Scrum-half Caolin Blade scored a hat-trick for Connacht in their 41-26 bonus-point win over Edinburgh on Saturday.
The hosts led 20-7 at the break after Blade sprinted off after intercepting a loose Edinburgh pass. The try added to five-pointers scored by Cathal Forde and Conor Oliver.
Jarrad Butler scored early in the second period for Connacht, and Edinburgh responded through Vilame Mata and Glen Young, but it was not to be for the Scottish side.
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Eight points is as close as the Scots came, as a Blade double early in the final quarter settled the issue. An opportunist late try from Blair Kinghorn gave Edinburgh a bonus point of their own.
It was a fantastic solo try that launched Connacht into a seventh-minute lead, young centre Forde bursting through midfield before grounding the ball out wide despite the best efforts of Kinghorn and Damien Hoyland.
A David Hawkshaw penalty – following Oran McNulty’s charge-down on Boffelli – made it 8-0, and Connacht built from a scrum for flanker Oliver to crash over in the 20th minute.
Edinburgh had a couple of maul attempts thwarted but penalties led to them closing the gap to 15-7, prop Atalifo burrowing over for Boffelli to convert.
However, Blade plucked down a Kinghorn pass and scooted clear from his 22 to give the Irish province a decent interval cushion.
🌬️ Pickpocketed! There was no catching Caolin Blade here. #CONvEDI pic.twitter.com/M2xMPsgNEF
— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) March 25, 2023
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Jack Aungier’s well-timed pass sent Butler over in the 44th minute, with Hawkshaw converting, but Edinburgh, who visit Leicester Tigers next week in the Heineken Champions Cup, got back into contention.
Mata thundered over on the back of a Mark Bennett break, and Young took advantage of Oliver’s yellow to reduce the arrears to 27-19, just four minutes later.
A subsequent high tackle saw Connacht lock Dowling binned and then Boffelli was guilty of taking out John Porch in the air.
Tom Farrell led Connacht’s charge back downfield and Blade sniped over from a ruck. Replacement Tom Daly converted and also added the extras to the scrum half’s 64th-minute clincher.
Connacht’s fifth straight victory was confirmed, but Edinburgh completed the scoring when Kinghorn dotted down before Kieran Marmion could kick the ball clear.
Ospreys claim bonus point win in Welsh derby
Ospreys began strongly to take a ninth-minute lead. A well-worked lineout move involving Sam Parry and Ethan Roots put the visitors’ defence on the back foot with Smith capitalising by powering over from close range.
Walsh converted and added a penalty as Dragons continued to get on the wrong side of referee Jaco Peyper.
It took the Gwent region 20 minutes to reach the opposition 22 but on doing so they picked up their first points with a penalty from Reed.
Ospreys responded with a second penalty from Walsh after he was tackled by prop Lloyd Fairbrother without having the ball.
Minutes later, Walsh was on the receiving end of a late challenge from Moriarty, which saw the Dragons’ flanker sin-binned and immediately the hosts looked to have capitalised.
Former Dragon Sam Parry crashed over from a driving line-out but TMO replays showed that the hooker had lost possession before grounding.
However, Dragons soon suffered another two blows in quick succession. First they lost number eight Ollie Griffiths with a shoulder injury before Lydiate finished off a round of passing before O’Brien kicked a long-range penalty to leave his side trailing 18-6 at the interval.
Two minutes after the restart, Moriarty returned in time to see Morris take advantage of some weak defence from the visitors to score before Tomkinson was sent off for a high tackle in the same passage of play.
Dragons showed some spirit to pick up a try from Jordan Williams but Keiran Williams raced 45 metres to score his side’s fifth.
Dewi Lake collected a yellow card for a high challenge on Bradley Roberts before Alun Wyn Jones departed on what may have been his last appearance for Ospreys on their home ground.
Dragons picked up a late penalty try with Gareth Thomas yellow-carded for collapsing the maul but the home side were convincing winners.
Lions complete comeback in Treviso
The Lions kept alive their United Rugby Championship play-off hopes as a stunning late comeback saw them secure a 32-28 win over Benetton at Stadio Monigo.
They trailed 28-13 with 18 minutes to go but two tries from Emmanuel Tshituka and a further score
from Rabz Maxwane turned the game on its head and secured a third victory in a row for the South Africans.
Tries from Joaquin Riera, Marcus Watson, Siua Maile and Henry Time-Stowers had appeared to put Benetton on track for a victory which would have been vital to their own play-off hopes.
Quan Horn had earlier crossed for the Lions in the first half with scrum-half Sanele Nohamba booting three conversions and two penalties.
Jacob Umaga converted all four Benetton tries.