval through Gerbrandt Grobler to make it 10-7 at half time.
Mark Atkinson's double and one from Lewis Ludlow looked to have done enough to give the visitors victory, but Connacht drew to within four through Shane Delahunt before Copeland darted over with time expired to seal a 27-24 win.
Needing a win to stay in with a chance of reaching the quarter-finals, Connacht could ill afford any mistakes and their task was made harder when Eoin McKeown was shown a 10th-minute yellow card by referee Romain Poite for preventing a quick tap penalty attempt by Lloyd Evans.
Nevertheless, it was the hosts who grew into the game quicker following a close-fought opening and went ahead through Fitzgerald's penalty five minutes later.
It then needed an immense defensive effort from Gloucester to survive 16 phases in their own 22 to keep Connacht out, followed by the TMO ruling a possible try out when Blade was judged to be offside when ripping the ball from opposite number Callum Braley's half on the visitors' try-line.
The home side were able to keep the pressure on though, which eventually told when French official Poite sent Todd Gleave for 10 minutes on the sidelines following a litany of successive infringements by Gloucester.
And there was no danger of scrum-half Blade being denied when he got over again in the 24th minute, burrowing his way through from close range after Connacht's forwards had been hammering away at the line from a five-metre scrum.
The Cherry and Whites were swift to respond despite them now having a temporary numerical disadvantage, however, and were back within touching distance six minutes before the break when Grobler took a superb offload to score, followed by Billy Twelvetrees converting.
Right on the stroke of half time, McKeown was held up over the line by Gloucester's defence and it was the away side who struck first after play resumed.
A break from Ollie Thorley after being sent racing away by Matt Banahan's offload took Gloucester into Connacht's 22 and although the home side managed to turn the ball over, Atkinson was alert enough to intercept as they tried to go wide and cantered over for a simple try on 55 minutes.
Twelvetrees missed what seemed a relatively simple conversion though and then when the visitors infringed close to their try-line it allowed Fitzgerald to kick his side back in front - which was compounded when the Gloucester centre was pinged for being offside from the restart.
But they rebounded when a break down the right wing from Louis Rees-Zammit took them deep into Connacht territory, before he managed to get the ball away for Braley to take and set up flanker Ludlow for a converted try.
Then with 10 minutes left, Twelvetrees sent midfield partner Atkinson bashing his way through for his second and Gloucester's fourth, which sealed the bonus point for the away side.
There would still be a twist in the tale though as Shane Delahunt finished off an attack with four minutes to go, setting up a grandstand finish which saw Connacht storm forward from the restart and Copeland find the gap to score the winning try - converted by Fitzgerald - after taking an offload from Tom Daly.