Use a tywrap on the connector, many have done the same.
If you started torquing the outer bolts first, you may have an intake leak in the middle. Pretty much and torque job should start in the middle and "spiral out", think of smoothing out a table cloth, you put your hands in the middle and move out from the middle, not from the outer edge towards the middle.
Same goes for an intake, valve covers, heads, etc.