PRO 12 OVERVIEW
EDINBURGH 37-0 ZEBRE
IMPORTANT 5 POINTS
IN EDINBURGH'S PUSH FOR CHAMPIONS CUP
A brace of tries from flanker Roddy Grant helped Edinburgh
secure a crucial bonus-point Pro12 triumph over last-placed Zebre at
Murrayfield.
Dougie Fife, Ross Ford and Stuart McInally also crossed for
the hosts as they bludgeoned the ill-disciplined Italians into submission up
front.
Edinburgh began to establish the physical dominance that
would characterise their victory, the pack's punishing drive allowing open-side
Grant to dive over.
Sam Hidalgo-Clyne converted, and added a penalty with a
quarter of the match gone as tight-head Chistolini hinged and buckled under
pressure from Al Dickinson in the scrum.
The scrum-half probed a delightful box kick in behind the
Zebre cover defence to lay the platform for the hosts' second try. Anton
Bresler stole the line-out five metres from the Italian line, and smart
handling from Grant in midfield allowed Sam Beard to provide Fife with the
easiest of finishes.
Hidalgo-Clyne converted again, and as the Edinburgh
front-row continued to pulverise their counterparts in the tight, referee
Leighton Hodges sent Chistolini packing for a 10-minute spell on the touchline.
From the resultant Edinburgh line-out, Ben Toolis was hauled
down in the air, allowing Hidalgo-Clyne to strike from the tee again,
stretching the home lead to 20 points, and Toniolatti was shown a yellow card
before the interval for, in the words of Hodges, "interfering" with
the airborne Tim Visser's descent while contesting a high ball.
Edinburgh's scrum supremacy continued in the second half, as
further set-piece penalties yielded a third Zebre sin-binning, this time
loose-head Aguero seeing the flash of Hodges' yellow.
And they scored a well-worked third try from a close-range
line-out move clearly honed on the Murrayfield training pitches, as Dickinson
received the ball, spun and fed McInally, who sent Ford rumbling over in the
corner.
Hidalgo-Clyne missed the conversion, but all-action Grant
bagged his second, and vitally, Edinburgh's fourth, from another fearsome 22m
maul, the scrum-half bisecting the posts on this occasion.
ULSTER 26-10 LEINSTER
ULSTER WIN SECURES
PLAY OFF SEMI
It had all started so well for Leinster as they pushed deep
into Ulster territory and benefitted from an early penalty strike from Jimmy
Gopperth.
After six minutes, things got even better for the visitors
as they sought to rescue their already fragile-looking play-off hopes, when
Te'o smashed through some weak tackling to score. Gopperth added the extras and
Leinster were 10-0 up and looking comfortable.
Ulster needed to respond and they got over the line with
Henderson. Ruan Pienaar converted his 12th-minute effort and then added a
penalty shortly afterwards to tie the scores.
There then followed a moment of controversy after Henderson
was tip-tackled by Sean O'Brien with referee John Lacey and the television
match official opting for a yellow card for the Ireland flanker instead of the
red one the home crowed were baying for.
Ulster, though, failed to score during O'Brien's absence, but
did take the lead just before half-time through another Pienaar penalty.
Midway through the second half, Rob Kearney was sin-binned,
giving Pienaar a 63rd-minute penalty which he duly slotted to stretch the lead
to 16-10.
Three minutes later the South African nailed a monster
effort from just inside Leinster's half and the home side now had a nine-point
lead.
Leinster's dismal night was completed with eight minutes
remaining when a huge Ulster power play off a scrum on Leinster's line
ultimately saw Gilroy dance through for his 11th Pro12 try of the season.
Pienaar converted to make it 26-10 and the game ended with
14-man Ulster - replacement prop Andy Warwick had been binned - defending their
line as if their lives depended on it.
CONNACHT 13-31 GLASGOW
GLASGOW WIN KEEPS
THEM ON TOP
However, Connacht's early promise then began to be
undermined by a series of set-piece errors.
After a line-out over-throw from Tom McCartney, the home
side were then punished following a botched scrum as Fijian Matawalu ran in his
first try after a brilliant one-handed off-load from Fraser Brown.
Following Finn Russell's conversion miss, Carty had two
glorious penalty chances to extend but was badly off-target.
Connacht's failure to put more points on the board was
emphasised when the Scots stung them with two opportunist tries in the three
minutes before half-time.
A series of missed tackles allowed Seymour to sail through
midfield and his pass put Hogg over to the right of the posts.
