Connacht book place URC quarter-finals as Ulster lose to Glasgow Warriors

Cian Prendergast led from the front as Connacht booked a place in the URC knockout stages when they made the most of what they created to make it eight wins from their last nine league games to advance to the quarter-finals.

Having won only two of their opening nine games, Stuart Lancaster’s men turned their season around with a massive surge resulting in a 26-5 win, and with Ulster losing to Glasgow Warriors, they are now in the quarter-finals.

The improvement in Connacht’s defence since January has been the main reason for their surge and it was to the fore in the opening quarter in this one when they kept their line intact despite Edinburgh having 75 per cent possession.

Locks Josh Murphy and Joe Joyce led the way in holding the Scots at bay, with Edinburgh showing plenty of ambition despite being well out of contention for qualification.

Connacht, with skipper Prendergast outstanding, saturated the pressure and then struck after 24 minutes with Sean Jansen breaking from deep inside his own 22 from a scrum.

Shayne Bolton carried forward for Harry West to send Josh Ioane away, doing superbly to skip a couple of tackles and score in the right corner.

Edinburgh got on top again but couldn’t find a way through, and Connacht countered again, working it through multiple hands before a series of surges finished with Shamus Hurley-Langton diving through to score under the posts.

Sam Gilbert converted to make it 12-0 minutes from the break.

They pushed on from there, piling on the pressure from a tapped penalty before Hurley-Langton squeezed over, with Gilbert converting to make it 19-0 at the break.

Connacht didn’t get into the Edinburgh half until the start of the final quarter.

They again made it count with replacement scrumhalf Matthew Devine hacking from inside his own half with the ball bouncing up kindly for him to run from deep to score the posts to secure the bonus point.

Duhan van der Merwe set up hooker Ewan Ashman for his ninth try of the season as Edinburgh finally found a way through.

Ulster were narrowly defeated by Glasgow Warriors at the Affidea Stadium.

Richie Murphy's side made it as far as the visitors' 22, but a misplaced pass saw them suffer a 26-22 defeat.

While Cardiff beat Stormers 22-16.