Kings down Glasgow to break Pro14 duck

PRO14 SATURDAY WRAP : Martin du Toit’s double inspired the Southern Kings to a 38-28 bonus-point victory over Glasgow Warriors that earned the South Africans a first win of the campaign.

The form was with Glasgow heading into the match but they soon found themselves three tries down as Yaw Penxe, du Toit and Rudi van Rooyen all grabbed first-half scores.

Elsewhere, a fabulous display from Connacht’s Jack Carty and Bundee Aki secured Connacht Rugby’s second win of the PRO14 campaign with a 33-20 win over Scarlets.

The Dragons won just their second game in the PRO14 since last September as they emerged victorious against a spirited Zebre XV in what were challenging conditions at Rodney Parade.

While Ospreys and Leinster bagged wins over Benetton and Edinburgh respectively.

Kings 38-28  Glasgow Warriors

Masixole Banda added a penalty and in the second period Harlon Klaasen touched down before Nick Grigg and DTH van der Merwe responded for the Scots.

Du Toit completed his double with eight minutes remaining, meaning van der Merwe’s second try and Fraser Brown’s late score was mere consolation.

On home turf, the Kings wasted no time in getting started and were ahead on six minutes as successive hands found Penxe out wide – the wing then going in and out to evade the scrambling defence and touch down.

Less than five minutes later and du Toit doubled the try-count, the flyhalf powering over after a series of phases from the South African outfit.

As the game approached the quarter-mark the Kings’ dream start continued, as brilliant interplay saw scrumhalf van Rooyen released and touching down under the posts – Banda given an easy conversion.

The final action of the half saw the Kings close out the first 40 with a penalty, kicked by Banda to create a 24-0 half-time lead and leaving Dave Rennie’s men with plenty of work to do.

Some may have expected a Glasgow fightback immediately in the second half but the southern hemisphere side picked up where they left off as Klaasen went over on 53 minutes.

The centre’s try was a thing of beauty as Berton Klaasen busted through a tackle to exit the 22, passing on to his namesake who sprinted away from the defence and chipped over Ruaridh Jackson before grounding.

Glasgow got their first points on the board on the hour-mark as centre Grigg powered over in a score that forced a TMO review.

Replacement flyhalf Adam Hastings converted and was then involved in the Warrior’s second try, passing out wide for van der Merwe to go over in the corner.

With 15 minutes remaining a comeback was still on the cards, but the home side snuffed out any hopes Glasgow might’ve had when du Toit crossed on 72 minutes.

Replacement hooker Fraser Brown powered over from the back of a catch-and-drive late on, and there was still time for van der Merwe to dive over in the corner once more, but not enough time to deny the Kings a magnificent win.

The scorers:

For Kings:

Tries: Penxe, Du Toit 2, Van Rooyen, Klaasen,
Cons: Banda 5
Pen: Banda

For Glasgow Warriors:
Tries: Grigg, Van Der Merwe 2, Brown
Cons: Hastings 4

Yellow cards: Yaw Penxe (Kings, 27), Henry Brown (Kings, 55), Godlen Masimla (Kings, 79)

Teams:

Kings: 15 Masixole Banda, 14 Yaw Penxe, 13 Harlon Klassen, 12 Berton Klassen, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Martin du Toit, 9 Rudi van Rooyen, 8 Ruaan Lerm, 7 Andisa Ntsila, 6 Henry Brown, 5 JC Astle, 4 Bobby de Wee, 3 Luvuyo Pupuma, 2 Michael Willemse (captain), 1 Schalk Ferreira.
Replacements: 16 Alandre van Rooyen, 17 Justin Forwood, 18 Martin Dreyer, 19 Stephan Greeff, 20 CJ Velleman, 21 Godlen Masimla, 22 Ntabeni Dukisa, 23 Michael Botha

Glasgow: 15 Ruaridh Jackson, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Nick Grigg, 11 DTH van der Merwe, 10 Pete Horne, 9 Nick Frisby, 8 Adam Ashe, 7 Chris Fusaro, 6 Ryan Wilson (c), 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Greg Peterson, 3 D’Arcy Rae, 2 George Turner, 1 Jamie Bhatti.
Replacements: 16 Fraser Brown, 17 Alex Allan, 18 Kevin Bryce, 19 Rob Harley, 20 Callum Gibbins, 21 Ali Price, 22 Adam Hastings, 23 Robbie Nairn.

Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Frank Murphy (Ireland), Paul Mente (South Africa)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)

Connacht 33-20 Scarlets

Aki set up Tom Farrell’s opener inside just five minutes, before Carty helped to deliver a fine kicking display with a perfect seven successful kicks to down Wayne Pivac’s men.

A late fightback from Scarlets set up a stunning finish, but Connacht’s Niyi Adeolokun secured a deserved win late on.

Connacht raced to an early lead inside just five minutes when Tom Farrell bundled over the line for his sixth career try following a bustling run and some neat handiwork from teammate Aki.

Leigh Halfpenny, who couldn’t fell Aki for the Connacht opener, reduced the arrears from the tee only minutes later, before Carty hit his fifth point of the afternoon moments later.

Connacht, who conceded 15 penalties in last week’s loss to Edinburgh, continued their sloppy streak when Aki failed to move from the ruck to give Halfpenny a second successful penalty.

But Scarlets were exposed once more midway through the first-half when Carty’s fast hands duped two Welshmen to allow Cian Kelleher to go under the posts for Andy Friend’s side’s second try of the match.

In an end-to-end first-half, the home team’s advantage was reduced once more when Connacht’s second try scorer was duped by a cunning move from New Zealander Johnny McNicholl to secure Wayne Pivac’s men a first score.

A deliberate knock on from Scarlets Ed Kennedy brought up a 20-13 Connacht advantage at the break courtesy of another successful kick from ice cool Carty.

With the words of both respective head coaches ringing in the players ears, the second-half began in a rather more precarious manner as both sides battled for the advantage.

Connacht thought they had extended their lead when Farrell intercepted Rhys Patchell’s risky pass inside the Scarlets try line, but referee Marius Mitrea pulled the game back for an earlier infringement.

As Scarlets’ fouls mounted, Connacht’s scoreboard continued to tick over in their favour when Carty notched up his third successful penalty to put the Irishmen 10 points ahead with under 20 minutes to go.

And when Connacht were given another opportunity to extend their lead from a collapsed Scarlets scrum, Carty duly obliged from a tight angle on the right touchline to go 26-13 ahead.

But that didn’t stop Scarlets from setting up a mouth-watering grandstand finish when Tom Prydie hit back to score Scarlets’ second try of the match following Jake Ball’s impressive break away.

Any Scarlets hope quickly faded when Caolin Blade stole the ball from the ruck to set-up Adeolokun to punch through Scarlets’ defence and ensure the win with Carty’s seventh successful kick.

The scorers:

For Connacht:
Tries: Farrell, Kelleher, Adeolokun
Cons: Carty 3
Pens: Carty 4

For Scarlets:
Tries: McNicholl, Prydie
Cons: Halfpenny, Patchell
Pens: Halfpenny 2

Connacht: 15 Tiernan O’Halloran, 14 Cian Kelleher, 13 Tom Farrell, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Matt Healy, 10 Jack Carty, 9 Kieran Marmion, 8 Robin Copeland, 7 Jarrad Butler, 6 Sean O’Brien, 5 Quinn Roux, 4 Gavin Thornbury, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Dave Heffernan, 1 Denis Buckley
Replacements: 16 Tom McCartney, 17 Peter McCabe, 18 Dominic Robertson-McCoy, 19 Ultan Dillane, 20 Colby Fainga’a, 21 Caolin Blade, 22 Craig Ronaldson, 23 Niyi Adeolokun

