PRO14 wrap: Edinburgh, Glasgow and Cheetahs win

It was very much Scotland’s evening in the PRO14 as Edinburgh and Glasgow both won, while there was also a victory for the Cheetahs.

Connacht 22–29 Edinburgh
The Sportsground

A late Edinburgh rally saw the visitors make it six PRO14 wins in a row following a 29-22 victory at the Sportsground.

An enthralling first 40 saw Connacht take a 17-13 lead into the break. Within two minutes though, Edinburgh found the line for an early advantage. An attempted clearance was pounced upon by Dougie Fife who dove over in a lighting start, with the missed conversion from Jaco van der Walt leaving it at 5-0 to the Scots.

Van der Walt added three though soon after before Connacht cut the gap to a single point. Their first try arrived from Tiernan O’Halloran, who cut inside and letting Jack Carty adding the two. Four minutes later the second try arrived as the hosts turned a deficit into a lead. Having won the ball in deep, Tom Farrell finished a move off to make it 14-8.

Duhan van der Merwe cut that lead down though with the second Edinburgh try, his third in two weeks. Carty added three before the break, though, for a Connacht advantage.

Duncan Weir cut the lead back down to a single point 20 minutes into the second half with a penalty, but Connacht looked like they’d settled it with another try. Finlay Bealham went through from close range to restore some breathing space, but Edinburgh were to rally in the final 15 minutes. Another Weir penalty made it 22-19 in the favour of the hosts, and he went one better with a try with minutes to spare.

He charged down a kick and took it on himself to go through and put the visitors ahead. A final minute kick secured the win after a strong second half showing, Edinburgh making it six wins on the spin.

The scorers:

For Connacht:
Tries: O’Halloran, Farrell, Bealham
Cons: Carty 2
Pen: Carty

For Edinburgh:
Tries: Fife, van der Merwe, Weir
Con: Weir
Pens: van der Walt, Weir 3

Connacht: 15 Tiernan O’Halloran, 14 Niyi Adeolokun, 13 Eoin Griffin, 12 Tom Farrell, 11 Matt Healy, 10 Jack Carty, 9 Caolin Blade, 8 Sean O'Brien, 7 Jarrad Butler, 6 Eoin McKeon, 5 Quinn Roux, 4 Gavin Thornbury, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Tom McCartney (c), 1 Denis Buckley
Replacements: 16 Dave Heffernan, 17 Denis Coulson, 18 Dominic Robertson McCoy, 19 James Cannon, 20 Eoghan Masterson, 21 James Mitchell, 22 Craig Ronaldson, 23 Darragh Leader

Edinburgh: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Dougie Fife, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Chris Dean, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Jaco van der Walt, 9 Nathan Fowles, 8 Bill Mata, 7 John Hardie, 6 Magnus Bradbury, 5 Grant Gilchrist (c), 4 Ben Toolis, 3 Simon Berghan, 2 Neil Cochrane, 1 Darryl Marfo
Replacements: 16 Cameron Fenton, 17 Jordan Lay, 18 WP Nel, 19 Lewis Carmichael, 20 Cornell du Preez, 21 Sean Kennedy, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Phil Burleigh

Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: David Wilkinson (Ireland), Shane Kierans (Ireland)
TMO: Kevin Beggs (Ireland)

Glasgow 68–7 Zebre
Scotstoun

Against lowly Zebre, a Glasgow win was almost a guarantee – the question was by how many. 40 first-half points gave the indication that it would be a lot.

DTH van der Merwe got the ball rolling on his return as he finished in the corner, and the second try arrived a minute or two after. Ruaridh Jackson was found by Adam Hastings even though he wasn’t the intended target, and he found the line for a 14-0 advantage.

Warriors were well on top and they forced a penalty try and a yellow card to Carlo Canna for an off the ball challenge. Within half an hour the bonus point had arrived with a second for van der Merwe, cutting through a gap and sealing the extra point. But there was still time to add more to the first-half tally, with Henry Pyrgos and a second from Jackson condemning Zebre to a 40-0 gap.

A minute into the restart Lee Jones went down the wing to extend the lead, with Canna finding the line for the first and only Zebre points. Zander Fagerson restored the norm though with another Glasgow try, Callum Gibbins breaking the 60 point mark with a try on the hour.

The final try came with 15 minutes remaining from replacement Lelia Masaga, his first try for Warriors and the last points to arrive in the 68-7 demolition.

