Glasgow, Connacht, Munster, Scarlets cruise, Ulster edge win

Editor

Glasgow Warriors continued with their fine start to the season when they claimed a deserved 31-10 win over the Ospreys at Scotstoun on Saturday.

Elsewhere Ulster won at Treviso while Munster were too strong for the Cheetahs, running out to a bonus-point success on home soil and Connacht and Scarlets beat the Kings and Zebre respectively.

Glasgow Warriors 31-10 Ospreys

Dave Rennie maintained his 100 percent start as Glasgow boss with a 31-10 bonus point victory over the Ospreys. 

In their first home game of the season Scotland international Alex Dunbar picked up a dropped pass during the visitors attack and went all the way to open the scoring midway through the first period. 

Ospreys hit back shortly afterwards when, after several phases, Dan Evans cut a scything line to score under the posts. Sam Davies and Finn Russell traded penalties to send the sides in 10-10 at half time. 

After the interval Leonardo Sarto regained the lead for the home side when Russell took a quick tap before sending him over via an offload. Adam Ashe then put daylight between the sides with twenty minutes left after intercepting in his own half and running the distance. 

Glasgow got their fourth try of the game two minutes from time when the outstanding Dunbar dotted over for his second of the afternoon. Searching for their fourth try Glasgow had a scrum on the five metre line and, after being found by replacement Henry Pyrgos, Dunbar barged his way over the whitewash.

Ospreys will return to South Wales feeling aggrieved they took nothing from this contest given their dominance in almost every department. But several opportunistic scores from Glasgow secured them a ruthless victory. 

The scorers:

For Glasgow:
Tries:
Dunbar 2, Sarto, Ashe
Cons: Russell 4
Pen: Russell

For Ospreys
Try:
Evans
Con: Davies
Pen: Davies

Glasgow: 15 Ruaridh Jackson, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Alex Dunbar, 12 Peter Horne, 11 Rory Hughes, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ali Price, 8 Adam Ashe, 7 Callum Gibbins, 6 Ryan Wilson (c), 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Tim Swindon, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 George Turner, 1 Jamie Bhatti
Replacements: 16 Pat MacArthur, 17 Oli Kebble, 18 D'arcy Rae, 19 Brian Alainu'uese, 20 Matt Fagerson, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Nick Grigg, 23 Leonardo Sarto

Ospreys: 15 Dan Evans, 14 Keelan Giles, 13 Kieron Fonotia, 12 Cory Allen, 11 Jeff Hassler, 10 Sam Davies, 9 Tom Habberfield, 8 James King, 7 Justin Tipuric (c), 6 Olly Cracknell, 5 Lloyd Ashley, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Ma'afu Fia, 2 Sam Parry, 1 Paul James 
Replacements: 16 Scott Otten, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Rhodri Jones, 19 Adam Beard, 20 Guy Mercer, 21 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 22 James Hook, 23 Jay Baker

Referee: Marius Mitrea
Assistant referees: Manuel Bottino & Sam Grove-White
TMO: Stefano Penne

Treviso 14-21 Ulster

Ulster survived a late fight back from Treviso but return to Belfast having completed their Italian job.

Two Andrew Trimble tries early on put the Ulstermen in charge of the contest and Jacob Stockdale also went over the whitewash to give the visitors a chance of a bonus point with scrum half John Cooney notching all three conversions to put Ulster on their way.

It wasn't to be however and instead the Italians scored two late tries through Federico Ruzza and Ian McKinley to give the scoreline some respect and give Ulster a nervous few minutes. Nevertheless it was the Irish side who remain undefeated after two games of the PRO14 season.

