Connacht bags five points against Zebre
MATCH REPORT: Connacht survived a scare as they held off a second-half fightback by Zebre Parma to emerge 57-34 winners from their United Rugby Championship clash in Parma.
The Irish province appeared to be cruising to a routine victory as they led 38-13 when wing Diarmuid Kilgallen went over in the 45th minute but Zebre burst into life, inspired by their fly-half Tiff Eden to plunder three rapid tries.
Hooker Dylan Tierney-Martin completed an early hat-trick as Connacht found success through their maul and it was the pack who ended the home uprising by engineering the try that placed them back in control before the floodgates opened late on.
It was as early as the sixth minute that Connacht made their presence felt at the maul when Tierney-Martin completed the line-out drive.
Eden rifled over his second penalty and Zebre showed signs of endeavour as they broke across the halfway line, capitalising on the scrappy nature of the opening quarter.
Tierney-Martin claimed a second maul try with backs this time joining in as Connacht again looked to their set-piece to make the breakthrough.
The 23-year-old front row clinched his hat-trick inside the half-hour mark as the Irish side tightened the screw using a weapon Zebre were unable to contain.
Tiernan O’Halloran and Simone Gesi exchanged tries as the game opened up but Connacht started to pull clear as O’Halloran selflessly sent scrum-half Caolin Blade over.
Kilgallen broke two tackles to get the visitors off to a try-scoring start to the second-half but Zebre hit back immediately through Erich Cronje as the match continued to produce tries at both ends.
Giampietro Ribaldi was absolved of illegally clearing out Conor Oliver and the Italian team were the next to score when Eden’s slight of hand saw lock Josh Furno surge over.
Eden’s silky hands and movement then set Gesi up for his second and suddenly Zebre trailed just 38-34.
But Connacht returned to their maul and were rewarded when Adam Byrne went over from close range before Kieran Marmion and Colm de Buitlear ran in tries at the death.
The scorers:
For Zebre:
Tries: Gesi 2, Cronje, Furno
Cons: Eden 4
Pens: Eden 2
For Connacht:
Tries: Tierney-Martin (3), O’Halloran, Blade, Kilgallen, A Byrne, Marmion, de Buitlear
Cons: Carty 6
Zebre: 15 Lorenzo Pani, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Erich Cronjé, 12 Enrico Lucchin (captain), 11 Simone Gesi, 10 Tiff Eden, 9 Chris Cook, 8 Giovanni Licata, 7 Matt Kvesic, 6 Luca Andreani, 5 Josh Furno, 4 Leonard Krumov, 3 Matteo Nocera, 2 Marco Manfredi, 1 Luca Rizzoli.
Replacements: 16 Giampietro Ribaldi, 17 Paolo Buonfiglio, 18 Muhamed Hasa, 19 Jan Uys, 20 Davide Ruggeri, 21 Ratko Jelic, 22 Antonio Rizzi, 23 Richard Kriel.
Connacht: 15 Tiernan O’Halloran, 14 Diarmuid Kilgallen, 13 Tom Farrell, 12 Cathal Forde, 11 John Porch, 10 Jack Carty (captain), 9 Caolin Blade, 8 Jarrad Butler, 7 Conor Oliver, 6 Cian Prendergast, 5 Niall Murray, 4 Josh Murphy, 3 Jack Aungier, 2 Dylan Tierney-Martin, 1 Denis Buckley.
Replacements: 16 Eoin de Buitléar, 17 Jordan Duggan, 18 Sam Illo, 19 Darragh Murray, 20 Shamus Hurley-Langton, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Tom Daly, 23 Adam Byrne.
Referee: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
Assistant Referees: Clara Munarini (Italy) & Francesco Meschini (Italy)
TMO: Sean Brickell (Wales)
