Leinster overcome 14-man Cardiff
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The returning Jimmy Gopperth ensured Leinster continued their winning start to 2015 as they battled back from a half-time deficit to down Cardiff Blues 22-13.
Noel Reid, Luke McGrath, Gopperth and Tadhg Furlong all touched down for the defending Pro12 champions in the bonus-point win.
Manoa Vosawai got the Blues' only try in the first half and Gareth Anscombe kicked eight points as they took an eight-point lead with them into the break.
But a red card shown to Jarrad Hoeata just before half-time proved crucial as the Blues couldn't quite deal with a determined Leinster outfit with the wind at their backs in the second half.
Leinster made 11 changes to the side that defeat Irish rivals Ulster in Round 11 and it was one of those in the form of Reid who gave the visitors an early lead.
Meanwhile, Three first-half tries gave Zebre a mountain to climb as Munster got back to winning ways in the Pro12 with a 31-7 bonus-point victory in Parma.
Felix Jones, CJ Stander and Conor Murray all crossed over in a dominant opening period that saw the Irish province take a 24-0 lead in at the break.
Simon Zebo made it mission impossible shortly after the break and while Oliviero Fabiani did manage to dot down for the Italians, it was nothing more than a consolation.
Munster started well and had the lead after eight minutes when Filippo Cristiano was penalised for interfering with play on the ground and Ian Keatley stepped up to kick the penalty.
All Saturday's scores and scorers!
Cardiff Blues 13-22 Leinster
Scorers:
For Cardiff Blues:
Try: Vosawai
Con: Anscombe
Pens: Anscombe 2
Yellow card: Vosawai (47 mins)
Red card: Hoeata (32 mins)
For Leinster:
Tries: Reid, Gopperth, McGrath, Furlong
Con: Gopperth
Teams:
Cardiff Blues: 15 Joaquin Tuculet, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Cory Allen, 12 Gavin Evans, 11 Lucas Amorosino, 10 Gareth Anscombe, 9 Tavis Knoyle,8 Josh Navidi 7 Sam Warburton, 6 Josh Turnbull, 5 Jarrad Hoeata, 4 Lou Reed, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Kristian Dacey, 1 Gethin Jenkins (captain).
Replacements: 16 Matthew Rees, 17 Sam Hobbs, 18 Taufa'ao Filise, 19 Miles Normandale, 20 Manoa Vosawai, 21 Lloyd Williams, 22 Gareth Davies, 23 Adam Thomas.
Leinster: 15 Rob Kearney (captain), 14 Fergus McFadden, 13 Ben Te'o, 12 Noel Reid, 11 Dave Kearney, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Luke McGrath, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Jordi Murphy, 6 Dominic Ryan, 5 Kane Douglas, 4 Tom Denton, 3 Marty Moore, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Michael Bent.
Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Jamie Hagan, 18 Tadhg Furlong, 19 Mike McCarthy, 20 Josh Van Der Flier, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Darragh Fanning.
Referee: Neil Paterson (SRU)
Assistant Referees: Nigel Owens, Rhys Thomas (both WRU)
TMO: Tim Hayes (WRU)
Zebre 7-31 Munster
Scorers:
For Zebre:
Try: Fabiani
Con: Orquera
For Munster:
Tries: Jones, Stander, Murray, Zebo
Cons: Keatley 4
Pen: Keatley
Teams:
Zebre: 15 David Odiete, 14 Giovanbattista Venditti, 13 Tommaso Iannone, 12 Kelly Haimona, 11 Leonardo Sarto, 10 Edoardo Padovani, 9 Brendon Leonard, 8 Andries Van Schalkwyk, 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Filippo Cristiano, 5 Marco Bortolami (captain), 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Luca Redolfini, 2 Andrea Manici, 1 Andrea De Marchi.
Replacements: 16 Oliviero Fabiani, 17 Luciano Leibson, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Valerio Bernabò, 20 Jacopo Sarto, 21 Luciano Orquera, 22 Mirco Bergamasco, 23 Guglielmo Palazzani.
Munster: 15 Felix Jones, 14 Ronan O'Mahony, 13 Pat Howard, 12 JJ Hanrahan, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Ian Keatley, 9 Conor Murray, 8 CJ Stander, 7 Peter O'Mahony (captain), 6 Dave O'Callaghan, 5 Billy Holland, 4 Dave Foley, 3 Stephen Archer, 2 Kevin O'Byrne, 1 Eusebio Guinazu.
Replacements: 16 Niall Scannell, 17 James Cronin, 18 John Ryan, 19 Donncha O'Callaghan, 20 Paddy Butler, 21 Duncan Williams, 22 Keith Earls, 23 Johne Murphy.
Referee: Ian Davies (Wales)
Assistant referees: Matteo Liperini (Italy), Filippo Bertelli (Italy)
TMO: Stefano Pennè (Italy)
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