Dragons win, maximums for Connacht and Munster
Connacht kicked off Sunday’s PRO14 action with a maximum at the Kings before Munster did likewise at Zebre and the Dragons saw off Edinburgh.
Southern Kings 14-31 Connacht
Connacht proved too good for the Kings at Madibaz Stadium on Sunday as they ran in four tries to win 31-14 against the South African side.
A penalty try and crossings from Cian Kelleher, Matt Healy and Paul Boyle saw the Irish province to a bonus-point success on their travels.
In reply, Masixole Banda and Ntabeni Dukisa scored for the Port Elizabeth side, who suffered an eighth defeat of the PRO14 campaign thus far.
Connacht started well and scored on 11 minutes as Jack Carty’s cross-kick found Kelleher for the try, Carty adding to his penalty for 10-0.
But the Kings struck back through full-back Banda, who stepped inside Tom Farrell from 10 metres out to stroll in under the posts for 10-7.
Connacht though then turned the screw at scrum time and after Lupumlo Mguca was sent to the sin-bin, a penalty try soon following for 17-7. Healy would also cross before the half-time break as the Irish outfit went into the dressing rooms holding a healthy 24-7 lead on the road.
On 50 minutes a powerful run from Mguca saw the ball recycled and Andries van Schalkwyk put in fellow replacement Dukisa for a try. That made it 24-14 to Connacht but they soon responded as scrum-half Caolin Blade sent Boyle over for the bonus-point that sealed victory.
The scorers:
For Kings:
Tries: Banda, Dukisa
Cons: Banda 2
Yellow Card: Mguca
For Connacht:
Tries: Kelleher, Penalty try, Healy, Boyle
Cons: Carty 2, Horwitz
Pen: Carty
Southern Kings: 15 Masixole Banda, 14 Michael Makase, 13 Harlon Klaasen, 12 Berton Klaasen, 11 Yaw Penxe, 10 Martin Du Toit, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Ruaan Lerm, 7 Jurie van Vuuren, 6 Cyril-John Velleman, 5 JC Astle (c), 4 Stephan Greeff, 3 Nicolaas Oosthuizen, 2 Alandre van Rooyen, 1 Lupumlo Mguca
Replacements: 16 Tango Balekile, 17 Alulutho Tshakweni, 18 Luvuyo Pupuma, 19 Andries van Schalkwyk, 20 Martinus Burger, 21 Godlen Masimla, 22 Ntabeni Dukisa, 23 Tertius Kruger
Connacht: 15 Tiernan O’Halloran, 14 Cian Kelleher, 13 Kyle Godwin, 12 Tom Farrell, 11 Matt Healy, 10 Jack Carty, 9 Caolin Blade, 8 Jarrad Butler (c), 7 Colby Fainga’a, 6 Sean O’Brien, 5 James Cannon, 4 Ultan Dillane, 3 Conor Carey, 2 Shane Delahunt, 1 Denis Buckley
Replacements: 16 Tom McCartney, 17 Peter McCabe, 18 Dominic Robertson McCoy, 19 Gavin Thornbury, 20 Paul Boyle, 21 James Mitchell, 22 David Horwitz, 23 Darragh Leader
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Paul Mente (South Africa), Ruhan Meiring (South Africa)
TMO: Sean Veldsman (South Africa)
Zebre 7-32 Munster
Munster cut the gap on pacesetters Glasgow Warriors back down to eight points as they overcame Zebre 32-7 at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi.
Scores from Fineen Wycherley, Kevin O’Byrne, Ronan O’Mahony and Rory Scannell saw them seal the maximum in Parma in a hard-fought win.
Munster led 17-0 at the break in a positive opening 40 minutes that saw Wycherley power under the posts and hooker O’Byrne also cross. Bill Johnston, who was a late replacement for JJ Hanrahan at 10, fired over both conversions and also a penalty goal on the stroke of half-time.
It was Zebre, to their credit, who scored first in the second-half, with substitute Renato Giammarioli going over to bring them back to within 10.
But Munster responded well as a wing O’Mahony’s try and a late score from centre Scannell saw them come away with the full five points.
