Glasgow Warriors consolidated their place on top of the PRO14’s Conference A, while there were also wins for Connacht and Edinburgh on Friday.
Edinburgh 37-21 Cheetahs
Murrayfield
Edinburgh survived a scare to see off the Cheetahs 37-21 after leading 20-7 at half-time.
The hosts headed into the match off the back of a narrow victory over Benetton, while the Cheetahs came in hungry for victory after a narrow defeat to Cardiff Blues.
It was Edinburgh who got out of the blocks quickest. After two early penalties from Simon Hickey, they scored the first try of the game 20 minutes in, with Ben Toolis stretching over after a lengthy spell of pressure.
However, 15 minutes later, the Cheetahs hit back, with a scintillating break from Rabz Maxwane leading to a try from Nico Lee.
Edinburgh responded immediately afterwards and had the last laugh before the break, showing brilliant hands in the build-up to a try from Darcy Graham on the stroke of half-time.
However, the South African outfit came out all guns blazing in the second half, with Maxwane leading the charge.
The winger scored two tries in quick succession in the first 10 minutes after the restart, with Tian Schoeman’s conversions putting the Cheetahs in front. The lead lasted only three minutes, however, with Hickey’s penalty tipping the tables once more.
In the 65th minute, Edinburgh gave themselves some breathing space, with Mata crossing the try-line following a pick-and-go from a scrum. Hickey added a crucial conversion to extend the lead to nine points.
A late yellow card to Charles Marais was followed by a Jamie Ritchie try from a rolling maul to cap off the hosts’ victory.
The scorers:
For Edinburgh:
Tries: Toolis, Graham, Mata, Ritchie
Cons: Hickey 4
Pens: Hickey 3
For Cheetahs:
Tries: Lee, Maxwane 2
Cons: Schoeman 3
Yellow Card: Marais
Edinburgh: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 James Johnstone, 12 Juan Pablo Socino, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Simon Hickey, 9 Henry Pyrgos, 8 Bill Mata, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Magnus Bradbury, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Ben Toolis, 3 WP Nel, 2 Stuart McInally (c), 1 Rory Sutherland
Replacements: 16 Ross Ford, 17 Murray McCallum, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 Luke Hamilton, 20 Jamie Ritchie, 21 Sean Kennedy, 22 Jaco van der Walt, 23 Chris Dean
Cheetahs: 15 Louis Fouche, 14 William Small-Smith, 13 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 12 Nico Lee, 11 Rabz Maxwane, 10 Tian Schoeman, 9 Tian Meyer, 8 Stephan Malan, 7 Junior Pokomela, 6 Niell Jordaan, 5 JP du Preez, 4 Justin Basson, 3 Aranos Coetzee, 2 Jacques du Toit, 1 OX Nche
Replacements: 16 Joseph Dweba, 17 Charles Marais, 18 Günther Janse van Vuuren, 19 Walt Steenkamp, 20 Daniel Maartens, 21 Abongile Nonkontwana, 22 Shaun Venter, 23 Ali Mgijima
Referee: Marius Mitrea
Assistant referees: Manuel Bottino (Italy), Ian Kenny (Scotland)
Television match official: Andrew McMenemy (Scotland)
Glasgow Warriors 36-8 Zebre
Scotstoun Stadium
The in-form Glasgow Warriors breezed past Zebre 36-8 at Scotstoun Stadium, having led 10-8 at half-time.
Dave Rennie’s charges headed into the match on top of Conference A and made it clear from the get-go that they were in no mood to give that up.
Just five minutes in, a spectacular Adam Hastings break led to the first try of the game from Huw Jones, which the fly-half converted.
However, Zebre found their way into the match as the first half progressed, with Apisai Tauyavuca’s unconverted try handing them a lifeline six minutes before the break.
The two sides then traded penalties and the match remained relatively even until 51 minutes in, when Johan Meyer was yellow carded for a high tackle.
Glasgow made the extra man count, with George Turner peeling away from a maul to score in the corner.
Shortly after the hour mark, the hosts all but took the game beyond reach, with Greg Peterson scoring their third try before Jones burst through the Zebre defence and set George Horne up for their fourth.
75 minutes in, Pete Horne capped his birthday and Glasgow’s night by adding one last try to their tally.
