Leinster and Bulls show class as top two beat Zebre and Dragons : PlanetRugby

A Leinster blitz either side of the interval helped the league leaders secure a comfortable 31-7 triumph over Zebre Parma in the United Rugby Championship.

Rob Russell opened the scoring for the Irish province before Jacopo Trulla responded for the Italian outfit to level matters.

However, Andrew Osborne’s try just prior to the break, allied by scores for Luke McGrath and Scott Penny early in the second period, took the game out of the hosts’ reach.

Leinster then added gloss to the scoreline towards the end of the match through Russell to maintain their four-point gap at the top of the URC.

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Leinster were off and running after just four minutes when Ross Byrne’s inside ball to Russell saw the wing accelerate clear of Zebre defenders and claim a fine 45-metre solo score.

Byrne added the conversion, and a passive Zebre defence was almost unlocked again eight minutes later when Leinster full-back Ciaran Frawley attacked in space, but he was hauled down five metres out.

Leinster had centre Liam Turner yellow-carded following head-on-head contact with Zebre fly-half Geronimo Prisciantelli, and the home side rapidly drew level.

Prisciantelli was the architect, kicking with pinpoint accuracy to find wing Scott Gregory, and his pass sent Italy international Trulla sprinting over for a try that the fly-half converted.

It had been a testing spell for Leinster, but they went back in front nine minutes before half-time when Osborne regathered his own superbly-weighted kick inside Zebre’s 22 and finished impressively.

Byrne’s conversion made it 14-7, and Zebre ended the first half a player down after flanker Iacopo Bianchi received a yellow card after an off-the-ball tackle on Leinster’s Will Connors.

McGrath claimed Leinster’s third try early in the second period, and Penny followed him over Zebre’s line five minutes later after a Turner break shredded Zebre’s defence, before Russell added his second late on.

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Bulls too strong for the Dragons

Dragons were left propping up the United Rugby Championship standings despite producing a spirited performance before going down 31-10 at home to the high-flying Bulls.

The hosts competed strongly throughout but Bulls always had the additional power and that touch of class to ensure a bonus-point victory that lifts them up to second.

Kurt-Lee Arendse, Mpilo Gumede, Embrose Papier and Johan Grobbelaar scored the South African side’s tries with Chris Smith converting all four and adding a penalty.

The Dragons responded with a Corey Baldwin try that was converted by Will Reed, and a Cai Evans penalty, but it was not enough to prevent a 10th defeat in 12 league outings this season.

Dragons began promisingly with well-judged kicks from Evans and Steff Hughes keeping Bulls penned in their own 22 in the opening 10 minutes.

However, the hosts did not…