Saturday 1 December 2018 19:56, UK
Catch up on all of Saturday's Guinness PRO14 action as Ulster, Connacht, Leinster, Glasgow and Benetton recorded wins...
John Cooney marked his return from international duty by kicking 11 points in Ulster's 16-12 Guinness PRO14 victory over Cardiff Blues at the Kingspan Stadium.
Though being outscored two tries to one by the Blues and trailing 12-10 at half-time, the Irish province ground this result out with returning Ireland stars Rory Best and Jacob Stockdale playing prominent roles after coming off the bench in the second half.
All the tries came in the opening half with the Blues - who have not won in Belfast since 2010 - getting both Matthew Morgan and Kris Dacey over the line, while Ulster's sole touchdown came from lock Kieran Treadwell.
The only scores in the second half came from two Cooney penalties.
The four points gives Ulster the ideal response to last weekend's defeat at Scarlets, who they now meet in the back-to-back Champions Cup rounds.
The Blues - who lost lock Seb Davies to the bin at a critical point in the second half - take a losing bonus point from Belfast as they prepare for their two European clashes with Saracens.
Tom Farrell and Gavin Thornbury scored tries as Connacht secured a third successive Guinness PRO14 victory with a 21-17 win over Cheetahs.
Malcolm Jaer, Joseph Dweba and Shaun Venter crossed for the South African side, but they slipped to a seventh defeat in 10 games.
Farrell beat Jaer to go in for the game's first try after just six minutes and Jack Carty added the extras.
Carty added a penalty before Thornbury put the finishing touches onto a rolling maul to give the Irish province a 15-0 advantage.
Cheetahs bounced back with two tries in the space of five minutes from Jaer and Dweba.
David Horwitz kicked two penalties to extend the Connacht lead before Venter went in and Tian Schoeman converted for the hosts.
Leinster secured their ninth win from 10 Guinness PRO14 Conference B games this season by hammering the Dragons 59-10.
Wing Dave Kearney and centre Jimmy O'Brien both grabbed two of their side's nine tries, with the others coming via flanker Scott Penny, captain and lock Scott Fardy, No 8 Caerlan Doris, full-back Hugo Keenan and replacement
hooker Bryan Byrne.
Fly-half Ross Byrne kicked five conversions and replacement Ciaran Frawley added two more against the hosts, who got a solitary second-half try from scrum-half Rhodri Williams, with fly-half Jason Tovey converting and kicking a penalty.
Glasgow Warriors beat Scarlets 29-20 despite losing prop Alex Allan to a red card in the first half of their Guinness PRO14 clash at Scotstoun.
A try by Glasgow fly-half Brandon Thomson plus the conversion and two penalties by the same player against a Rhys Patchell penalty saw Warriors lead 13-3 at half-time.
In the second half Scarlets touched down through Jonathan Davies, Steff Evans and Clayton Blommetjies, which Patchell converted.
But they were always trailing Glasgow - who remain out in front in Conference A - for whom Thomson went on to kick three penalties plus the conversion of Nick Grigg's try.
Italian outfit Benetton registered a 22-19 win over the Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth, resisting a second-half fightback from the South Africans.
A first-half hat-trick from hooker Hame Faiva and one conversion from Ian McKinley had the visitors 17-7 up at the break; Tertius Kruger scoring the Kings' first-half effort.
Wing Monty Ioane wrapped up the bonus point for Benetton 10 minutes into the second period with an acrobatic finish following a Tommaso Iannone grubber kick.
At 22-7 down, the Kings responded with an effort from Luvuyo Pupuma and a second try for Kruger, but it was not enough.
