05-01-14 PRO 12 RESULTS AND TABLE

LEINSTER 24-11 ULSTER

LEINSTER GET THEMSELVES BACK INTO STRONG POSITION IN THE LEAGUE

Two Ruan Pienaar penalties helped Ulster lead 6-3 in the first half as they looked more threatening in attack.

But Ulster indiscipline allowed Madigan to kick Leinster into a 9-6 lead by the interval as Dan Tuohy was sin-binned.

With Tuohy still absent, Madigan scored a cheeky try after his tap penalty and despite Wiehahn Herbst's reply, Jack Conan's late try sealed Leinster's win

Ulster looked the more dangerous side with ball in hand for the opening half hour but Leinster controlled the remainder of the contest as they clinically punished a number of Ulster errors.

Leinster's win means the champions leapfrog Ulster into one of the play-off places in the Pro12 table and was their fifth straight win over their Irish provincial rivals.

With Tuohy absent, Leinster sensed their opportunity after the resumption and Zane Kirchner was held up just short of the Ulster line before Craig Gilroy's offside led to a penalty.

After turning down the certain three points, Madigan set up to kick for the corner but instead brushed past Roger Wilson and Callum Black to score as the Ulster defence was caught napping by his tap penalty.

Madigan's conversion increased Leinster's lead to 16-6 and while prop Herbst burrowed his way over for an Ulster try five minutes later, Pienaar failed to add the extras and later missed another penalty which would have kept the visitors in touch.

SCARLET'S 22-10 OSPREYS

SCARLETS SURPRISE TOP OF THE TREE OSPREYS

Liam Williams' well-worked try and three Rhys Priestland penalties gave the hosts a 14-3 half-time lead.

John Barclay's fine team try after the restart and another Priestland penalty extended their advantage to 22-3.

Dan Evans wrestled his way over to give Ospreys hope, but Scarlets held firm to end a run of five successive defeats against their West Walian rivals.

Victory was richly deserved for Scarlets, who overpowered Pro12 leaders Ospreys up front and outmanoeuvred them behind the scrum with a sharp attacking display.

Ospreys were dealt a blow shortly before kick-off when Wales scrum-half Rhys Webb was ruled out with illness and replaced by Martin Roberts.

With that late alteration and Aisea Natoga coming in for injured wing Eli Walker, Ospreys made two changes from the team that beat Scarlets 17-15 the previous weekend.

A powerful scrum was the basis of the Scarlets' domination and, unlike their error-strewn display the previous week, the accuracy and guile of their backs gave their attacking play a cutting edge which had been missing at the Liberty Stadium.

Ospreys were way below their best, though they did give themselves hope of a comeback when full-back Evans wriggled his way over for a try despite the close attention of two Scarlets tacklers.

TREVISO 17-15 ZEBRE

TREVISO WIN ALL ITALIAN CLASH

Treviso won this bottom of the table clash

EDINBURGH 20-8 GLASGOW

RUSSEL KILL GLASGOW HOPE

Finn Russell nudged Warriors in front but two tries by Tim Visser and the kicking of Sam Hidalgo-Clyne gave Edinburgh a 20-3 half-time lead.

Niko Matawalu gave Glasgow hope with a solo try just after the break.

But Edinburgh stifled Warriors' comeback for a 26-24 aggregate WINover their inter-city rivals.

In front of a crowd of 15,810 - a record for Edinburgh in the Pro12 - it was a meeting of differing strategies deployed by the respective coaches in response to Glasgow's 16-6 lead following the first leg at Scotstoun.

Edinburgh's Alan Solomons, whose side started the evening ninth in the Pro12 table, made light of the possibility of FATIGUE by making only two changes despite the six-day turnaround.

Glasgow soon settled though and after advancing into the opposition half, Russell kicked them ahead with a penalty after 11 minutes.

Edinburgh responded well with a fine rolling maul but a couple of handling errors saw them leave the Glasgow line empty handed.

However they finally levelled the scores through a monster penalty from Hidalgo-Clyne.

That gave Edinburgh heart and, after dominating a series of set-pieces, Hidalgo-Clyne was presented with a more simple kick to put the home side in front after 26 minutes.

The lead was extended further after a fine Greg Tonks pass presented Visser, on his return to the side, with the opportunity to dive over the line, with Hidalgo-Clyne adding the conversion.

Glasgow tried to respond, but Peter Horne's loose pass was intercepted by Visser, who sped 70 yards from his own half to score under the posts and give Hidalgo-Clyne a simple conversion.

Matawalu manufactured a response shortly after the break by managing to beat Jack Cuthbert to his own kick through.

However, despite failing to add to their score in the second half, Edinburgh held on to become deserved winners of the 1872 Cup and move up two places in the Pro12 table.

DRAGONS 9-11 BLUES

ALLEN ALLOWS BLUES TO WIN DISAPPOINTING MATCH

A Tom Prydie penalty gave Dragons an early lead before Blues centre Cory Allen crashed over for the only try as the visitors led 5-3 at half time.

Gareth Anscombe's drop-goal made it 8-3, before two more Prydie penalties edged the Dragons in front.

But in the 68th minute Anscombe's penalty sealed victory for Blues.

Cardiff Blues now move up to eighth in the Pro12, five points above Dragons in 10th.

CONNACHT 24-16 MUNSTER

CONNACT ARE THE TEAM OF THE YEAR THIS YEAR SO FAR

Ian Keatley, the former Connacht fly-half, used his knowledge of the famed Sportsground wind to help Munster to a 13-0 lead by the quarter-hour mark.

He converted after O'Mahony had powered over for his try and kicked two penalties in difficult conditions.

Then, a superbly engineered try by Marmion - started and converted by Ronaldson - got Connacht back in touch.

Keatley's third successful penalty made it 16-7 to the visitors at half-time, only for wind-backed Connacht to respond with 17 unanswered points in the third quarter.

Well-worked tries from fly-half Ronaldson and lock Muldowney were both converted by Darragh Leader, with Ronaldson's replacement Miah Nikora landing a 55th-minute penalty.

2015 TABLE

POSITION	TEAM	PLAYED	POINTS
1	OSPREYS	12	40
2	GLASGOW	12	39
3	MUNSTER	12	37
4	LEINSTER	12	36
5	ULSTER	12	35
6	CONNACHT	12	32
7	SCARLETS	12	28
8	EDINBURGH	12	24
9	BLUES	12	22
10	DRAGONS	12	17
11	TREVISO	12	12
12	ZEBRE	12	10