PRO14: Wins for Zebre and Leinster
Saturday 2 December 2017 19:18, UK
Zebre stunned Connacht with a 24-10 win in Parma while Leinster saw off Benetton in Treviso.
Zebre 24-10 Connacht
Zebre closed the gap on opponents Connacht with a 24-10 victory in their Conference A Guinness PRO14 clash in Parma.
Two penalties from Carlo Canna gave Zebre a 6-0 half-time lead, the latter coming after the Italians had seen a try ruled out by the TMO.
Connacht were back in it early in the second half when Tom Farrell made the most of a mistake in the home defence and raced over to score. Steve Crosbie landed the conversion to put the Irish side 7-6 ahead.
Another penalty from Canna put Zebre back in front but their lead did not last long as a penalty from Jack Carty - on for the injured Crosbie - made it 10-9 to Connacht.
The Italians restored their advantage with a try from Johan Meyer which was converted by Canna to give them a 16-10 lead and added a Canna drop-goal and a try from Giamba Venditti to ease to victory.
Benetton 10-36 Leinster
Leinster secured a comfortable 36-10 Guinness PRO14 victory against Benetton in Treviso. New Zealander James Lowe had a debut to remember, the winger scoring two of the visitors' five tries.
Tommaso Allan's early penalty gave Benetton the lead but there was no looking back for Leinster after Lowe claimed his first try in the 16th minute.
Jordi Murphy crossed after 31 minutes following good work by Garry Ringrose, and the boot of Ross Byrne gave the Irish province a 17-3 interval lead.
Benetton had their best spell of the match after the break and centre Juan Igancio Brex ploughed over for a try which Allan converted.
But Luke McGrath's break soon set up Ringrose for a third Leinster try.
Benetton suffered another blow as Brex had a 10-minute spell in the sin-bin for high tackle on Scott Fardy. Leinster made the most of their one-man advantage as McGrath produced a tidy finish for the bonus-point try.
Lowe's second try rounded off the victory, with Benetton still down to 14 men. The wing took Neil Reid's pass and stepped around his marker, with Byrne adding the conversion for a personal 11-point haul.