The scorers:
For Glasgow Warriors:
Tries: Jones, Turner, Peterson, G Horne, P Horne
Cons: Hastings 4
Pen: Hastings
For Zebre:
Try: Tauyavuca
Pen: Violi
Yellow Card: Meyer
Glasgow: 15 Ruaridh Jackson, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Alex Dunbar, 11 Rory Hughes, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 George Horne, 8 Matt Fagerson, 7 Chris Fusaro, 6 Adam Ashe, 5 Jonny Gray (c), 4 Andrew Davidson, 3 Adam Nicol, 2 George Turner, 1 Oli Kebble
Replacements: 16 Grant Stewart, 17 Alex Allan, 18 D’Arcy Rae, 19 Greg Peterson, 20 Matt Smith, 21 Tevita Tameilau, 22 Pete Horne, 23 Niko Matawalu
Zebre: 15 Edoardo Padovani, 14 Gabriele Di Giulio, 13 Giulio Bisegni, 12 Tommaso Boni, 11 Paula Balekana, 10 Francois Brummer, 9 Marcello Violi, 8 Jimmy Tuivaiti, 7 Johan Meyer, 6 Apisai Tauyavuca, 5 George Biagi (c), 4 Leonard Krumov, 3 Eduardo Bello, 2 Oliviero Fabiani, 1 Cruze Ah-Nau
Replacements: 16 Massimo Ceciliani, 17 Daniele Rimpelli, 18 Roberto Tenga, 19 Samuele Ortis, 20 Giosué Zilocchi, 21 Riccardo Raffaele, 22 Maicol Azzolini, 23 Giovanbattista Venditti
Referee: Quinton Immelman (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Lloyd Linton (Scotland), Hollie Davidson (Scotland)
Television match official: Charles Samson (Scotland)
Ulster 15-22 Connacht
Kingspan Stadium
Connacht returned to winning ways with a 22-15 victory over Ulster, having led 14-5 at half-time.
Captain Rory Best and Jacob Stockdale were each playing their first game of the season for Ulster, but their party was spoilt early on when Tiernan O’Halloran scored the first try of the game five minutes in after a superb lineout move.
Following a lengthy spell of pressure featuring a series of scrums, Connacht were then awarded a penalty try in the 20th minute, but shortly afterwards, Ulster hit back, with Stockdale finishing after a cross-field kick from Billy Burns.
However, Ulster’s indiscipline would come back to bite them again, as they lost Marcell Coetzee on the stroke of half-time for 10 minutes due to a high tackle. Straight after the break, Matthew Rea collided in the air with Cian Kelleher and was red carded.
John Cooney and Jack Carty then traded penalties before Bundee Aki gave Connacht more breathing space 72 minutes in, scoring an intercept try from halfway.
Nick Timoney did score a late consolation for Ulster, with Cooney converting, but by then, the damage had already been done.
The scorers:
For Ulster:
Tries: Stockdale, Timoney
Con: Cooney
Pen: Cooney
Yellow Card: Coetzee
Red Card: Rea
For Connacht:
Tries: O’Halloran, Penalty try, Aki
Con: Carty
Pen: Carty
Ulster: 15 Peter Nelson, 14 Angus Kernohan, 13 Angus Curtis, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Billy Burns, 9 John Cooney, 8 Marcell Coetzee, 7 Nick Timoney, 6 Matthew Rea, 5 Iain Henderson, 4 Alan O’Connor, 3 Tom O’Toole, 2 Rory Best (c), 1 Andrew Warwick
Replacements: 16 Adam McBurney, 17 Eric O’Sullivan, 18 Ross Kane, 19 Kieran Treadwell, 20 Sean Reidy, 21 Dave Shanahan, 22 Johnny McPhillips, 23 James Hume
Connacht: 15 Tiernan O’Halloran, 14 Niyi Adeolokun, 13 Tom Farrell, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Matt Healy, 10 Jack Carty, 9 Kieran Marmion, 8 Paul Boyle, 7 Jarrad Butler (c), 6 Sean O’Brien, 5 Quinn Roux, 4 Ultan Dillane, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Tom McCartney, 1 Denis Buckley
Replacements: 16 Shane Delahunt, 17 Peter McCabe, 18 Conor Carey, 19 James Cannon, 20 Colby Fainga’a, 21 Caolin Blade, 22 Kyle Godwin, 23 Cian Kelleher
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant referees: George Clancy (Ireland), Sean Gallagher (Ireland)
Television match official: Olly Hodges (Ireland)