Ill-disciplined Sharks slain by rampant Connacht in Galway

The visitors will rue their defence, which saw them miss 28 tackles and leak five tries while Connacht flyhalf Sean Naughton slotted three penalties to punish them.

Nonetheless, it was the Sharks who opened the scoring thanks to a powerful line-out maul that saw Fex Mbatha go over the line.

But tries from Connacht's Paul Boyle and Shay Mullins combined with a yellow card to Sharks lock Jason Jenkins to cap off a poor half for the visitors, trailing 23-5 at the break.

The second stanza was scoreless until the 57th minute, when a beautifully executed first-phase move from a line-out saw winger Hugh Gavin glide over untouched in the corner..

Springbok Makazole Mapimpi gave the Sharks brief hope in the 66th minute, finishing sharply in the left corner, but the difficult conversion drifted wide.

Connacht secured the try bonus point in bizarre fashion in the 72nd minute when replacement scrumhalf Matthew Devine hacked a loose ball ahead and won the race to ground it.

The Sharks responded immediately from a line-out maul, with lock Emile van Heerden touching down, but it was too little too late from the Durban franchise.

Connacht had the final say as replacement prop Sam Illo burrowed over from short range in the closing stages and Naughton's conversion rounded off a comprehensive victory.

READ MORE: Stormers fight back to beat Munster and maintain perfect URC record