Saturday 10 February 2018 22:59, UK
Cardiff, Munster, Connacht, Edinburgh and Ulster all secured victories as the Guinness PRO14 resumed.
Cardiff kept alive their hopes of playing in the European Champions Cup next season with an excellent 25-20 victory over the third-placed Cheetahs in Guinness PRO14 Conference A.
Blues recovered from being 10 points down to pick up the win, which took them back up to fourth in the table - one point ahead of Connacht.
Rey Lee-Lo, Nick Williams and Ellis Jenkins scored tries for the hosts, with Jarrod Evans converting two and kicking two penalties.
Ox Nche and Uzair Cassiem scored Cheetahs' tries, with Fred Zeilinga adding two conversions and two penalties.
Ian Keatley came off the bench to steer Munster to a 33-5 Guinness PRO14 bonus-point win over Michael Bradley's Zebre at Thomond Park.
Keatley missed out on the reserve fly-half spot for the opening two rounds of Ireland's NatWest 6 Nations campaign, but his impressive cameo in Limerick will no doubt have been noted by national coach Joe Schmidt.
Munster, who had first-half tries from Sam Arnold and Brian Scott, were finding it tough going when Guglielmo Palazzani marked his 100th appearance for Zebre with a snappy 52nd-minute try, cutting the gap to 12-5.
However, the hosts were able to bring on the Ireland trio of Keatley, Rory Scannell and John Ryan, as well as South African debutant Gerbrandt Grobler, and unanswered scores from man of the match Robin Copeland (55), Scannell (57) and Arnold (73) wrapped up the points.
At the Sportsground, Connacht ensured that Allen Clarke's first Guinness PRO14 game in charge of the Ospreys ended in a 26-15 defeat.
Flanker Eoghan Masterson's try on the stroke of half-time gave Kieran Keane's men a 13-5 lead, as they looked to make it seven successive home wins in all competitions.
Apart from Dafydd Howells' well-taken 18th-minute try, Connacht's defence managed to frustrate Ospreys who had dominated first-half possession.
Ospreys coped well during Hanno Dirksen's sin-bin period, Sam Davies swapping penalties with Connacht's man of the match Craig Ronaldson, before tries at either end from Tom Farrell and Reuben Morgan-Williams. Ronaldson then sealed victory with his fourth penalty of the night.
Conference A leaders Glasgow were forced to settle for a 15-15 draw after being held scoreless in the second half by Dragons at Rodney Parade.
The Warriors made light of their lengthy list of Scotland absentees to dominate after the break in Newport but they were unable to crack their hosts, who are struggling at the wrong end of Conference B in the Guinness PRO14.
Glasgow led 15-5 in the first half thanks to tries by Brandon Thomson and George Horne but they took their eye off the ball against a home side boosted by the return of Wales full-back Hallam Amos, who set up wing Jared Rosser to add to the home side's opener from hooker Liam Belcher.
That saw the teams go into the interval level at 15-15, and that is the way the match finished as neither side could add to their respective tallies in the second period.
Mark Bennett scored a last-minute try to give Edinburgh a dramatic 29-24 win over Leinster at Myreside.
The match was poised at 22-24 before Bennett struck in the 79th minute and snatched victory away from the visiting outfit.
Leinster had held a narrow 19-17 lead at the break. Duhan Van Der Merwe moved Edinburgh back ahead approaching the 60-minute mark before Bary Daly struck four for the Irish province minutes later.
For the final score Bennett was on hand to collect a Jaco van der Walt kick and after a painful wait for confirmation, the try was given much to the delight of the home crowd.
At the Kingspan Stadium, Ulster were comfortable 59-10 victors over the Southern Kings and Joy Neville made history by becoming the first female official to referee a fixture in the tournament's history.
Jono Gibbes' maiden match in charge of the province saw them put nine tries on the board with Craig Gilroy securing a hat-trick and Rob Lyttle delivering a brace.
Scrum-half John Cooney finished his evening's work with seven successful conversions as Stuart McCloskey, Johnny McPhillips, Kieran Treadwell and Darren Cave all crossed.
The Southern Kings' only five-pointer was delivered by outside centre Berton Klaasen after 71 minutes.
