Connacht upset Smith's Warriors, Munster kicks Stormers from top four

WRAP: Franco Smith’s table-topping Glasgow Warriors failed to significantly extend their lead after dramatically going down 10-15 to Connacht in Round 12 of the United Rugby Championship.

Scotland international Kyle Rowe scored a second-half brace for the Warriors, with Connacht having taken a 3-0 at half-time thanks to a Sam Gilbert penalty.

Connacht lock Joe Joyce was yellow-carded in the 58th minute for a dangerous tackle in which that period Rowe grabbed his brace in the 61st and 66th minutes, respectively, to edge out a 10-3 lead with 14 minutes to go.

Replacement forward Josh Murphy got Connacht back in the conversation with his 73rd-minute try, which Gilbert converted to level the scores.

Sean Jansen’s match-winning score in the 81st minute saw Connacht pull a massive upset at Dexcom Stadium against one of the tournament favourites.

In Limerick, Munster had to dig deep to overcome a plucky Zebre side by 21-7 after being level 7-7 at the break.

The win propelled them to fourth place on the URC table at the expense of the Stormers, who dropped down to fifth spot after entering the round in third place

Zebre had the worst start imaginable when Giulio Bertaccini was sent to the sinbin two minutes into the clash.

Shane Daly opened the scoring for Munster three minutes later, which JJ Hanrahan converted.

Zebre responded through Bautista Stavile, who dotted down in the 31st minute, with Giacomo Da Re’s conversion levelling matters at half-time

The Parma-based side were blanked in the second stanza, with converted tries by Alex Kendellen and Lee Barron being enough to see Clayton McMillan’s side home.

In Newport, the Dragons and Benetton shared the spoils in a tight contest from the outset.

The visitors registered the first points through winger Onisi Ratave before lock Levi Douglas responded for the hosts almost immediately, with Angus O’Brien’s conversion giving them a two-point lead.

Drama followed when former All Black Malakai Fekitoa was yellow-carded in the 13th minute, but Benetton managed to keep the Dragons scoreless during his sinbin period.

Ratave grabbed a brace in the 28th minute before the deck of cards came out, with try scorer Douglas receiving a red card for dangerous play, and teammate Fine Inisi also sent to the sinbin moments later.

Benetton edged out an eight-point lead with Matt Gallagher’s try in the final quarter, but a late O’Brien penalty and 81st-minute try by Inisi saw the contest end in a stalemate.

The final clash in Round 12 saw the Ospreys stun Ulster, with former Cheetah winger Daniel Kasende’s 76th-minute try sealing the deal for the Swansea-based team.

The Ospreys got off to a fast start in the second minute with a try by Cormac Foley before Zac Ward and Tom Stewart responded for Ulster to take a 10-7 lead into the break.

The hosts struck first in the second stanza when James Ratti barged over the line to reclaim the lead with flyhalf Jack Walsh slotting his second conversion of the evening.

Replacement Marcus Rea was sent to the sinbin in the 73rd minute, which proved to be costly when Kasende’s late try took away the chance for a losing bonus point or possible comeback.

*See all the scorers and scorers below!

Connacht 15-10 Glasgow Warriors

Scorers

For Connacht:
Tries: Murphy, Jansen
Con: Gilbert
Pen: Gilbert

For Glasgow Warriors:
Tries: Rowe 2

Yellow Card: Joe Joyce (Connacht, 58′)

Teams

Connacht: 15 Sam Gilbert, 14 Shane Jennings, 13 Harry West, 12 Cathal Forde, 11 Finn Treacy, 10 Josh Ioane, 9 Caolin Blade, 8 Sean Jansen, 7 Sean O’Brien, 6 Paul Boyle (c), 5 Joe Joyce, 4 David O’Connor, 3 Sam Illo, 2 Dylan Tierney-Martin, 1 Denis Buckley
Replacements: 16 Matthew Victory, 17 Billy Bohan, 18 Jack Aungier, 19 Josh Murphy, 20 Cian Prendergast, 21 Colm Reilly, 22 Jack Carty, 23 Bundee Aki

Glasgow Warriors: 15 Josh McKay, 14 Kyle Rowe, 13 Stafford McDowall (c), 12 Kerr Yule, 11 Ollie Smith, 10 Dan Lancaster, 9 Ben Afshar, 8 Ally Miller, 7 Angus Fraser, 6 Euan Ferrie, 5 Jare Oguntibeju, 4 Alex Samuel, 3 Murphy Walker, 2 Seb Stephen, 1 Jamie Bhatti
Replacements: 16 Gregor Hiddleston, 17 Patrick Schickerling, 18 Sam Talakai, 19 Alex Craig, 20 Macenzzie Duncan, 21 Sione Vailanu, 22 Jack Oliver, 23 Adam Hastings

Referee: Ben Breakspear (Wales)
Assistant referees: Keane Davison (Ireland) & Chris Lough (Ireland)
TMO: Aled Griffiths (Wales)

Dragons 15-15 Benetton

Scorers

For Dragons:
Tries: Douglas, Inisi
Con: O’Brien
Pen: O’Brien

For Benetton:
Tries: Ratave 2, Gallagher

Yellow cards: Malakai Fekitoa (Benetton, 13′), Fine Inisi (Dragons, 37′)

