Connacht overpowered late on by four

Stuart Lancaster's second season in charge of Connacht has started with a defeat, after the province fell to a 29-15 loss at home to the Stormers in Galway.

Tries for Mack Hansen and Josh Ioane, and five points from the boot of Sam Gilbert, had the western province 15-10 ahead with just over 25 minutes left to play, but they couldn't deal with a powerful South African side, who grabbed two late tries to deny Connacht a bonus-point.

The home side were sloppy in possession for much of the first half, and they fell 3-0 behind after 10 minutes when Stormers out-half Jurie Matthee knocked over a penalty, and on 20 minutes the tourists made their early dominance count when full-back Warrick Gelent latched onto a beautiful grubber from Andre Warner, with Matthee's conversion making it 10-0.