Lam battles nerves as Connacht defeat Dragons

Connacht led 8-0 after 15 minutes as new wing Niyi Adeolokun offloaded to Eoin McKeon to touch down and centre Darragh Leader added a penalty.

The Dragons levelled before half-time through Nic Cudd's try and a Jason Tovey penalty but had captain Lee Byrne sin-binned shortly after the break for taking out Connacht fly-half Jack Carty in the air.

After Leader restored his side's lead, Carty was again taken out with Tyler Morgan joining Byrne in the bin for a dangerous spear-tackle before the fly-off sent Danie Poolman over with a splendid crosskick.

And despite Tovey's late penalty to secure his side a bonus point, Lam was satisfied with his side's winning start to the season.

"We got ahead but some of the options we were taking and just trying to close that game down, it had my heart going," he said.

"We know we can play a lot better than we did but we're pleased to get that start."

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