Connacht's play-off hopes fade with defeat v Stormers

Connacht's hopes of securing a place in next season’s Investec Champions Cup look all but over after they were outlasted by the Stormers in an arm-wrestle in Galway.

Pete Wilkins’ side will need a bonus-point win away to Leinster in two weeks if they’re to stand any chance of making the BKT United Rugby Championship play-offs, while even then their fate would be out of their hands.

The province’s 16-12 defeat to the Stormers was low-scoring but hugely entertaining, as both sides looked to play wide and adventurously.

For the first 60 minutes, Connacht were trading blow for blow with John Dobson’s side. Tries for Caolin Blade and Jack Aungier, and a conversion from Jack Carty, had the hosts 12-10 ahead with just over an hour played. An Angelo Davids try, and five points from the boot of Manie Libbok had been all the South Africans could generate in the opening 60 minutes.

Ultimately, this game was decided on power, as the Stormers wore Connacht down up front in the final quarter, with a pair of penalties for Libbok edging his side out to a four-point lead, which Connacht couldn’t overturn in their final game at the Dexcom Stadium, before this summer’s redevelopment begins.

The home side looked fired up and physical early on. Carty and Shamus Hurley-Langton combined for a huge double-tackle to win a turnover, before Sean Jansen's hard running line through the middle spilt the Stormers defence, only for John Porch to later knock on.

There was a frightening pace to the opening 10 minutes, with both sides using the favourable conditions to get width on the ball, with Carty finding Tiernan O’Halloran with a skip-pass out on the right wing, but the full-back's break was defended well by the visitors.

Connacht prevent the try but