European Challenge Cup/Brive 15 Connacht 6:Connacht began their European Challenge Cup campaign with a disappointing defeat to Brive at a chilly but dry Stade Municipal last night in a poor contest littered with errors by both sides.
For the second week in succession goal-kicking proved the Westerners' core problem, with outhalf Tim Donnelly missing three as Connacht failed to turn possession and territorial dominance into points.
By contrast the Brive outhalf Luciano Orquera was in fine form with the boot, converting all three of his first-half kicks to give his side a 9-3 lead at the break, which hardly reflected the balance of play.
After half-time the trend continued as Connacht again struggled to break the gain line with any consistency in attack, and they were punished ruthlessly by the economical Orquera, who stretched the lead to 12-3 before replacement Peter Durcan replied for the visitors.
However, Brive again responded well and from their most potent spell of attacking in the contest replacement fullback Maxime Petitjean struck a drop-goal from 30 metres to restore the two-score lead with 20 minutes remaining.
Connacht rarely threatened after that score but Peter Durcan had an opportunity to snatch a bonus point only for his effort from near the touchline to shave the uprights on the left.
Then sinbinning of scrumhalf Gregory Mahe with 15 minutes remaining also went unpunished on a forgettable night for the Westerners. The game started slowly with a long delay in the opening quarter for what looked like a serious injury to Mel Deane and he was replaced in the fourth minute by Darren Yapp.
Connacht had first sight of the posts upon the resumption of play but Donnelly missed badly from the 10-metre line and within two minutes Orquera slotted a penalty from a similar range with ominous ease.
Donnelly missed badly again five minutes later after Connacht had worked another penalty out of an unimpressive Brive defence and to add further insult Orquera added his second kick to stretch the lead to six.
The second quarter was dominated by the visitors, who had a golden opportunity to score with Conor McPhilips capitalising on Orquera's mistake in his own half and grubber-kicking ahead only for his second kick to rebound off the post when a try seemed an absolute certainty.
Donnelly at least gave his side some solace with a penalty six minutes later but for the second week running Michael Bradley's side were struggling to turn their superiority into points.
As the first half drew to a close Brive started to exert more pressure and after a tremendous break involving the Fijian international Norman Ligairi, Orquera kicked his third penalty of the half to leave Connacht trailing at the break.
Connacht, having failed to secure a bonus point, will now need to get something from their back-to-back meetings with Newcastle Falcons next month if they are to have a realistic chance of getting out of the pool.
Scores: 12 mins: penalty Orquera 3-0; 18: pen Orquera 6-0; 26: pen Donnelly, 6-3; 40 (+5): pen Orquera 9-3 (half-time 9-3); 47: pen Orquera, 12-3; 56: pen Durcan 12-6; 58: drop-goal Petitjean 15-6.
BRIVE: B Davies; F Bolavucu; R J Cooke; B Johnston; N Ligairi; L Orquera, G Mahe; P Capdevielle, J Djoudi, A Bordoy; J Van Zyl, F Domingo; V Fogues, J Bonvoisin, R Van Der Merwe. Replacements: S Thompson for Bonvoisin, S Hufanga for Bolavucu (both 20 mins); J P Bonrepaux for Fogues (39 mins); M Petitjean for Davies (49 mins); L Harbut for Bordoy (66 mins).
CONNACHT: G Duffy; O Treviranus, M Deane, K Matthews, A Wynne; T Donnelly, C McPhillips; B Wilkinson, J Fogarty, R Morris; M Swift, A Farley (capt); M McCarthy, J O'Connor, J Muldoon. Replacements: D Yapp for Deane (inj, 4 mins); A Flavin for Fogarty (49 mins); P Durcan for Donnelly (50 mins); C Rigney for McCarthy (55 mins); R Ofisa for Swift (70 mins); C O'Loughlin for McPhillips (73 mins).
Referee: Andrew Small (England).
