Good afternoon and welcome to The42‘s live coverage of the first of two back-to-back Champions Cup games as Pat Lam’s Connacht host Zebre at the Sportsground.
Later, all eyes are on Glasgow as Munster look to secure a quarter-final berth but firstly we’re in Galway as the western province hope to boost their hopes of progression with a big win.
Kick-off is at 1pm and we’ll have all the build-up between now and then.
Preparations well underway in Galway. We’ll have all the team news for you next.
Before we go any further, let’s take a check on the teams.
Craig Ronaldson is back from injury to start at inside centre while John Cooney will start at out-half for the first time in his career.
In the pack, Lewis Stevenson is drafted in to the second row where he will partner James Cannon and captain John Muldoon returns from injury to start at number eight.
Peter Robb, Jack Carty, Quinn Roux and Jake Heenan all miss out on the match day squad through injury while Naulia Dawai drops to the bench.
Connacht:
15. Tiernan O’Halloran
14. Niyi Adeolokun
13. Rory Parata
12. Craig Ronaldson
11. Matt Healy
10. John Cooney
9. Kieran Marmion
1. Denis Buckley
2. Tom McCartney
3. Finlay Bealham
4. Lewis Stevenson
5. James Cannon
6. Sean O’Brien
7. Eoin McKeon
8. John Muldoon (captain)
Replacements:
16. Dave Heffernan
17. JP Cooney
18. John Andress
19. James Connolly
20. Naulia Dawai
21. Caolin Blade
22. Tom Farrell
23. Danie Poolman
Zebre:
15. K Baker
14. L Greeff
13. E Padovani
12. M Bellini
11. G Palazzani
10. C Canna
9. M Violi
1. A Lovotti
2. C Festuccia
3. P Ceccarelli
4. G Koegelenberg
5. V Bernabo
6. M Mbanda
7. J Meyer
8. F Ruzza.
Replacements:
16. O Fabiani
17. A de Marchi
18. D Chistolini
19. J Furno
20. G Biagi
21. C Engelbrecht
22. D Minnie
23. S Bordoli.
Ryan Bailey here to guide you through all the action as it happens and Sean Farrell is in position at the Sportsground as we bring you minute-by-minute coverage of this Pool 2 encounter.
Which way do you see this one going? If you want to join in the conversation, tweet us: @rugby_ie and @The42_ie, e-mail ryan@the42.ie or post your thoughts in the comments section below.
Before we kick-off, let’s have a look at how things stand in Pool 2.
The Pro12 champions are sitting third in their group, but they are level on points with their rivals.
Toulouse have the toughest close to the pool stage as they have already faced Zebre twice. However, they will have home advantage against Connacht in round six.
Both Connacht and Wasps will count a bonus point win over Zebre as absolutely essential, so let’s assume both teams have a base of 18 points.
That figure may be enough to take a quarter-final berth, the trick in this case is finishing in the top two of the pool.
With the pool so tight, don’t expect to see any team taking their foot off the pedal Northampton / Racing style in the closing rounds. If Wasps beat Toulouse this weekend, they will almost certainly win the pool – as Connacht would need all 10 remaining points available to stand any chance of beating them.
Having lost out 23–21 at the Sportsground, the French giants would still be confident of overtaking the Westerners on home turf – particularly given Connacht’s injury-ravaged state – but stranger things have happened.
We’re all set in Galway.
The game is live on the Sky Sports Mix channel for those near a TV but we’ll be keeping you right up to date here throughout the afternoon.
Joe Schmidt is in the stands to keep a close eye on Connacht’s international contingent. Both teams are out to a warm reception.
Kick-off! We’re up and running at the Sportsground.
TRY! Connacht 5-0 Zebre (Healy)
Well that didn’t take long. Tiaran O’Halloran sets Healy away and he cuts through the Zebre defence to get Connacht on the board.
Cooney makes no mistake with the conversion and Connacht have the perfect start.
TRY! Connacht 7-7 Zebre (Meyer)
But the Italians respond emphatically. The hosts are put under considerable pressure with a series of scrums and eventually Johan Meyer bundles his way over from close range with the conversion drawing Zebre level.
To their credit, the Italians have started with real purpose here and are causing Connacht problems during these early stages. There’s already a frenetic pace to the game with both sides throwing the ball wide.