Russell converted and also added the extras to Glasgow's
third touchdown which saw Matawalu intercept Henshaw's attempted pass as
Connacht tried to counter from deep in injury-time.
Seymour's 47th-minute sin-binning for a ruck offence gave
Connacht the chance to produce pressure and a series of attacks eventually
yielded Muldowney's try as he reached to score.
Carty's conversion cut the margin to 19-13 but his horrible
penalty miss from in front of the posts on the hour seemed to knock the
stuffing out of Connacht.
Despite having flanker Chris Fusaro in the sin-bin, Glasgow
secured the bonus point on 68 minutes as replacement Josh Strauss's break set
up a simple finish for Ashe.
Glasgow's clinical display was wrapped up five minutes later
as Seymour scored in the corner after some slick passing.
BLUES 23-31 OSPREYS
OSPREYS WIN TO HELP
EUROPEAN PROSPECTS
Anscombe was the first to make an impression, slotting over
two penalties as Blues dominated the early exchanges.
They benefited from an uncharacteristically sloppy start
from Ospreys, whose handling errors denied them a try as a Josh Matavesi
knock-on meant Dan Baker's effort was disallowed.
Blues were also left rueing their own mistakes when Tom
Isaacs failed to gather from a promising position after Rhys Patchell's
piercing run.
That proved to be costly as Ospreys produced a classy
passage of play to score the opening try five minutes before the break.
After a neat exchange of passes between Biggar and Rhys
Webb, loose-head prop Nicky Smith shoved Joaquin Tuculet out of the way before
deftly offloading for Evans to touch down in the corner.
Their second try was similarly impressive, set up by a
barnstorming break by captain Alun Wyn Jones, whose offload allowed Biggar to
scamper over from 20 yards.
Momentum was well and truly with Ospreys at this point and
they made it pay as swift hands from their backline set up Grabham to cross for
their third score.
There was a nervy moment for the former Pro12 champions when
Navidi swatted away a limp tackle from Scott Baldwin to score the Blues' first
try.
Any hopes of a comeback were soon extinguished, however, as
Ospreys moved into a commanding 31-16 lead with Biggar's penalty and an
excellent team move culminating in John's try.
Blues replacement Fish intercepted and ran the length of the
field to score with the last play of the game, but victory was already assured
for Ospreys
MUNSTER 30-19 TREVISO
MUNSTER BONUS POINT WIN
TO GIVE HOME SEMI FINAL SHOT
Ian Keatley kicked Munster into a fourth-minute lead which
was extended five minutes later as Zebo barged his way over after concerted
pressure.
Stander powered his way over for another try in the 18th
minute before Luamanu opened Treviso's account as he finished off a rolling
maul.
Jayden Hayward's successful conversion cut Munster's lead to
13-7 but the home side were back in control a minute before the interval as
impressive flanker O'Donnell brushed past some weak tackling to score following
a line-out move.
Keatley's conversion left Munster 20-7 ahead at the interval
but Treviso hit back straight after the resumption after wing Pratichetti
completing a flowing move.
Munster's penalty try on 67 minutes clinched the bonus point
although Ragusi had the final scoring say as he dummied to score another fine
Treviso try six minutes from time.
DRAGONS10-29 SCARLETS
SCARLETS WIN PUTS
THEM IN EUROPEAN SPOT
Inside centre Jack Dixon carried powerfully and, although
his offload to Morgan looked close to being forward, his midfield partner sped
over to touch down.
With that try coming between a penalty apiece for both
sides, Dragons led 10-3 as the first half neared its end.
But the game was turned on its head as Scarlets scored 14
points in five scintillating minutes.
Wales hooker Owens sparked the purple patch as he barged
over from close range, albeit with referee George Clancy seemingly impeding
some of the Dragons' would-be tacklers.
If their first try was fortuitous, Scarlets' second was pure
brilliance.
Full-back Liam Williams chipped over an on-rushing defence
inside his own half, gathered smartly before arrowing towards the Dragons' line
and offloading to his namesake Scott, who cantered over for a slick score.
Scarlets began the second half as they ended the first, Liam
Williams turning from architect to finisher as he weaved his way past some meek
Dragons tackling for the west Wales region's third try.
A Rhys Priestland penalty extended their lead to 24-10.
And, with a little over 20 minutes left, the fly-half fed
wing Robinson to cross in the corner for the bonus point try.
No comments:
Post a Comment