The scorers:

For Glasgow:
Tries: van der Merwe 2, Jackson 2, Pyrgos, Jones, Fagerson, Gibbins, Masaga, Penalty Try
Cons: Hastings 8

For Zebre:
Try: Canna
Con: Canna
Yellow Card: Canna

Glasgow: 15 Ruaridh Jackson, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Nick Grigg, 12 Sam Johnson, 11 DTH van der Merwe, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 Henry Pyrgos, 8 Matt Fagerson, 7 Callum Gibbins (c), 6 Rob Harley, 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Tim Swinson, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 George Turner, 1 Oli Kebble
Replacements: 16 Grant Stewart, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Siua Halanukonuka, 19 Kiran McDonald, 20 Chris Fusaro, 21 George Horne, 22 Peter Horne, 23 Lelia Masaga

Zebre: 15 Edoardo Padovani, 14 Gabriele Di Giulio, 13 Serafin Bordoli, 12 Faialaga Afamasaga, 11 Giovanbattista Venditti, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Guglielmo Palazzani (c), 8 James Tucker, 7 Johan Meyer, 6 Derick Minnie, 5 Leonard Krumov, 4 David Sisi, 3 Eduardo Bello, 2 Oliviero Fabiani, 1 Cruze Ah-Nau
Replacements: 16 Thomas D'Apice, 17 Andrea De Marchi, 18 Roberto Tenga, 19 Valerio Bernabò, 20 Jacopo Sarto, 21 Riccardo Raffaele, 22 Maicol Azzolini, 23 Rory Parata

Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)
Assistant referees: Ian Davies, Adam Jones (Wales)

Dragons 17–29 Cheetahs
Rodney Parade

It was an extremely tight first 40 with little in the way of try line action, with an early Dragons effort ruled out after a check by Nigel Owens. They didn’t have to wait long before being given the thumbs up though. Hallam Amos’ flick inside fell into the path of Ashton Hewitt who went through, Arwel Robson making it 7-0.

Niel Marais was quickly on hand to cut that down to four points with the first Cheetahs penalty of the night, but a drop-goal from Robson restored the seven-point lead. That was as good as the first-half got, with a 10-3 Dragons lead going into the second half.

Cheetahs burst out of the blocks in the restart though and inside a minute they were level. Sibahle Maxwane broke the defensive line, with Marais levelling at 10-10. Dragons were in pieces after that and they conceded another on 47 minutes. Fred Zeilinga got his body over and the conversion put Cheetahs ahead for the first time.

Things got worse for the Welsh side when the visitors broke following an attempted chip forward, Maxwane kicking clear of the defence for his second of the night and a 22-10 lead. Elliot Dee made it a nervy finale for Cheetahs with a second Dragons try of the night and a subsequent conversion, but Clayton Blommetijes cut the celebrations short making a break that condemned Dragons to a 29-17 defeat.

The scorers:

For Dragons:
Tries: Hewitt, Dee
Cons: Robson 2
Drop-goal: Robson

For Cheetahs:
Tries: Maxwane 2, Zeilinga, Blommetijes
Cons: Marais 2
Pen: Marais

Dragons: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Ashton Hewitt, 13 Sam Beard, 12 Connor Edwards, 11 Hallam Amos, 10 Arwel Robson, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Lewis Evans, 7 Aaron Wainwright, 6 Harrison Keddie, 5 Cory Hill (c), 4 Joe Davies, 3 Lloyd Fairbrother, 2 Elliot Dee, 1 Sam Hobbs
Replacements: 16 Ellis Shipp, 17 Gerard Ellis, 18 Dan Suter, 19 Max Williams, 20 Taine Basham, 21 Dan Babos, 22 Adam Warren, 23 Jared Rosser

Cheetahs: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 William Small-Smith, 13 Francois Venter (c), 12 Niel Marais, 11 Sibhale Maxano, 10 Fred Zeilinga, 9 Tian Meyer, 8 Uzair Cassiem, 7 Oupa Mohoje, 6 Paul Schoeman, 5 Reniel Hugo, 4 Justin Basson, 3 Johan Coetzee, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1 Ox Nche
Replacements: 16 Jacques du Toit, 17 Charles Marais, 18 Tom Botha, 19 Carl Wegner, 20 Henco Venter, 21 Zee Mkhabela, 22 Clinton Swart, 23 AJ Coertzen

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees: Ben Whitehouse, Mike English (Wales)
TMO: Jon Mason (Wales)