Connacht were punished for attacking from deep on the last occasion and very nearly conceded another try there after giving the ball away but just had enough cover on that far touchline.
Another knock-on gives Zebre the scrum in prime attacking territory.
TRY! Connacht 7-14 Zebre (Ruzza)
Well, well, well. We were not expecting this. After another period of sustained pressure, Ruzza powers over and dots it down under the posts before Canna adds the extras. The Italians are in the lead, and Pat Lam is looking slightly bemused in the coaching box.
Breathless start to this game but it hasn’t gone according to script for Connacht so far. The Italians are up for this one after suffering that ten-try hammering at the RDS last week.
TRY! Connacht 14-14 Zebre (Cooney)
That’s better! Marmion waits and waits and finds the pass for Sean O’Brien and it eventually makes its way to Cooney, via Ronaldson, for the out-half to run it under the posts. He also adds to the extras and we’re level pegging again.
More life and energy to Connacht now. Really knocking on the door and they win their fifth penalty of the day, which Ronaldson kicks to touch. Stevenson gathers the lineout and the hosts are inches from the line….
TRY! Connacht 21-14 Zebre (O’Halloran)
Beautifully worked. The forwards did the hard yards and Marmion gets it back to Cooney, who produced a delish grubber kick through for O’Halloran to gather and dot down. That’s three tries now for Lam’s men.
All one-way traffic now and the complexion of this game has turned completely. Zebre are really struggling to cope with Connacht’s running game and are conceding penalty after penalty.
Cooney looks to dart in for his second but he knocks it on in contact. However, the referee was playing advantage and we’re going back to the far side.
TRY! Connacht 26-14 Zebre (Bealham)
And the pressure pays off again. Marmion kicks for the corner, and the maul does all the damage with Bealham the man to get it down.
And Cooney nails the conversion from the touchline to extend Connacht’s lead. It’s all looking rosy now for the western province as they secure the bonus point inside half an hour.
Yellow! Zebre winger Greeff is sent to the bin for a high tackle on Niyi Adeolokun.
Yellow! Zebre really up against it now as they go down to 13 men. Ceccarelli joins his team-mate in the bin.
TRY! Connacht 33-14 Zebre (Marmion)
And there’s try number five as Marmion sees the gap after picking it up from the back of the scrum. Cooney misses the conversion attempt.
TRY! Connacht 40-14 Zebre (Ronaldson)
And Ronaldson gets in on the act as he cuts through the heart of the Zebre defence and has the simple task of running it home
Half-time! Connacht 40-14 Zebre
A pretty good 40 minutes for Connacht in the end.
Back underway in Galway as Connacht go in search of more tries. Could be a busy second half for the scoreboard operator.
TRY! Connacht 45-14 Zebre (Healy)
And it takes just a minute into the second half for Connacht to get up and running again. Healy finishes it off on the left.
And when it’s your day, it’s your day. Cooney strikes the conversion sweetly and with the help of the inside of the post, just drops over. Zebre, by the way, still down to 13 men.
TRY! Connacht 54-14 Zebre (O’Halloran)
It’s so, so easy for Connacht. Healy again involved and he exchanges passes with O’Halloran to set the full-back away for a clear run home. Simple as you like.
Zebre are back to their full complement and they’re enjoying a decent spell here. Connacht being forced to do a lot of defensive work to keep the Italians at bay.
TRY! Connacht 61-14 Zebre (Marmion)
Connacht stand firm and then pounce through Marmion, who sprints home to add another try to the tally.
Couple of changes for Connacht.
TRY! Connacht 61-21 Zebre (Bellini)
Zebre get their third try of the afternoon through Bellini. The intensity has been sucked out of this game over the last few minutes.
Another big ground inside the Sportsground and they’ve been treated to do some good rugby by the hosts.
TRY! Connacht 66-21 Zebre (Blade)
Textbook stuff from Connacht as Healy cuts through and draws the last man in before offloading to Blade.
Connacht still pushing and probing as they look to finish this game with a flourish. Remember, every point could be crucial in this pool.
Tiernan O’Halloran named man of the match as we head towards the last few minutes.
Full-time: Connacht 66-21 Zebre
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