Zebre 7 Connacht 52
Connacht have taken top spot in pool three of the Champions Cup, courtesy of a eight-try haul in Parma last evening. And with Toulouse and Wasps forced to share the spoils in a 20-20 draw in France, it ensured Pat Lam’s men left Stadio Lanfranchi with a two-point lead over their English counterparts in their bid to reach the knock-out stages.
Left wing Stacey Ili produced a hat-trick in his first match for the Pro 12 champions, fullback Cian Kelleher grabbed two in the second half, and centre Craig Ronaldson added 10 points from his boot in their blitz over the Italians.
“It was a professional performance, “ said Pat Lam.”We are top of the table now, but there’s a long way to go. Obviously it shows how tough our pool is and it’s going to come down to two of us probably going through, that is the battle. We are sitting in a good place, but we have a tough job in December away to Wasps in Conventry.
“The good thing now is we have two from two, nine points, so we can now park this. We have two big games in the Pro 12 starting with the RDS before we head into a break.”
Lam, having selected his youngest starting XV for this joust, said the team’s form was coming at the right time.
“”The competition is coming back and you only get competition if guys choose to play well and do the work. There were some great performances, and there are some serious selection issues now. We are starting to get back to where we were at last year, but the maturity of the group of the group is key regardless of their age.”
Stacey Ili, who came to Ireland from the fringes of the Auckland team, impressed with his pace and energy to bag a hat-trick, while Sean O’Brien, although yellow-carded in the opening half for deliberate knock-on when offside, was prominent in the loose, alongside Quinn Roux, Jake Heenan, and Andrew Browne.
Always a potential banana skin for Connacht, particularly after Zebre had led the abandoned Pro 12 fixture a month ago, Connacht looked like a different outfit in the perfect conditions.
Two tries inside the opening minutes had Pat Lam’s side very much on the front foot, but after a disappointing second 20 minutes, Connacht were unable to make further headway on the scoreboard, leading at half time by 14 - 0.
Connacht always looked to use their attacking edge with ball in hand in an error-free opening period and they profited after nine minutes. Sean O’Brien made some incisive surges, and before a delightful grubber kick from outhalf Jack Carty was finished off by Ili for his first of three. Five minutes later a smashing tackle from Peter Robb forced outhalf Carlo Canna to spill possession, and with Zebre fullback Edoardo Padovani out of position, Carty picked up and raced from inside his own half, with Ronaldson converting.
Thereafter, however, mistakes crept into Connacht’s game as the game became scrappy. It resulted in the yellow card for O’Brien, while Zebre lost hooker Oliviero Fabiani with a red card for what appeared to be a bite on Quinn Roux’s arm. The Italians, however, were unable to capitalise, and Connacht regained the initiative immediately after the break - Ili racing in from 30 metres from Carty’s crossfield kick. Nine minutes later the forwards got in on the act for the fourth try in the 50th minute when referee Mattieu Raynal awarded a penalty try from a five metre scrum.
With the bonus point secured, Connacht never let up, adding a fifth three minutes later. The pack were again instrumental, and although Heenan was just short, Kelleher danced his way through a demoralised cover for his second. When the prominent Ili burst through another gap, he set up the sixth which replacement prop Conor Carey scored on 56 minutes.
Padovani added the conversion, but it made little difference to a poor Zebre display. Connacht finished with two more tries in the final 10 minutes, O’Leary feeding Kelleher and Ili touching down for his third, which O’Leary converted.
Lam’s focus is now on Leinster in the Pro 12.
“We were not clinical at times, trying to rush it, and sometimes just a coupe of passes. I am very happy with the outcome, but there’s a bit of work to be done with such a big game next week at the RDS.
Zebre: E Padovani; G di Guilio (G d'Onfrio 43), G Bisegni, T Castello (T Boni 59), G Venditti; C Canna, M Violi (G Palazzani 58); A Lovotti (B Postiglioni 66), O Fabiani, P Ceccarelli (G Roan 55); Q Geldenhuys, G Biagi (J Furno 52); M Mbanda (T d'Apice 33), J Meyer, D van Schalkwyk (F Ruzza 63).
Connacht: C Kelleher; N Adeolokun (D Poolman 55), P Robb, C Ronaldson (S O'Leary 57), S Ili; J Carty, K Marmion (C Blade 57); JP Cooney (C Carey 49), S Delahunt (D Heffernan 52), F Bealham (JP Cooney 72); Q Roux, A Browne (U Dillane 59); S O'Brien, J Heenan, J Muldoon (E McKeon 58).
Referee: Mathieu Raynal (FFR).