Scarlets: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Tom Prydie, 13 Kieron Fonotia, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 Johnny McNicholl, 10 Rhys Patchell, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Blade Thomson, 7 Lewis Rawlins, 6 Ed Kennedy, 5 Steve Cummins, 4 Jake Ball, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Ken Owens (c), 1 Phil Price
Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Werner Kruger, 19 David Bulbring, 20 Uzair Cassiem, 21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 22 Angus O’Brien, 23 Paul Asquith

Referee: Marius Mitrea (Italy)
Assistant referees: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy), Kieran Barry (Ireland)
Television match official: Leo Colgan (Ireland)

Dragons 16-5 Zebre

First-half tries from Arwel Robson and Dafydd Howells, and some backs-to-the-wall defending in the second period, was enough to triumph over a Zebre team who have enjoyed an impressive start to the season.

The Italian side stayed close throughout, but could not make the most of their man advantage when Brian Nansen was sent to the bin mid-way through the second 40 and ultimately it was Dragons who held on to claim the spoils.

The Dragons were first to trouble the scoreboard, as Robson made no mistake with the boot when the Dragons were awarded a penalty for offside.

It was looking like a one-man show ten minutes later when Robson found a gap in the Zebre defence after he was cleverly found by Ollie Griffiths to take the ball in from the 22.

But the youngster followed up that piece of brilliance with a moment he’ll try to forget when he skewed his conversion attempt horribly wide to keep the lead at eight.

Zebre soon responded spectacularly, though, thanks largely to the deft hands of Mattia Bellini.

A lofted chip from Carlo Canna asked questions of the Dragons defence, and when Bellini came surging into the picture and juggled the bouncing ball, he took it away from Jordan Williams to score.

Canna could not add the extras, and his opposite number Robson once again spurned a kick at goal to extend the Dragons’ lead.

But they weren’t to be denied before the break as they found themselves camped on the Zebre line with the clock running red, but without a route over the whitewash.

Fantastic vision from Rhodri Williams, however, saw the ball recycled wide, with a long, lofted pass finding Dafydd Howells in plenty of space to cross in the corner.

Robson once again pulled a tough kick, meaning that the home side went into the break with a 13-5 advantage.

And they added a further three points when Jordan Williams took over kicking duties, sailing a long-range effort straight down the middle five minutes into the second 40.

Zebre were offered a lifeline when Nansen was sent to the sin-bin in the 58th minute after he checked Canna off the ball with his shoulder, but could not capitalise on their man advantage.

And the Welsh side saw the game out professionally, refusing to allow their opponents an inch in the closing stages of proceedings.

The scorers:

For Dragons:
Tries: Robson, Howells
Pens: Robson, Williams

For Zebre:
Try: Bellini

Dragons: 15 Jordan Williams, 14 Dafydd Howells, 13 Adam Warren, 12 Jack Dixon, 11 Jared Rosser, 10 Arwel Robson, 9 Rhodri Williams, 8 Ross Moriarty, 7 Ollie Griffiths, 6 Aaron Wainwright, 5 Cory Hill (c), 4 Rynard Landman, 3 Lloyd Fairbrother, 2 Elliot Dee, 1 Brok Harris
Replacements: 16 Richard Hibbard, 17 Ryan Bevington, 18 Aaron Jarvis, 19 Brandon Nansen, 20 Nic Cudd, 21 Tavis Knoyle, 22 Josh Lewis, 23 Jarryd Sage

Zebre: 15 Francois Brummer, 14 Mattia Bellini, 13 Giulio Bisegni, 12 Tommaso Castello (c), 11 Edoardo Padovani, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Marcello Violi, 8 Giovanni Licata, 7 Johan Meyer, 6 Jimmy Tuivaiti, 5 George Biagi (c), 4 David Sisi, 3 Dario Chistolini, 2 Oliviero Fabiani, 1 Andrea Lovotti
Replacements: 16 Massimo Ceciliani, 17 Daniele Rimpelli, 18 Giosué Zilocchi, 19 Apisai Tauyavuca, 20 Matu Tevi, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Tommaso Boni, 23 Gabriele Di Giulio

Referee: Joy Neville (Ireland)
Assistant referees: George Clancy (Ireland), Simon Mills (Wales)
Television match official: Brian MacNeice (Ireland)

Ospreys 27-10 Benetton

Ospreys bounced back from their loss to Munster with a telling 27-10 victory over Benetton Rugby.