The scorers:

For Treviso:
Tries: McKinley, Ruzza
Cons: McKinley 2

For Ulster:
Tries: Trimble 2, Stockdale
Cons: Cooney 3

Treviso: 15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Angelo Esposito, 13 Alberto Sgarbi (c), 12 Tommaso Allan, 11 Tommaso Benvenuti, 10 Ian McKinley, 9 Tito Tebaldi, 8 Whetu Douglas, 7 Sebastian Negri, 6 Francesco Minto, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Marco Lazzaroni, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Luca Bigi, 1 Federico Zani
Replacements: 16 Engjel Makelara, 17 Cherif Traore, 18 Tiziano Pasquali, 19 Marco Barbini, 20 Abraham Steyn, 21 Giorgio Bronzini, 22 Edoardo Gori, 23 Marco Zanon

Ulster: 15 Louis Ludik, 14 Andrew Trimble (c), 13 Tommy Bowe, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Christian Lealiifano, 9 John Cooney, 8 Jean Deysel, 7 Sean Reidy, 6 Matthew Rea, 5 Kieran Treadwell, 4 Robbie Diack, 3 Wiehahn Herbst, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Callum Black 
Replacements: 16 John Andrew, 17 Andrew Warwick, 18 Rodney Ah You, 19 Peter Browne, 20 Chris Henry, 21 David Shanahan, 22 Peter Nelson, 23 Luke Marshall

Referee: Adam Jones (Wales)
Assistant referees: Ian Davies (Wales), Claudio Blessano (Italy)
TMO: Sean Brickell (Wales)

Munster 51-18 Cheetahs

Alex Wootton got four of Munster's eight tries as they demolished their South African opponents at Thomond Park.

The result means Munster have secured consecutive bonus point victories on the opening two weeks of the season. The Limerick-based side scored three tries in the first half before Jean Kleyn dotted over early in the second period to secure the bonus point. 

The Cheetahs had little of a response, William Small-Smith scored in the first half to give his side a glimmer of hope but that was soon dashed.

Captain Francois Venter scored late on but the damage had already been done with Tommy O'Donnell, Chris Farrell and Simon Zebo all getting on the scoresheet.

The scorers:

For Munster:
Tries: O'Donnell, Wootton 4, Kleyn, Farrell, Zebo
Cons: Keatley 4
Pen: Keatley

For Cheetahs:
Tries: Small-Smith, Venter
Con: Petzer
Pens: Petzer 2

Munster: 15 Andrew Conway, 14 Darren Sweetnam, 13 Chris Farrell, 12 Jaco Taute, 11 Alex Wootton, 10 Ian Keatley, 9 Duncan Williams, 8 Jack O'Donoghue, 7 Tommy O'Donnell, 6 Sean O'Connor, 5 Billy Holland (c), 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Stephen Archer, 2 Rhys Marshall, 1 Liam O'Connor
Replacements: 16 Niall Scannell, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 John Ryan, 19 Fineen Wycherley, 20 Robin Copeland, 21 James Hart, 22 Rory Scannell, 23 Simon Zebo

Cheetahs: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Francois Venter (c), 12 William Small-Smith, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Robbie Petzer, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Niell Jordaan, 7 Henco Venter, 6 Paul Schoeman, 5 Reniel Hugo, 4 Rynier Bernardo, 3 Johan Coetzee, 2 Jacques du Toit, 1 Charles Marais
Replacements: 16 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Tom Botha, 19 Armandt Koster, 20 Gerhard Olivier, 21 Tian Meyer, 22 Ali Mgijima, 23 Ryno Benjamin

Referee: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
Assistant referees: Wayne Davies, Marc Patton (Ireland)
TMO: Neil Hennessy (Wales)

Connacht 32-10 Southern Kings

South Africa are still waiting for one of their sides to register a win in this year's competition after Connacht ran out comfortable winners in Galway.

A bonus point victory was the perfect response following last week's loss to Glasgow and the 2016 champions are off the mark this term.

Darragh Leader scored the bonus point try with 15 minutes remaining after Tom Farrell, Eoghan Masterson and Ultan Dillane had all dotted over. Jack Carty was in fine form off the tee kicking 12 points for the Irish side.

