Munster, Glasgow Warriors and Scarlets picked up PRO14 wins on Friday, defeating the Dragons, Leinster and Benetton Rugby.
Munster 49-6 Dragons
A dominant display from Munster saw them ease to a seven-try 49-6 victory over Dragons at Irish Independent Park.
Despite making 10 changes from last week's victory over Connacht, Munster were the better side from the off and grabbed the first try right on the 20 minute mark. It came as little surprise when Rory Scannell found the line following JJ Hanrahan's work in the build up, and the Munster fly-half's conversion swiftly followed.
Dragons' Angus O'Brien narrowed the gap back down to four almost immediately, making no mistake with his first effort at the sticks. They failed to really get a grip on the game however, and Munster's lead grew when Simon Zebo made his way over for a 14-3 advantage at the break.
O'Brien was on hand to send a second penalty through early in the second half, but it was Munster who again had the big impact with their third try. Jack O'Donoghue went through following a strong break from Robin Copeland, with the extras following for the 21-6 advantage. Dragons never really looked like getting back into the game and Darren Sweetnam took it even further from them with a fourth Munster try, Hanrahan converting.
Try number five came from Sam Arnold, adding the finishing touch after Hanrahan burst through the centre to perfectly set up the Munster replacement and add the two. The hosts were enjoying themselves and try six came when a line-out maul left Dragons clutching at shirts before they inevitably allowed the power of Munster through. Arnold got his second of the night as the clock ran down, Hanrahan continuing his 100 percent record for the evening for a seventh straight conversion.
Dragons' second 40 had undone all their promise of the first half, shedding five tries and adding just a single penalty to their tally as they fell to a hefty defeat.
The scorers:
For Munster:
Tries: Scannell, Zebo, O’Donoghue, Sweetnam, Arnold 2, O'Byrne
Cons: Hanrahan 7
For Dragons:
Pens: O'Brien 2
Munster: 15 Simon Zebo, 14 Darren Sweetnam, 13 Chris Farrell, 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Alex Wootton, 10 JJ Hanrahan, 9 Duncan Williams, 8 Robin Copeland, 7 Chris Cloete, 6 Jack O’Donoghue, 5 Billy Holland (c), 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Stephen Archer, 2 Rhys Marshall, 1 Liam O’Connor
Replacements: 16 Kevin O’Byrne, 17 James Cronin, 18 Brian Scott, 19 Darren O’Shea, 20 Mark Flanagan, 21 James Hart, 22 Ian Keatley, 23 Sam Arnold
Dragons: 15 Will Talbot-Davies, 14 Ashton Hewitt, 13 Adam Warren, 12 Jack Dixon, 11 Jared Rosser, 10 Angus O’Brien, 9 Charlie Davies, 8 James Sheekey, 7 James Benjamin, 6 Aaron Wainwright, 5 Rynard Landman, 4 Joe Davies, 3 Lloyd Fairbrother, 2 Gerard Ellis, 1 Thomas Davies
Replacements: 16 Liam Belcher, 17 Luke Garrett, 18 Brok Harris, 19 Scott Andrews, 20 Ben Roach, 21 Sarel Pretorius, 22 Arwel Robson, 23 Pat Howard
Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Keith Allen (Scotland), John Carvill (Ireland)
Glasgow Warriors 31-21 Leinster
Glasgow Warriors claimed a bonus-point victory over Leinster with a 31-21 win in an enthralling contest.
Hoping to bounce back from the demoralising defeat just a couple of weeks ago in the Champions Cup, it was an exhilarating start that saw Warriors put in a much better showing than they did against Leinster in their last meeting. But that only came after Leinster's opening try on four minutes. Jamison Gibson-Park got the ball rolling after some lovely footwork in the build up by Jordan Larmour, with Ross Byrne safely converting for the seven-point lead.
But Warriors fired back instantly and Niko Matawalu's offload led to George Horne grabbing his second in two games. Despite getting level immediately, they were soon behind for the second time. Rory O'Loughlin got number two following strong work in the pack, and Byrne again added two.
It was breathless for the entire first 40, and Warriors again fought back when Nick Grigg dotted over from five metres, although it was all thanks to Matawalu's quick feet that kept the move alive. Leinster were dealt a major blow when they lost Jordi Murphy found himself with a yellow to his name, penalised for a tackle from an offside position. And that swung the momentum Glasgow's way, as Horne got his second of the night. His side were pushing for the line and despite the best efforts of the 14 men, Horne snuck through – and the bonus point was secured moments later.
Despite not having any points to his name for the evening, Matawalu was the real difference maker and he went the length of the pitch to bamboozle the opposition, feeding Grigg right at the end for number four and a 28-14 lead. A Pete Horne penalty before the break saw Glasgow take in a deserved 31-14 half-time advantage.