Captain Justin Tipuric scored the second try midway through the second-half to ensure Allen Clarke’s men extended their unbeaten streak at the Liberty Stadium to eight matches.

Sam Davies put the icing on the cake for the Swansea side with an impressive 17 point contribution to clinch the Ospreys third win of the PRO14 season.

The home side had to bide their time to put the first points on the scoreboard and Ospreys finally had their chance when Dewaldt Duveage came through the side to hand the hosts a penalty after 12 minutes.

Davies duly obliged from 40 metres with the ball brushing the left post on the way between the posts.

When Tipuric was offside inside the Italian half, Benetton immediately went to the corner and it paid off for Kieran Cowley’s side as Antonio Rizzi drew the scores level from the kicking tee following another penalty under the posts.

With both sides looking to get the all-important first try, Ospreys finally made a set-piece count seven minutes before half-time from a line-out inside the Benetton 22 metre line.

The Swansea side swiftly moved the ball from right to left and Joe Thomas wonderfully feinted to play in Dan Evans to sprint left of the posts to dab down and hand Davies a first conversion of the tie.

Ospreys thought they had secured their second try shortly after the restart when Luke Morgan wonderfully raced onto a loose ball to cross the whitewash, but the try was disallowed by the TMO.

It mattered little though as Ospreys swiftly recovered to score only minutes later when captain Tipuric expertly ran through the pack and kicked over to George North.

The wing knocked the ball through after a high tackle around the neck by Luca Sperandio and all Tipuric had to do was grab the ball and dot down to go 17-3 up following Davies’ second conversion.

It was double punishment for Benetton with Sperandio given a yellow card for his role in the try.

But Tipuric was soon joining the Italian on the sideline for a late challenge and Benetton instantly hit back when Braam Steyn wiggled his way through the smallest of gaps to make their sustained period of pressure count.

Davies opened up some breathing space from the kicking tee to widen the gap to 10 points and the fly-half proved crucial at the other end to halt a charging Sebastian Negri from scoring.

And the Wales international proved invaluable in attack by capping off a flowing Ospreys move to notch his personal tally up to 17 points.

The scorers:

For Ospreys:
Tries: Evans, Tipuric, S Davies
Cons: S Davies 3
Pens: S Davies 2

For Benetton Rugby:
Try: Steyn
Con: McKinley
Pen: Rizzi

Ospreys: 15 Dan Evans, 14 George North, 13 Joe Thomas, 12 Owen Watkin, 11 Luke Morgan, 10 Sam Davies, 9 Aled Davies, 8 James King, 7 Justin Tipuric (c), 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Scott Otten, 1 Nicky Smith
Replacements: 16 Ifan Phillips, 17 Rhodri Jones, 18 Ma’afu Fia, 19 Adam Beard, 20 Sam Cross, 21 Tom Habberfield, 22 James Hook, 23 Cory Allen

Benetton Rugby: 15 Luca Sperandio, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Marco Zanon, 12 Alberto Sgarbi (c), 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Antonio Rizzi, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Marco Barbini, 7 Abraham Steyn, 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Alessandro Zanni, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Luca Bigi, 1 Cherif Traore
Replacements: 16 Engjel Makelara, 17 Alberto De Marchi, 18 Giuseppe Di Stefano, 19 Marco Fuser, 20 Marco Lazzaroni, 21 Edoardo Gori, 22 Ian McKinley, 23 Tommaso Iannone

Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Fin Brown (Scotland), Wayne Davies (Wales)
Television match official: Tim Hayes (Wales)

Leinster 31-7 Edinburgh

Leinster recorded an emphatic victory over Conference B rivals Edinburgh Rugby at the RDS Arena, notching up five tries in a 31-7 win.

