Assured Connacht ease past Zebre

Zebre 19 Connacht 27

In grabbing their first four-try bonus point of the season, Connacht put some distance between themselves and bottom-of-the-table Zebre, and also leapfrogged Treviso to move into 10th place in the RaboDirect Pro 12 table.

It was the exactly the result Connacht coach Pat Lam had sought and was once again fashioned by forwards coach Dan McFarland with three first-half tries from the pack. Their domination in the set piece, particularly the scrum, and Connacht led 8-0 after five minutes. An early Dan Parks penalty was swiftly followed by the first try when prop Rodney Ah You touched down from a lineout and drive. Connacht capitalised on three successive penalties and a sin-binning for Zebre prop Salvatore Perugini to grab the second try after 25 minutes. Scrum-half Kieron Marmion dived over from an unstoppable scrum, with Parks adding the extras for a 15-0 lead. And before the break Connacht were awarded a penalty try to lead 22-0.