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Clean sweep for Irish provinces in Pro12 Round 2

Roar Guru
16th September, 2014
8

It was a clean sweep for the Irish provinces in Round 2 of the Pro12, with Leinster and Ulster achieving crushing victories, while Munster and Connacht had closer games.

It’s a huge improvement on the opening weekend, when only Connacht came away victorious.

Connacht’s unbeaten run puts them at third place on the Pro 12 Table.

Leinster’s 42-12 victory against the Scarlets was a much improved performance, having recalled more of their star players.

Both Rob Kearney and Ian Madigan (playing out of position at centre) scored braces and Madigan had a great day with the boot, kicking all six conversions. Other tries were scored by Dominic Ryan and Tadgh Furlong.

Returning captain Jaimie Heaslip put in a man of the match performance in his first game of the season, but he suffered a blot on his report card when he was sent off shortly before fulltime.

The Scarlets were able to capitalise on their extra man advantage and added a second try to their earlier effort. The six tries give Leinster the bonus point, putting them at fifth place on the Table. The Scarlets are at ninth.

Ulster also managed a bonus point win, defeating Zebre 33-13. Ulster dominated on their home ground, scoring five tries in all, with Ian Humphreys converting four of the tries.

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The victory move Ulster to fourth on the Table, while Zebre are eleventh.

Ulster’s victory was dampened by the news that their South African scrum-half Ruan Pienarr was injured in his country’s loss against New Zealand. Pienarr will now miss the rest of the Rugby Championship tournament, being out for eight or so weeks.

Despite beating Treviso 21-10, Munster failed to impress. They scored tries through CJ Stander and Simon Zebo, with Ian Keatley converting one try and kicking three penalties. Still, Munster were unable to capitalise on sustained pressure through great Treviso defence.

Munster have had a poor start to the Guinness Pro12, losing to Edinburgh last week and struggling against Treviso. Munster go to sixth on the Table. Treviso are dead last, twelfth on the table.

Connacht have started very well, adding to their victory over the Dragons last week by overcoming Edinburgh 14-13.

Edinburgh failed to capitalise on their great win over Munster last week and failed at their first home game of the season. Edinburgh drop to seventh place.

Still no sign of Connacht’s legendary All Black signing, Mils Muliaina, though. The New Zealand centurion is still recovering from injury, but is helping on the side-lines, importing his tremendous experience onto his new teammates.

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In the other Pro12 games over the weekend, Ospreys are top of the table, having beating the Dragons 17-15. It was a close game between the two Welsh sides, both teams showing great form. The Ospreys were the superior side, though, scoring two converted tries and a penalty, to five penalties by the Dragons. The Dragons now drop to tenth on the table, yet to win a game.

The Dragons have managed to keep their losses to within seven points, though, meaning they have achieved two points, putting them higher than Treviso and Zebre on the table, neither team having managed to attain any points so far.

Glasgow currently hold second place, with a crushing 33-12 win over the Cardiff Blues. It was a dominant performance by the visitors, though their three converted tries and four penalties meant they failed to get a bonus point.

The home side could only manage four penalties. Cardiff fall to eighth place.

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