Leinster's rookies hand Zebre rugby lesson

WRAP: Josh Kenny and Alex Soroka scored first-half doubles as Leinster notched their second United Rugby Championship win of the season by beating Zebre 50-26 at the Aviva Stadium.

Leinster went over for eight tries to Zebre’s four, with home flyhalf Harry Byrne and Giacomo Da Re landing five and three conversions respectively.

Leinster raced into an early 12-0 lead, with Hugo McLaughlin’s break setting up Kenny inside the opening minute, and Alex Soroka touched down from close range before Zebre responded through Mirko Belloni, who won the race on to Thomas Dominguez’s kick ahead.

Within a minute Soroka burst through a gap for his second try and Zebre hit back again through Dominguez’s fine solo effort.

Leinster were rewarded for sustained pressure as Kenny went over for his second score and a see-saw first-half battle continued as Giovanni Quattrini powered over from a maul to reduce the deficit to 26-21 at the break.

Jerry Cahir barged over for a debut try soon after the restart, while further tries from Byrne and South Africa lock RG Snyman extended the home side’s lead to 45-21.

Marco Zanon powered over from the back of a ruck for Zebre’s fourth try before Leinster’s replacement back row Will Connors’ 77th-minute touchdown completed the scoring.

*Meanwhile Tinus de Beer missed a late kick, which halted Dragons’ chance of ending their winless run as they were held by Ospreys in a 19-all draw.

Cardiff’s impressive home form continued as Ioan Lloyd kicked them to a dramatic 20-19 victory over Edinburgh.

Munster maintained their winning start as they record a 17-15 win over Connacht in an error-strewn game at Thomond Park.

Leinster 50-26 Zebre Parma

The scorers:

For Leinster:
Tries: Kenny 2, Soroka 2, Cahir, Byrne, Snyman, Connors
Cons: Byrne 5

For Zebre:
Tries: Belloni, Dominguez, Quattrini, Zanon
Cons: Da Re 3

Teams:

Leinster: 15 Hugo McLaughlin, 14 Joshua Kenny, 13 Hugh Cooney, 12 Charlie Tector, 11 Andrew Osborne, 10 Harry Byrne, 9 Luke McGrath (captain), 8 James Culhane, 7 Scott Penny, 6 Max Deegan, 5 Diarmuid Mangan, 4 Brian Deeny, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 John McKee, 1 Jerry Cahir.
Replacements: 16 Bobby Sheehan, 17 Alex Usanov, 18 Andrew Sparrow, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Alex Soroka, 21 Will Connors, 22 Fintan Gunne, 23 Caspar Gabriel.

Zebre: 15 Lorenzo Pani, 14 Mirko Belloni, 13 Giulio Bertaccini, 12 Marco Zanon, 11 Albert Einstein Batista, 10 Giacomo Da Re, 9 Thomas Dominguez, 8 David Odiase, 7 Samuele Locatelli, 6 Giacomo Ferrari, 5 Leonard Krumov (captain), 4 Franco Carrera, 3 Matteo Nocera, 2 Giovanni Quattrini, 1 Muhamed Hasa.
Replacements: 16 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 17 Paolo Buonfiglio, 18 Marcos Gallorini, 19 Giacomo Milano, 20 Giovanni Licata, 21 Migael Prinsloo, 22 Martin Roger Farias, 23 Luca Morisi.

Referee: Ian Kenny (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Stuart Gaffikin (Ireland), Andrew Fogarty (Ireland)
TMO: Colin Brett (Scotland)

Dragons 19-19 Ospreys

The scorers:

For Dragons:
Tries: Williams, Coughlan, Woodman
Cons: De Beer 2

For Ospreys:
Tries: Deaves, Cokasinga, Hopkins
Cons: Edwards 2

Teams:

Dragons: 15 Angus O’Brien (captain), 14 Fine Inisi, 13 Joe Westwood, 12 Aneurin Owen, 12 Harri Ackerman, 11 Huw Anderson, 10 Tinus de Beer, 9 Rhodri Williams, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Thomas Young, 6 Ryan Woodman, 5 Ben Carter (c), 4 Matthew Screech, 3 Chris Coleman, 2 Brodie Coghlan, 1 Wyn Jones.
Replacements: 16 Oli Burrows, 17 Rodrigo Martinez, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Shane Lewis Hughes, 20 Harry Beddall, 21 Niall Armstrong, 22 Cai Evans, 23 David Richards.

