Warriors charge past Ulster
Glasgow Warriors took a huge step towards booking up their Pro12 play-off spot on Friday.
The Scottish franchise completed their first season's double over Ulster since 2010 with a 27-9 win.
* In the other match on Friday Leinster cemented their place at the top of the Pro12 table after a comfortable 62-7 victory over Treviso on Good Friday.
The Irish province ran in nine tries from eight different scorers in Dublin as they got back to winning ways following their 10-25 defeat against the Ospreys last week.
We look at Friday's games!
Glasgow Warriors 27-9 Ulster
Glasgow Warriors took a huge step towards booking up their Pro12 play-off spot by completing a first season's double over Ulster since 2010 with a 27-9 win.
The Warriors looked destined to trail at the break after Ulster's Paddy Jackson slotted three penalties to one from Finn Russell, but Sean Maitland crossed at the last for a converted score to establish a 10-9 lead.
And the match was transformed in the space of 10 minutes after the break with Sean Doyle's yellow card seeing 14-man Ulster concede five points to the boot of Russell and a try to Seymour.
From then Ulster hammered on the door but they failed to make up the ground and Glasgow Warriors broke clear near the end for Mark Bennett to cross and rubber-stamp the win.
Maitland fired the first warning shot as he broke towards the Ulster 22 but it was the visitors who had the first attempt at goal with Jackson's penalty drifting wide.
Glasgow flyhalf Russell showed Jackson how it should be done with the opening points on nine minutes.
The Ulster flyhalf made amends on 20 minutes when a period of possession saw them rewarded with a penalty that levelled the scores.
Jackson slotted his second penalty of the match five minutes later and the momentum truly swung Ulster's way when Ryan Wilson was sin-binned and the flyhalf kicked the visitors 9-3 ahead.
Jackson was given the chance to open up a nine-point gap on 30 minutes but failed with his attempt.
The misses were to cost Ulster dear when Glasgow crossed for the first try of the match on the stroke of half-time.
Russell was again at the heart of it and he off-loaded the ball to meet Maitland's perfectly-timed run for the Scotland wing to burst over.
Russell picked up after the restart where he had left off with another penalty extending Glasgow's lead to 13-9 with Ulster also seeing flanker Doyle sent to the bin.
The Warriors were awarded two penalties in quick succession and kicked to the corner on both occasions with the second lineout leading to a drive that saw Tommy Seymour go over for his third try in two seasons against his old club.
Russell kicked a fine conversion from the left touchline to extend Glasgow's lead to 20-9.
Nick Williams thought he had scored a try for Ulster but he was adjudged to have been held up over the line.
After holding out on their own line for sustained periods of pressure, Glasgow broke and centre Bennett stretched out to score a vital try even though the ball appeared to slip from his hand.
Russell converted to stretch the lead to 27-9 to complete a third successive victory over Ulster, who, despite denying their hosts a bonus point, are now sweating on their own place in the play-offs.
The scorers:
For Glasgow Warriors:
Tries: Maitland, Bennett, Seymour
Cons: Russell 3
Pens: Russell 2
For Ulster:
Pens: Jackson 3
Yellow cards: Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors, 28), Sean Doyle (Ulster, 42)
Teams:
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Peter Murchie, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Peter Horne, 11 Tommy Seymour, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Chris Cusiter (captain), 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 Chris Fusaro, 6 Josh Strauss, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Tim Swinson, 3 Jon Welsh, 2 Dougie Hall, 1 Gordon Reid.
Replacements: 16 Pat MacArthur, 17 Ryan Grant, 18 Geoff Cross, 19 Leone Nakarawa, 20 Rob Harley, 21 Niko Matawalu, 22 Ruaridh Jackson, 23 Richie Vernon.
Ulster: 15 Ricky Andrew, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Luke Marshall, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Paul Marshall, 8 Nick Williams, 7 Sean Doyle, 6 Chris Henry, 5 Iain Henderson, 4 Johann Muller (captain), 3 Ricky Lutton, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Tom Court.
