Edinburgh 29 – 24 Leinster
Leinster picked up two bonus points in their defeat to Edinburgh. You can read the full write-up here.
Ulster 59 – 10 Southern Kings
A Craig Gilroy hat-trick saw Ulster get a winning start under Jono Gibbes. It was Gilroy who opened the scoring with a try which was converted by John Cooney. Masixole Banda kicked a penalty for Kings, but the rest of the half belonged to Ulster with tries from Stuart McCloskey, and Gilroy, both converted by Cooney.
After the break Johnny McPhillips secured the bonus point. Cooney converted that and Rob Lyttles try 7 minutes later. Gilroy and Lyttle touched down again before Kings got their first try through Harlon Klaasen, which was converted by Benhard Janse van Rensburg. Ulster got two more tries through Kieran Treadwell and Darren Cave, both were converted by Cooney.
Munster 33 – 5 Zebre
Munster scored five tries on route to victory at Thomand Park. Munster led 12 – 0 at the break with tries from Sammy Arnold and Brian Scott, the 2nd of which was converted by JJ Hanrahan.
Guglielmo Palazzani got a try for Zebre in the second half. From there Munster got three more tries, Robin Copeland, Rory Scannell, and Sammy Arnold all touched down with Keatley converting each try.
Connacht 26 – 15 Ospreys
Connacht held off Ospreys to keep up the pressure on Cardiff Blues. Craig Ronaldson kicked two penalties either side of a Daydd Howells touch down. Connacht touched down at the end of the first half, Eoghan Masterson going over, Ronaldson converted.
Ospreys went down to 14 early in the second half, Hanno Dirksen was shown yellow. Ronaldson scored the resulting penalty. Sam Davies kicked a penalty for Ospreys, before Tom Farrell touched down, Ronaldson converted. Ospreys kept the pressure on, as Reuben Morgan-Williams got over with Davies converting. Ronaldson kicked a late penalty to ensure Ospreys wouldn’t even get a losing bonus point.
Benetton 22 – 12 Scarlets
Leinster top conference B because Scarlets couldn’t take anything from their game against Benetton. Two tries from Monty Ioane had the home-side 10 – 0 up at halftime.
Ioane got his 3rd after the break, Tito Tebaldi converted. Ospreys got on the board just after the hour-mark, Corey Baldwin got over, Dan Jones converted. The two teams exchanged tries with Marco Zanon and Tadhg Beirne teach touching down.
Dragons 15 – 15 Glasgow
Dragons came from behind to earn a draw against the conference A leaders. The Welsh side immediately took the lead with Liam Belcher touching down. Glasgow levelled things up with a try from Brandon Thomas. Adam Hastings kicked a penalty, then converted George Hornes try. Kirchner kicked a penalty, then kicked a conversion when Jared Rosser touched down late in the half.
That’d be it for the scoring as both sides picked up 2 points.
Cardiff Blues 25 – 20 Toyota Cheetahs
Cheetahs took the lead with a try from Ox Nche. Fred Zeilinga converted, then kicked a penalty. Rey Lee-Lo got Cardiff on the board in the 17th minute, Jarrod Evans converted. Rynier Bernardo was shown a yellow card for the Cheetahs, Ellis Jenkins got a try from the resulting play. Jarrod Evans kicked a penalty to close out the half, Cardiff led 15 - 10.
Cheetahs got the first score of the second half with a penalty from Zeilinga. Both sides scored a try within minutes of each other, Nick Williams touched down for Cardiff with Evans converting. Then Uzair Cassoen got over the line, Zeilinga converted. Evans sealed the win for Cardiff with a penalty.
Tables
Pos
|
Conference A
|
Pts
|
Wins
|
PD +/-
|
1
|
Glasgow Warriors
|
60
|
12
|
+215
|
2
|
Munster
|
48
|
9
|
+178
|
3
|
Toyota Cheetahs
|
41
|
8
|
+48
|
4
|
Cardiff Blues
|
29
|
6
|
-42
|
5
|
Connacht
|
28
|
5
|
-14
|
6
|
Ospreys
|
21
|
4
|
-127
|
7
|
Zebre
|
17
|
3
|
-124
|
Pos
|
Conference B
|
Pts
|
Wins
|
PD +/-
|
1
|
Leinster
|
53
|
11
|
+181
|
2
|
Scarlets
|
53
|
11
|
+153
|
3
|
Ulster
|
45
|
9
|
+58
|
4
|
Edinburgh
|
42
|
9
|
+61
|
5
|
Benetton
|
34
|
7
|
-30
|
6
|
Dragons
|
16
|
2
|
-205
|
7
|
Southern Kings
|
4
|
0
|
-352
|
Ciarán Duffy (@TheVoiceDepth) is a Leinster supporter and self-proclaimed ‘big cheese’ of Post To Post (@PostToPostSport). He’ll write about anything rugby under the condition he gets to take it too seriously.
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