Early in the second half Glasgow were given reason to worry, as they lost Scott Cummings to the sin-bin for disrupting a maul. And that prompted the third Leinster try of the evening. Adam Byrne narrowly managed to squeeze over the line before being forced into touch, with the TMO giving the all clear. Conversion followed, Leinster finding themselves well placed for a comeback at 31-21.
Having welcomed Cummings back, Warriors returned back to 14 men after a harsh yellow was shown to Alex Dunbar, Leinster continuing to cling onto hope. But that's all it was, with Glasgow seeing out the 10 point victory in an impressive showing.
The scorers:
For Glasgow:
Tries: G Horne 2, Grigg 2
Cons: P Horne 4
Pen: P Horne
For Leinster:
Tries: Gibson-Park, O'Loughlin, A Byrne
Cons: R Byrne 3
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Ruaridh Jackson, 14 Lelia Masaga, 13 Nick Grigg, 12 Sam Johnson, 11 Niko Matawalu, 10 Peter Horne, 9 George Horne, 8 Matt Fagerson, 7 Callum Gibbins (c), 6 Rob Harley, 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Tim Swinson, 3 D’Arcy Rae, 2 George Turner, 1 Jamie Bhatti
Replacements: 16 Pat MacArthur, 17 Alex Allan, 18 Adam Nicol, 19 Lewis Wynne, 20 Matt Smith, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Alex Dunbar, 23 Leonardo Sarto
Leinster: 15 Jordan Larmour, 14 Adam Byrne, 13 Rory O’Loughlin, 12 Conor O’Brien, 11 Dave Kearney, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Max Deegan, 7 Jordi Murphy, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Mick Kearney, 4 Ross Molony (c), 3 Michael Bent, 2 Seán Cronin, 1 Ed Byrne
Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Peter Dooley, 18 Andrew Porter, 19 Josh Murphy, 20 Dan Leavy, 21 Nick McCarthy, 22 Cathal Marsh, 23 Hugo Keenan
Referee: Stuart Berry (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Sam Grove-White (Scotland), Lloyd Linton (Scotland)
TMO: Jim Yuille
Scarlets 20-8 Benetton
Scarlets were made to work for the win, but a try in each half saw the reigning PRO14 champions claim a 20-8 victory.
Last season saw Scarlets ease to a 51-4 victory over Treviso, but they knew they could be up against a stronger side this time around with the Italian side boasting three wins so far this campaign.
It only took a couple of minutes for Scarlets to trouble the scoreboard, with a Dan Jones kick coming after his side tease their way towards the Treviso try line. And the lead grew after a terrible attempt at a catch from Cherif Traore. A standard kick looked to be easily claimed, only for Traore to knock on, allow the scrum and subsequently see Jones go through and convert. 10-0 was the lead for Scarlets and the Italians looked in a world of trouble.
Ian McKinley narrowed the gap down to seven though with his first penalty of the night, only for another three from the boot of Jones to send the reigning champions into the break with a 13-3 lead.
The visitors narrowed that three minutes into the second half when McKinley went through for a wonderful solo effort. Coming from a line-out, he skipped past two challenges to go through the hosts backline and get Treviso right back into the game.
Scarlets always looked the more likely to add to the scoreline next, and even more so when Andrea Bronzin was shown yellow for a knock on. The hosts could eventually breath a little easier with 10 minutes remaining when they got their second try of the night. Jones kick through was claimed by Scott Williams, who gathered and dived over to calm home nerves.
The scorers:
For Scarlets:
Tries: D Jones, Williams
Cons: D Jones 2
Pens: D Jones 2
For Benetton:
Try: McKinley
Pen: McKinley
Scarlets: 15 Johnny McNicholl, 14 Tom Prydie, 13 Hadleigh Parkes, 12 Scott Williams (c), 11 Paul Asquith, 10 Dan Jones, 9 Jonathan Evans, 8 John Barclay, 7 Will Boyde, 6 Tadhg Beirne, 5 David Bulbring, 4 Lewis Rawlins, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Dylan Evans
Replacements: 16 Taylor Davies, 17 Rhys Fawcett, 18 Simon Gardiner, 19 Tom Price, 20 Josh Macleod, 21 Declan Smith, 22 Rhys Jones, 23 Steff Hughes
Benetton: 15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Angelo Esposito, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Ignacio Brex, 11 Andrea Bronzini, 10 Ian McKinley, 9 Giorgio Bronzini, 8 Robert Barbieri (c), 7 Nasi Manu, 6 Whetu Douglas, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Alessandro Zanni, 3 Tiziano Pasquali, 2 Tomas Baravalle, 1 Cherif Traore
Replacements: 16 Federico Zani, 17 Alberto De Marchi, 18 Filippo Filippetto, 19 Marco Lazzaroni, 20 Sebastian Negri, 21 Edoardo Gori, 22 Alberto Sgarbi, 23 Luca Sperandio
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Joy Neville (Ireland), Justin Williams (Ireland)
TMO: Tim Hayes (Wales)
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