Berton Klaasen and Luvuyo Pupuma crossed the whitewash in either half for the visitors but they failed to assert themselves into the contest and Connacht can be satisfied with their work on Saturday evening.

The scorers:

For Connacht:
Tries:
Farrell, Masterson, Dillane, Leader
Cons: Carty 3
Pens: Carty 2

For Southern Kings:
Tries:
Klaasen, Pupuma

Connacht: 15 Tiernan O'Halloran, 14 Darragh Leader, 13 Tom Farrell, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Matt Healy, 10 Jack Carty, 9 Kieran Marmion, 8 John Muldoon, 7 Jarrad Butler, 6 Sean O'Brien, 5 James Cannon, 4 Ultan Dillane, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Tom McCartney, 1 Denis Buckley 
Replacements: 16 Dave Heffernan, 17 Denis Coulson, 18 Conor Carey, 19 Quinn Roux, 20 Eoghan Masterson, 21 Caolin Blade, 22 Steve Crosbie, 23 Eoin Griffin.

Southern Kings: 15 Masixole Banda, 14 Yaw Penxe, 13 Berton Klaasen, 12 Luzuko Vulindlu, 11 Sibusiso Sithole, 10 Kurt Coleman, 9 Godlen Masimla, 8 Andisa Ntsila, 7 Victor Sekekete, 6 Khay Majola, 5 Dries van Schalkwyk, 4 Jurie van Vuuren, 3 Rossouw de Klerk, 2 Michael Willemse (c), 1 Schalk Ferreira 
Replacements: 16 Stephan Coetzee, 17 Luvuyo Pupuma, 18 Entienne Swanepoel, 19 Bobby de Wee, 20 Siyabulela Mdaka, 21 Rudi van Rooyen, 22 Oliver Zono, 23 Jacques Nel

Referee: Mike Adamson
Assistant Referees: Kieth Allen, Joy Neville
TMO: Neil Paterson

Zebre 10-41 Scarlets

The champions continued their 100 percent start to the season with a comfortable bonus point win over Zebre in a rain drenched game in Italy.

Carlo Canna's penalty after three minutes initially put the Italians ahead but that was as good as it got. The Scarlets went on to score 41 unanswered points thanks to tries from Jonny McNicholl, Steff Evans, Aled Davies, Paul Asquith and Tadhg Beirne.

Zebre did have the last word, albeit a quiet one, when Mattia Bellini went over in the closing stages but the Welsh side emerged as comfortable victors.

The scorers:

For Zebre:
Try:
Bellini
Con: Canna
Pen: Canna

For Scarlets
Tries:
McNicholl, Evans, Asquith, Beirne, Davies
Cons: Patchell 5
Pens: Patchell 2

Zebre: 15 Ciaran Gaffney, 14 Giulio Bisegni, 13 Tommaso Boni, 12 Tommaso Castello (c), 11 Giovanni D'Onofrio, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Guglielmo Palazzani, 8 Giovanni Licata, 7 Johan Meyer, 6 Jacopo Sarto, 5 Valerio Bernabò, 4 David Sisi, 3 Dario Chistolini, 2 To,maso D'Apice, 1 Andrea Lovotti 
Replacements: 16 Oliviero Fabiani, 17 Andrea De Marchi, 18 Roberto Tenga, 19 George Biagi, 20 Derick Minnie. 21 Marcello Violi, 22 Serafin Bordoli, 23 Mattia Bellini

Scarlets: 15 Johnny McNicholl, 14 Tom Grabham, 13 Hadleigh Parkes, 12 Scott Williams, 11 Steff Evans, 10 Rhys Patchell, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 John Barclay (c), 7 Will Boyde, 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 Tadhg Beirne, 4 David Bulbring, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Ryan Elias 1 Rob Evans 
Replacements: 16 Emyr Phillips, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Werner Kruger, 19 Tom Price, 20 Josh Macleod, 21 Aled Davies, 22 Rhys Jones, 23 Paul Asquith

Referee: David Wilkinson