Leinster breathing down Connacht's neck after bonus-point win

Dan Leavy’s try with just two minutes to go ensured Leo Cullen’s side took maximum points home from Italy.

Zebre 10

Leinster 27

A LATE TRY from flanker Dan Leavy clinched a crucial bonus-point win for Leinster against Zebre in Parma today.

Leo Cullen’s side are now just one point behind Connacht with a game in hand and have four points to spare over Scarlets in third.

Leinster had won nine of their previous 10 matches heading into today and got off to an excellent start through a Luke McGrath try after just five minutes.

Isa Nacewa failed to add the extras but Leinster doubled their lead just 12 minutes later after Dominic Ryan touched down. Nacewa converted on this occasion to make it 12-0 on 18 minutes and it was looking like it could be a long afternoon for the home side.

But Zebre steadied the ship, through a penalty from former Leinster man Ian McKinley, to leave just nine points between the sides at the break.

A Nacewa penalty just after half-time restored Leinster’s 12-point advantage before an Adam Byrne try on 51 minutes put the Irish province in a commanding 22-3 lead.

Federico Ruzza got a try back for Zebre 20 minutes later before Leavy got the crucial score for Leinster with just two minutes remaining.

Zebre scorers: Tries: Ruzza, Conversions: McKinley; Penalties: McKinley.

Leinster scorers: Tries: McGrath, Ryan, Byrne, Leavy; Conversions: Nacewa (2); Penalties: Nacewa.

ZEBRE: Mils Muliaina; Giulio Toniolatti, Tommaso Boni, Matteo Pratichetti, Kayle van Zyl; Ian McKinley, Fabio Semenzato; Bruno Postiglioni, Oliviero Fabiani, Guillermo Roan; Quintin Geldenhuys, Marco Bortolami, Jacopo Sarto, Federico Ruzza, Johan Meyer.

Replacements: Gabriele Morelli, Andrea De Marchi, Pietro Ceccarelli, Gideon Koegelenberg, Emiliano Caffini, Luke Burgess, Maicol Azzolini, Ulrich Beyers.

LEINSTER: Zane Kirchner; Adam Byrne, Garry Ringrose, Ben Te’o, Isa Nacewa (c); Cathal Marsh, Luke McGrath; Peter Dooley, James Tracy, Tadhg Furlong; Ross Molony, Mick Kearney; Dominic Ryan, Dan Leavy, Jordi Murphy.

Replacements: Sean Cronin, Jeremy Loughman, Michael Bent, Hayden Triggs, Peadar Timmins, Nick McCarthy, Noel Reid, Cian Kelleher.

The42 is on Snapchat! Tap the button below on your phone to add!

Add us: the42.ie