Replacements: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Andrew Warwick, 18 Declan Fitzpatrick, 19 Lewis Stevenson, 20 Mike McComish, 21 Michael Heaney, 22 James McKinney, 23 Craig Gilroy.
Referee: John Lacey
Assistant referees: David Changleng, Graeme Marshall
TMO: Jim Yuille
Leinster 62-7 Benetton Treviso
Leinster cemented their place at the top of the Pro12 table after a comfortable 62-7 victory over Treviso on Good Friday.
The Irish province ran in nine tries from eight different scorers in Dublin as they got back to winning ways following their 19-25 defeat against the Ospreys last week.
Jimmy Gopperth was also at his instrumental best from flyhalf and finished the game with a haul of 15 points as Leinster edged further clear of second-placed Ulster.
Leinster flew out of the blocks and Gopperth gave them an early 3-0 lead with a penalty.
The Irish side continued to press and a succession of phases ended when Rob Kearney's sublime inside offload enabled the on-rushing Jordi Murphy to touch down after 10 minutes.
Gopperth's conversion attempt drifted just wide of the left-hand upright but the home side added more points soon after.
Hooker Sean Cronin pounced on a loose Treviso lineout and raced clear of the Italians' defence to dot down for his second Pro12 try of the season.
Gopperth added the extras to give Leinster a 15-0 advantage with less than a quarter of the game gone.
Treviso centre Christian Loamanu was then stretchered off following a nasty-looking collision with Zane Kirchner, but the delay did little to slow Leinster's momentum.
With just 22 minutes on the clock, Ireland prop Cian Healy overpowered two defenders for the home side's third try and Gopperth made it a 22-0 lead.
Gopperth then turned provider when he broke through Treviso's embattled defensive line and offloaded for Kirchner to wrap up the bonus point before half-time.
Treviso reduced the deficit to 29-7 at the break as they were awarded a 39th-minute penalty try for Isaac Boss coming in at the side of a driving maul, an offence which also saw the Leinster scrum-half sin-binned.
The hosts continued where they left off in the second half, however, as Dominic Ryan touched down after some brute strength by the pack.
Gopperth missed the conversion but it mattered little as Noel Reid dotted down after wonderful work by Luke McGrath – Gopperth's conversion this time making it 41-7.
Jamie Heaslip soon got himself in on the act when he broke clear of the Treviso defence to cross on 72 minutes, while McGrath's first try of the Pro12 season and another try for Reid sealed an easy evening's work for Leinster.
The scorers:
For Leinster:
Tries: Murphy, Cronin, Healy, Kirchner, Ryan, Reid 2, Heaslip, L McGrath
Cons: Gopperth 7
Pen: Gopperth
For Benetton Treviso:
Try: Penalty try
Con: Berquist
Yellow cards: Isaac Boss (Leinster, 39), Jack McGrath (Leinster, 55), Angelo Esposito (Benetton Treviso, 69)
Teams:
Leinster: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Zane Kirchner, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 12 Noel Reid, 11 Darragh Fanning, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Isaac Boss, 8 Jamie Heaslip (captain), 7 Jordi Murphy, 6 Rhys Ruddock, 5 Mike McCarthy, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Martin Moore, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Michael Bent, 19 Tom Denton, 20 Dominic Ryan, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Brendan Macken.
Treviso: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Ludovico Nitoglia, 13 Michele Campagnaro, 12 Christian Loamanu, 11 Angelo Esposito, 10 Mat Berquist, 9 Tobias Botes, 8 Robert Barbieri, 7 Paul Derbyshire, 6 Marco Filippucci, 5 Valerio Bernabò, 4 Marco Fuser, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini (captain), 1 Matteo Muccignat.
Replacements: 16 Giovanni Maistri, 17 Ignacio Fernandez-Rouyet, 18 Pedro Di Santo, 19 Antonio Pavanello, 20 Dean Budd, 21 Fabio Semenzato, 22 James Ambrosini, 23 Brendan Williams.
Referee: Neil Paterson
Assistant referees: Eddie Hagon-O'Connell, Will O'Connor
TMO: Dermot Moloney (IRFU)