Red card: Levi Douglas (Dragons, 32′)

Teams

Dragons: 15 Angus O’Brien (c), 14 David Richards, 13 Fine Inisi, 12 Aneurin Owen, 11 Rio Dyer, 10 Tinus de Beer, 9 Che Hope, 8 Shane Lewis-Hughes, 7 Harry Beddall, 6 Ryan Woodman, 5 Seb Davies, 4 Levi Douglas, 3 Chris Coleman, 2 Brodie Coghlan, 1 Rodrigo Martinez
Replacements: 16 Oli Burrows, 17 Jordan Morris, 18 Owain James, 19 Barny Langton-Cryer, 20 Evan Minto, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Fetuli Paea, 23 Cai Evans

Benetton: 15 Matt Gallagher, 14 Onisi Ratave, 13 Paolo Odogwu, 12 Malakai Fekitoa, 11 Rhyno Smith, 10 Jacob Umaga, 9 Andy Uren (c), 8 Riccardo Favretto, 7 Jadin Kingi, 6 Alessandro Izekor, 5 Eli Snyman, 4 Giulio Marini, 3 Giosué Zilocchi, 2 Bautista Bernasconi, 1 Thomas Gallo
Replacements: 16 Nicholas Gasperini, 17 Destiny Aminu, 18 Tiziano Pasquali, 19 Scott Scrafton, 20 Nelson Casartelli, 21 Cristiano Tizzano, 22 Filippo Drago, 23 Ignacio Mendy

Referee: Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Adam Jones (Wales) & Marcus Caudle (Wales)
TMO: Paul Haycock (Ireland)

Munster 21-7 Zebre

Scorers

For Munster:
Tries: Daly, Kendellen, Barron
Cons: Hanrahan 3

For Zebre:
Try: Stavile
Con: Da Re

Yellow card: Gulio Bertaccini (Zebre, 2′)

Teams

Munster: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Tom Farrell, 12 Dan Kelly, 11 Shane Daly, 10 JJ Hanrahan, 9 Paddy Patterson, 8 Brian Gleeson, 7 Jack O’Donoghue (c), 6 Gavin Coombes, 5 Fineen Wycherley, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Michael Ala’alatoa, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 Michael Milne
Replacements: 16 Lee Barron, 17 Josh Wycherley, 18 John Ryan, 19 Edwin Edogbo, 20 Alex Kendellen, 21 Ethan Coughlan, 22 Tom Wood, 23 Seán O’Brien

Zebre: 15 Giovanni Montemauri, 14 Albert Einstein Batista, 13 Giulio Bertaccini, 12 Damiano Mazza, 11 Simone Gesi, 10 Giacomo Da Re, 9 Gonzalo Garcia, 8 Giacomo Ferrari (captain), 7 Samuele Locatelli, 6 Bautista Stavile, 5 Alessandro Ortombina, 4 Matteo Canali, Ribaldi, 3 Enrique Pieretto, 2 Giampietro Ribaldi, 1 Juan Pitinari
Replacements: 16 Giovanni Quattrini , 17 Paolo Buonfiglio, 18 Luca Franceschetto, 19 Guido Volpi, 20 Iacopo Bianchi, 21 Thomas Dominguez, 22 Martin Roger Farias, 23 Maro Zanon

Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Robbie Jenkinson (Ireland) & Max Weston (Ireland)
TMO: Colin Brett (Scotland)

Ospreys 21-10 Ulster

Scorers

For Ospreys:
Tries: Foley, Ratti, Kasense
Cons: Walsh 3

For Ulster:
Tries: Ward, Stewart

Yellow card: Marcus Rea (Ulster, 73′)

Teams:

Ospreys: 15 Iestyn Hopkins, 14 Dan Kasende, 13 Owen Watkin, 12 Keiran Williams, 11 Keelan Giles, 10 Jack Walsh (cc), 9 Cormac Foley, 8 Morgan Morse, 7 Ross Moriarty, 6 James Ratti, 5 Ryan Smith, 4 James Fender, 3 Rhys Henry, 2 Sam Parry (cc), 1 Gareth Thomas
Replacements: 16 Lewis Lloyd, 17 Steffan Thomas, 18 Tom Botha, 19 Huw Sutton, 20 Harri Deaves, 21 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 22 Luke Scully, 23 Evardi Boshoff

Ulster: 15 Michael Lowry, 14 Werner Kok, 13 James Hume, 12 Jude Postlethwaite, 11 Zac Ward, 10 Jack Murphy, 9 Nathan Doak, 8 Bryn Ward, 7 David McCann, 6 Matthew Dalton, 5 Charlie Irvine, 4 Iain Henderson (c), 3 Scott Wilson, 2 Tom Stewart, 1 Eric O’Sullivan
Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Angus Bell, 18 Bryan O’Connor, 19 Harry Sheridan, 20 Marcus Rea, 21 Conor McKee, 22 Jake Flannery, 23 Ben Carson

Referee: Fillipo Russo (Italy)
Assistant referees: Craig Evans (Wales) & Keith David (Wales)
TMO: Stefano Penne (Italy)