The scorers:
For Zebre:
Try: Giammarioli
Con: Brummer
For Munster:
Tries: Wycherley, O’Byrne, O’Mahony, Scannell
Cons: Johnston 2, Scannell
Pens: Johnston, Scannell
Zebre: 15 Gabriele Di Giulio, 14 Paula Balekana, 13 Giulio Bisegni, 12 Tommaso Boni, 11 Jamie Elliott, 10 Francois Brummer, 9 Riccardo Raffaele, 8 Giovanni Licata, 7 Maxime Mbandà, 6 Jimmy Tuivaiti, 5 David Sisi (c), 4 Leonard Krumov, 3 Dario Chistolini, 2 Massimo Ceciliani, 1 Cruze Ah-Nau
Replacements: 16 Oliviero Fabiani, 17 Daniele Rimpelli, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 George Biagi, 20 Renato Giammarioli, 21 Josh Renton, 22 Carlo Canna, 23 Giovanbattista Venditti
Munster: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Ronan O’Mahony, 13 Rory Scannell, 12 Tyler Bleyendaal (c), 11 Alex Wootton, 10 Bill Johnston, 9 Neil Cronin, 8 Arno Botha, 7 Chris Cloete, 6 Gavin Coombes, 5 Darren O’Shea, 4 Fineen Wycherley, 3 Stephen Archer, 2 Kevin O’Byrne, 1 Jeremy Loughman
Replacements: 16 Mike Sherry, 17 Brian Scott, 18 Ciaran Parker, 19 Sean O’Connor, 20 Conor Oliver, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Jaco Taute, 23 Chris Farrell
Referee: Sam Grove-White (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Fin Brown (Scotland), Matteo Liperini (Italy)
TMO: Dave Pearson (Scotland)
Dragons 18-12 Edinburgh
The Dragons picked up only their third triumph of the PRO14 season as they beat Edinburgh 18-12 in a hard-fought victory at Rodney Parade.
This win lifts them off the foot of Conference B, above the Southern Kings, while Edinburgh are now 17 points behind pace-setters Leinster.
Dragons went ahead in the 10th minute thanks to a penalty from former Edinburgh fly-half Jason Tovey and when wing Jared Rosser raced down the right for a try, the Welsh region were leading 10-0 with 26 minutes played. Dougie Fife hit back in the 40th minute to make it 10-5.
Rosser doubled his tally in the 55th minute for a 15-5 lead and despite missing the conversion, Tovey would slot a penalty 10 minutes later.
But back came Edinburgh with a try from Darcy Graham, after TMO approval, Jaco van der Walt’s extras setting up a nervous finish at 18-12.
Dragons though held on despite a late onslaught from the Scots as they pick up a crucial victory to relieve the pressure on Bernard Jackman.
The scorers:
For Dragons:
Tries: Rosser 2
Con: Tovey
Pens: Tovey 2
For Edinburgh:
Tries: Fife, Graham
Con: Van der Walt
Dragons: 15 Jordan Williams, 14 Jared Rosser, 13 Tyler Morgan, 12 Jarryd Sage, 11 Hallam Amos, 10 Jason Tovey, 9 Rhodri Williams, 8 Ollie Griffiths, 7 Nic Cudd, 6 Harrison Keddie, 5 Lewis Evans, 4 Rynard Landman, 3 Lloyd Fairbrother, 2 Richard Hibbard (c), 1 Ryan Bevington
Replacements: 16 Rhys Lawrence, 17 Aaron Jarvis, 18 Leon Brown, 19 Brandon Nansen, 20 James Benjamin, 21 Rhodri Davies, 22 Arwel Robson, 23 Adam Warren
Edinburgh: 15 Dougie Fife, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 James Johnstone, 12 Chris Dean, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Simon Hickey, 9 Henry Pyrgos (c), 8 Luke Hamilton, 7 Ally Miller, 6 Ben Toolis, 5 Callum Hunter-Hill, 4 James Hodgson, 3 Pietro Ceccarelli, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Replacements: 16 David Cherry, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Callum Atkinson, 20 Lewis Wynne, 21 Sean Kennedy, 22 Jaco van der Walt, 23 Juan Pablo Socino
Referee: Stuart Berry (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Adam Jones (Wales), Wayne Davies (Wales)
TMO: Sean Brickell (Wales)