Ospreys: 15 Jack Walsh, 14 Dan Kasende, 13 Phil Cokanasiga, 12 Keiran Williams, 11 Iestyn Hopkins, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 8 Ross Moriarty, 7 Harri Deaves, 6 Huw Sutton, 5 James Fender, 4 Ryan Smith, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Dewi Lake (captain), 1 Gareth Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Lewis Lloyd, 17 Garyn Phillips, 18 Ben Warren, 19 Rhys Davies, 20 Jac Morgan, 21 Luke Davies, 22 Evardi Boshoff, 23 Max Nagy.

Referee: Ben Breakspear (Wales)
Assistant referees: Adam Jones (Wales), Amber Stamp-Dunstan (Wales)
TMO: Aled Griffiths (Wales)

Cardiff 20-19 Edinburgh

The scorers:

For Cardiff:
Tries: Mulder, Adams, Sebastian
Con: Lloyd
Pen: Lloyd

For Edinburgh:
Tries: Wells, Shiel, Ashman
Cons: Scott, Lang

Teams:

Cardiff: 15 Jacob Beetham, 14 Josh Adams, 13 Harri Millard, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Tom Bowen, 10 Ioan Lloyd, 9 Johan Mulder, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Taine Basham, 6 Alex Mann, 5 George Nott, 4 Josh McNally, 3 Javan Sebastin, 2 Liam Belcher (captain), 1 Danny Southworth.
Replacements: 16 Daf Hughes, 17 Corey Domachowski, 18 Keiron Assiratti, 19 Ben Donnell, 20 Alun Lawrence, 21 Dan Thomas, 22 Aled Davies, 23 Callum Sheedy.

Edinburgh: 15 Wes Goosen, 14 Ross McCann, 13 Piers O’Conor, 12 James Lang, 11 Lewis Wells, 10 Cammy Scott, 9 Charlie Shiel, 8 Magnus Bradbury (captain), 7 Dylan Richardson, 6 Liam McConnell, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Marshall Sykes, 3 D’arcy Rae, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Paddy Harrison, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Callum Hunter-Hill, 20 Luke Crosbie, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Ross Thompson, 23 Matt Davidson.

Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Craig Evans (Wales), Carwyn Sion (Wales)
TMO: Colin Stanley (Ireland)

Munster 17-15 Connacht

The scorers:

For Munster:
Tries: O’Donoghue 2, Kilgallen
Con: Hanrahan

For Connacht:
Tries: Ralston 2, Boyle

Teams:

Munster: 15 Shane Daly, 14 Diarmuid Kilgallen, 13 Dan Kelly, 12 Alex Nankivell, 11 Thaakir Abrahams, 10 JJ Hanrahan, 9 Ethan Coughlan, 8 Gavin Coombes, 7 John Hodnett, 6 Jack O’Donoghue (captain), 5 Fineen Wycherley, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 John Ryan, 2 Lee Barron, 1 Michael Milne.
Replacements: 16 Niall Scannell, 17 Jeremy Loughman, 18 Ronan Foxe, 19 Evan O’Connell, 20 Ruadhan Quinn, 21 Jake O’Riordan, 22 Tony Butler, 23 Shay McCarthy.

Connacht: 15 Harry West, 14 Byron Ralson, 13 Hugh Gavin, 12 Cathal Forde, 11 Finn Treacy, 10 Josh Ioane, 9 Ben Murphy, 8 Sean Jansen, 7 Paul Boyle (captain), 6 Josh Murphy, 5 Darragh Murray, 4 Joe Joyce, 3 Sam Illo, 2 Dave Heffernan, 1 Jordan Duggan.
Replacements: 16 Dylan Tierney-Martin, 17 Peter Dooley, 18 Fiachna Barrett, 19 Niall Murray, 20 David O’Connor, 21 Matthew Devine, 22 Sean Naughton, 23 Seán O’Brien.

Referee: Andrea Piardi (France)
Assistant referees: Peter Martin (Ireland), Chris Lough (Ireland)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (Italy)

Source: PA sports