The provinces claimed a clean sweep of victories at the weekend exactly a year on from the last time they last achieved the clean sweep. Connacht, Munster, Leinster and Ulster only managed to win once on the same weekend last season, and on just the second weekend of the new campaign they have already emulated that feat.
By Declan Whooley
Connacht and Munster got things underway with comfortable victories over Italian opposition. Eric Elwood’s side were the first ever visitors to the Stadio Aprille XXV and left with a 30-17 victory. A Tiernan O’Halloran try and perfect display from the tee by Miah Nikora saw Connacht lead 13-0 at the interval. Second half tries from George Naoupu and Mike McCarthy gave the Westerners their first win of the season.
Munster were too strong for Treviso at Thomond Park but could not turn their possession into a bigger scoreline with Doug Howlett scoring the only try of the game after six minutes. Ian Keatley scored four penalties and a conversion in a 19-6 scoreline but the performance was more workman like than the previous game at Edinburgh.
Leinster gained Welsh revenge for their opening day defeat to table toppers Scarlets with a 45-25 home win over the Dragons. 15, 724 supporters were treated to five tries and a man-of-the-match performance from Ian Madigan as Leinster turned on the style at the RDS.
Winger Andrew Conway and flanker Ben Marshall on his debut touched down in the opening half to leave the score 26-13 at the break. Shane Jennings, Fionn Carr and Brendan Macken in injury time sealed an impressive win and the Dragons can count themselves unlucky to leave without a losing bonus point.
Ulster put on the performance of the weekend when they travelled to the Liberty Stadium to take on the champions Ospreys. Replacement Paul Marshall was the hero with a try five minutes from time to inflict a second successive loss for the home side. Trailing 7-3 at the break Ulster upped their performance considerably in the second half with substitute Paddy Jackson scoring two penalties and a conversion as Ulster won out 16-13.
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