Connacht fly-half Jack Carty masterminded an opening day GUINNESS PRO12 victory for his side as Newport Gwent Dragons were left to rue two second half yellow cards.

Skipper Lee Byrne and centre Tyler Morgan were both sent to the sin bin for fouls on Carty, whose delicious crossfield kick to Danie Poolman to score with both players off the field proved the game’s key moment.

With little to choose between the sides that piece of class proved crucial, with the Dragons unable to summon a response in the final quarter.

Carty got the game underway and the home side pushed forward at the Sportsground, winning their first penalty after two minutes at the scrum. Darragh Leader lined up a shot at the sticks from long range but was unfortunate to see his effort rebound off the left upright.

Connacht continued to monopolise possession and were rewarded for their early dominance when the ball was worked out to winger Niyi Adeolokun who offloaded to Eoin McKeon who dived over for the first try. Leader missed with his conversion attempt but Connacht led 5-0 after ten minutes.

But five minutes later the Dragons were penalised by referee Marius Mitrea for not rolling away and the 21-year-old centre stepped up to nail the three-pointer and extend Connacht’s lead.

It took until the 20-minute mark before the Dragons worked their way into the game, earning a penalty on the Connacht ten-metre line only for fly-half Jason Tovey to send his kick sail wide of the left-hand upright.

The Dragons were then pinged for going off their feet and Carty’s clearing kick found touch, but the lineout was overthrown by David Heffernan and the Dragons went on the attack.

The visitors moved the ball wide and with Connacht outnumbered it was a simple task for flanker Nic Cudd to run in and get the Dragons on the board.

Tovey missed with the conversation but the Dragons were on the front foot now and Dave McSharry was soon sent to the sin bin for a tug on a Dragons jersey deep inside the Connacht 22. This time Tovey made no mistake with his penalty and on the half-hour the scores were all square.

The rest of the half belonged to the Dragons who thought they had taken the lead when Andrew Coombs dived over the line only for play to be brought back for a knock-on in the build-up.

Level at the break, the Dragons suffered an early blow when skipper Lee Byrne was sin-binned on 48 minutes for taking out Carty in the air.

A man up, a great effort from Denis Buckley at the scrum secured a penalty 28 metres out that Leader knocked over to put his side three points ahead.

With Byrne still in the sin bin the Dragons shot themselves in the foot again as Tyler Morgan was sent to join him for a spear-tackle on Carty. He had the last laugh, however, as he sent a gorgeous crossfield kick across to Danie Poolman who ran in to score.

Leader missed the conversion but with 15 minutes of the second period gone the home side had an eight-point lead.

Dragons winger Tom Pyrdie sent a long-range penalty towards the post in a bid to immediately reduce the deficit, but couldn’t find the target.

With the visitors restored to their full complement of players there were few chances for either side, replacement Miah Nikora sending a penalty goalwards but it didn’t have the distance.

Tovey made it a five-point game with five minutes to play with a late penalty but despite late pressure the Dragons couldn’t find a breakthrough and Connacht hung on for victory.

Follow us on Facebook, join the conversation on Twitter, sign up to our YouTube channel for extensive match highlights and sign up for our newsletter for regular updates on the GUINNESS PRO12