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Connacht won in Dublin for the first time since September 2002; Ulster maintained their 100 percent start in PRO14 by beating Irish rivals Munster; Edinburgh claimed Scotland’s bragging rights with victory over the Glasgow Warriors at Murrayfield
Last Updated: 02/01/21 10:19 pm
John Porch, left, and Ben O’Donnell celebrate after the final whistle at the RDS Arena
Connacht, Ulster, Edinburgh and Zebre were victorious in Saturday’s Guinness PRO14 action …
Leinster 24-35 Connacht
Connacht won in Dublin for the first time since September 2002 when fly-half Jack Carty plotted a seismic 35-24 bonus point victory over Guinness kingpins PRO14 Leinster at the RDS Arena.
Eager for a retirement from Ireland, Carty scored 25 points to end Leinster’s proud 26-match PRO14 winning streak. It was their first loss at home to another Irish province in more than five years.
The man of the match landed twice and kicked 10 points as Connacht, stung by last Sunday’s home loss to Ulster, galloped to a 25-5 lead at halftime.
Jack Carty scored an impressive 25 points against Leinster
Alex Wootton’s latest attempt had canceled Scott Penny’s only score for a much-changed Leinster, who had lost returning Jonathan Sexton due to a failed evaluation of a head injury.
Captain of the night Luke McGrath added a second Leinster try and Ryan Baird took a third, but Tom Daly’s 72-minute interception effort sealed the historic result before Ed Byrne scored a last-minute bonus point. for the hosts.
Ulster 15-10 Munster
Ulster maintained their 100 percent start at PRO14 as the new year began by beating Irish rivals Munster 15-10, although they were forced to fight to the end at Kingspan Stadium.
Ethan McIlroy launches to score Ulster’s second try against Munster
The leaders of Conference A inflicted the first defeat of the season on Munster, the pioneers of Conference B who arrived in Belfast without their front-line players, but still managed to claim a losing bonus point despite being 15-3 at half time.
First-half attempts by wingers Matt Faddes and Ethan McIlroy, plus a conversion and a penalty from John Cooney, seemed to have put Ulster in full control.
However, Munster struggled in the second half, despite captain Billy Holland receiving a yellow card, while Ulster failed to register a single point.
Matt Faddes scored Ulster’s first try at Kingspan Stadium
Munster’s only score in the first half was from a Ben Healy penalty and then they scored in the 82nd minute when Ulster, one man down after Callum Reid’s yellow card, couldn’t stop Darren Sweetnam from diving.
Edinburgh 10-7 Glasgow Warriors
Magnus Bradbury’s try was enough to seal Edinburgh’s 10-7 win over Glasgow after a late increase in points at Murrayfield.
The scoreboard remained blank until the 65th minute as a mixture of freezing conditions and careless mistakes resulted in both teams wasting a number of opportunities to attack.
Edinburgh celebrates after beating the Glasgow Warriors at Murrayfield
Edinburgh’s top midfielder Jaco van der Walt finally pushed his side up front with a penalty before Bradbury’s try with 10 minutes to go left Glasgow with everything to do.
Warriors replacement Lewis Bean came across in the final moments, but Edinburgh held on to win the 1872 Cup first leg with a double header and claim four valuable Guinness PRO14 points.
The winning attempt culminated a memorable start in 2021 for the Bradbury family, just 24 hours after Magnus’s mother Dee, former president of the Scottish Rugby Union, discovered that she had received an OBE in Queen’s New Years honors.
Benetton 15-24 Zebras
Zebre claimed bragging rights in the Italian derby with a 24-15 win over Benetton.
Benetton has traditionally had the best matches between the sides and was hoping for a first home win since defeating Zebre in December 2019, but a tight match was the way for the visitors.
An early yellow card for Benetton’s Giovanni Pettinelli proved very costly when Luca Bigi crossed for two attempts, one of which was converted by Carlo Canna.
Benetton took the lead with a Tommaso Allan penalty and the tables turned when Renato Giammarioli saw a yellow card for Zebre five minutes before the break.
A Callum Braley try was converted by Allan to cut the deficit to 12-10 before penalties from Canna and Antonio Rizzi extended the visitors’ lead again.
Monti Ioane’s try in the 71st minute gave Benetton real hope, but the only subsequent results were two penalties from Rizzi.
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