Saturday 2 March 2019 23:04, UK
Recap of Saturday's PRO14 action as Connacht, Benetton, Scarlets, Glasgow and Cardiff Blues all picked up wins over the Ospreys, Edinburgh, Munster, Zebre and the Kings.
Connacht put the ill-disciplined Ospreys to the sword in a six-try 46-5 win at the Sportsground which keeps them in the hunt for the Guinness PRO14 play-offs and Champions Cup qualification.
The double whammy of a Keelan Giles yellow card and a penalty try completed a dire first half for the Ospreys, as wind-backed Connacht clinically scored tries through Tom Farrell, Matt Healy and Kieran Marmion to claim a 34-5 half-time lead.
Man-of-the-match Kyle Godwin impressed on his first start at fly-half, kicking 14 points.
Marmion, who surely will come back into the Ireland frame against France, completed a brace of tries before replacement Tom McCartney piled over from a 69th-minute maul.
Jordan Lay and Bradley Davies were both sin-binned in the second half for the Ospreys, who could not add to Matthew Aubrey's earlier score as a difficult Six Nations block, which saw doubts emerge about the region's long-term future, ended in a crushing defeat.
Edinburgh's hopes of progressing out of Conference B of the Guinness PRO14 suffered another blow as they were beaten 18-10 by in-form Benetton at Stadio Monigo.
The Scottish outfit came into the match trailing second-placed Benetton by four points after losing two of their previous three matches and in desperate need of a win in Treviso.
But it was to prove another disappointing day for Richard Cockerill's men as Benetton extended their unbeaten run to nine matches in all competitions with a hard-fought victory.
A defiant defensive performance earned Scarlets a well-deserved Guinness PRO14 victory over Munster in terrible conditions at Parc y Scarlets.
Ioan Nicholas' first-half try was the difference in a 10-6 victory, with Leigh Halfpenny adding a penalty and conversion.
Munster, who had to settle for a losing bonus point, could only muster two Bill Johnston penalties, despite having the lion's share of territory and possession.
Matt Fagerson scored two tries as Glasgow thrashed Zebre 42-10 to claim a bonus-point win and return to the top of Guinness PRO14 Conference A.
Chris Fusaro, Stafford McDowell, Ruaridh Jackson and Tim Swinson also crossed the whitewash, with fly-half Adam Hastings adding all six conversions.
Tommaso Castello scored Zebre's only try, which was added to Carlo Canna's early penalty. Francois Brummer added the conversion, with the hosts left to play with 14 men for the last 15 minutes after Canna was shown a red card for an off-the-ball kick.
The win meant Glasgow moved to the Conference A summit after Munster were beaten 10-6 by Scarlets earlier on Saturday.
Cardiff Blues picked up five valuable league points with a hard-fought 26-19 victory over a stubborn Southern Kings at a wet Arms Park.
The bonus-point victory moved them up to joint-third with Connacht on 47 points, eight ahead of Ospreys as the three sides compete for a play-off spot in PRO14's Conference A.
Blues' tries came from Owen Lane, Olly Robinson, Jason Harries and Nick Williams with Jarrod Evans kicking three conversions.
Kings' tries came from lock Dries Van Schalkwyk, Masixole Banda and Michael Willemse, with Banda and Bader Pretorius adding conversions.
