Dismal Connacht ship eight tries in Edinburgh hammering

Connacht's winning run in the United Rugby Championship came to a humiliating end this evening, with Andy Friend's side shipping their heaviest defeat of the season away to Edinburgh.

The western province conceded eight tries in a 56-8 defeat to the Scottish side, who arrested their own poor run of three consecutive defeats.

The most concerning aspect of the Connacht display was their capitulation once Edinburgh first scored, having looked in control for the bulk of the opening half and leading 8-0 approaching the 30 minute mark.

For the hosts, Blair Kinghorn orchestrated proceedings from out-half, and Argentina international Emiliano Boffelli was on devastating form with the boot, converting all of his team's tries in their biggest URC win of the season so far.

Curiously, given how the game turned out, Connacht dominated the opening half-hour and might easily have scored more than eight points.

Jack Carty opened the scoring with a penalty and then Peter Sullivan did well to scoop a low pass off the deck and touch down in the right corner, but they passed up several chances to add to their lead, especially when Edinburgh number eight Mesu Kunavula was in the sin bin for a high tackle.

After playing second fiddle for so long, Edinburgh burst into life in the 10 minutes before the interval, scoring three tries.

Kinghorn laid on the first for Boffelli after Glen Young had stolen line-out ball.

Henry Immelman then burst through for the second after good work by Chris Dean, and hooker Dave Cherry marked his 50th appearance for the team by getting the third from a line-out drive.

With Boffelli converting all three, that gave Mike Blair’s team a 21-8 lead at the break. They still had some work to do in order to secure the win, and went