The reigning PRO14 champions led from start to finish, with scores from first-half scores from Fergus McFadden and James Lowe setting the pace.

And they kept at it after the break, responding to Edinburgh’s lone score by crossing the whitewash three more times.

Edinburgh lost substitute prop Pierre Schoeman late on to a straight red card as he was adjudged to have led with his elbow when taking the ball into contact, further compounding their misery.

Leinster were first to make a mark on the scoreboard when Devin Toner showed great awareness to charge down Sean Kennedy’s kick out the back of a ruck 16 minutes in.

The big man from Moynalvey did the hard yards in chasing down the rebound, pouncing on the loose ball just short of the Edinburgh line, with the supporting McFadden grabbing the ball and diving over, and Sexton kicking the extras.

They added a second thanks largely to a well-worked line-out, with Toner once again at the heard of things as he offloaded to Luke McGrath and Jordan Larmour in-turn backhanding the ball beautifully to Lowe, who dove for the corner.

Sexton couldn’t repeat the trick from the equally acute conversion, meaning that the home side had to settle for a 12-0 lead at the break.

But it was Richard Cockerill’s side who came out of the blocks the fastest in the second period.

Leinster did well initially to hold Edinburgh up on their own five-yard line after Duhan van der Merwe had broken the Leinster line, but the Scottish side moved the ball down the line, and Magnus Bradbury was able to stretch over for the score before van der Merwe further reduced arrears, kicking the extras.

The home side thought they had restored their advantage almost immediately, but for Josh van der Flier’s pass to James Lowe on the outside was deemed forward.

There was no doubt minutes later, however, when Larmour danced under the posts in heavy traffic, making things look easy, with Sexton’s conversion a formality.

And skipper Sexton made sure of the bonus point when he dummied a pass to pave a clear path to the goal-line with fifteen minutes remaining, and converted his own score, his last act of the match.

Edinburgh’s night got even worse when Pierre Schoeman was shown a straight red card after he led with his elbow on substitute Dan Leavy as the game entered its final ten minutes.

Leinster ran in a fifth and final try with seconds left on the clock as Ringrose took a pass from McFadden to run the ball in from distance with the Edinburgh defence depleted.

The scorers:

For Leinster:
Tries: McFadden, Lowe, Larmour, Sexton, Ringrose
Cons: Sexton 3

For Edinburgh:
Try: Bradbury
Con: Van der Walt

Red Card:  Pierr Schoeman (Edinburgh)

Leinster: 15 Jordan Larmour, 14 Fergus McFadden, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 James Lowe, 10 Johnny Sexton (c), 9 Luke McGrath, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Max Deegan, 5 James Ryan, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Michael Bent, 2 James Tracy, 1 Cian Healy
Replacements: 16 Seán Cronin, 17 Peter Dooley, 18 Tadhg Furlong, 19 Mick Kearney, 20 Dan Leavy, 21 Jamison Gibson-Park, 22 Ross Byrne, 23 Joe Tomane

Edinburgh: 15 Dougie Fife, 14 Jamie Farndale, 13 Chris Dean, 12 Juan Pablo Socino, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Jaco van der Walt, 9 Sean Kennedy, 8 Magnus Bradbury, 7 Jamie Ritchie, 6 Luke Hamilton, 5 Ben Toolis, 4 Fraser McKenzie (c), 3 Simon Berghan, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Dell
Replacements: 16 Dave Cherry, 17 Pierre Schoeman, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Callum Hunter-Hill, 20 Luke Crosbie, 21 Nathan Fowles, 22 Simon Hickey, 23 James Johnstone

Referee: Dan Jones (Wales)
Assistant referees: Adam Jones (Wales), Chris Busby (Ireland)
Television match official: Simon McDowell (Ireland)

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