Leinster edged closer to the United Rugby Championship summit on Saturday by securing a bonus-point victory over Zebre Parma at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, pushing them four points ahead. Despite an unsteady performance overall, successful tries from Rob Russell (scoring twice), Andrew Osborne on his debut, Luke McGrath, and Scott Penny confirmed Leinster as the clear winners.
The deadlock was broken less than four minutes into the match, with Russell slicing through Zebre’s defence for his 15th try in 27 professional rugby club appearances. Further assisting the early lead was Ross Byrne, in his third game since recovering from an arm injury. He flawlessly added the extras, giving Leinster a seven-point lead early in the match.
Throughout the first quarter, Leinster had difficulty establishing a regular offensive rhythm and experienced a setback as Liam Turner was sent to the sin bin for 22 minutes after a head collision with Zebre’s Geronimo Prisciantelli.
Zebre seized the opportunity to make use of the brief numerical advantage on the field. Scott Gregory setting up a successful, converted try for fullback Jacopo Trulla, who had impressively caught a crossfield kick from Prisciantelli. This sparked some life into the game, but, despite Turner’s absence, Leinster regained control.
First-team newbie Andrew Osbourne, playing alongside his brother Jamie, beautifully chipped his own kick past Zebre’s backline and scored on the left wing. Byrne completed another conversion, moving Leinster to a 14-7 lead. Even with Zebre’s Iacopo Bianchi being shown a yellow card in the 33rd minute, the scoreline stayed the same as the first half closed.
Though Leinster’s Will Connors and Six Nations champion Ciarán Frawley didn’t return after half-time, they were not lacking in skill and experience. Notably, Ed Byrne was making his 100th Leinster appearance, a milestone Max Deegan passed earlier this season.
Once more, the energetic backrow illustrated his importance as he successfully offloaded to McGrath just in the nick of time, before being driven into touch. The small but capable scrumhalf scored the try without much ado. Following his successful try, McGrath reciprocated the favour to Leinster, providing Leinster a bonus-point try at the 50-minute marker by locating Penny who comfortably finished off the score under the posts, following a forceful drive into Zebre’s 22 by Turner.
For the larger part of the game, it appeared that this was the last try. However, Leinster regained their footing in the Zebre 22 with only three minutes left on the clock, and Russell managed to squeeze his way through to the right corner, scoring his second try of the evening.
ZEBRE PARMA had: J Trulla, S Gregory, L Morisi, F Paea, S Gesi, G Prisciantelli, G Garcia, M Hasa, G Ribaldi, J Pitinari, D Sisi, L Krumov, D Ruggeri, I Bianchi, G Licata in their ranks. Their substitutes included: P Bruno for Gregory, R Genovese for Pitinari, L Rizzoli for Hasa (all at 51 minutes); M Canali for Sisi, J Kaifa for Ruggeri (both at 56 minutes); T Di Bartolomeo for Ribaldi, A Fusco for Garcia, D Mazza for Morisi (all at 65 minutes).
LEINSTER on the other hand, comprised of: C Frawley, R Russell, L Turner, J Osborne, A Osborne, R Byrne, L McGrath, E Byrne, L Barron, T Clarkson, R Molony, B Deeny, W Connors, S Penny, M Deegan. Their replacements included: D Mangan for Connors, H McErlean for Frawley (both at half-time); J McKee for Barron, M Milne for E Byrne, M Ala’alatoa for Clarkson (all at 51 minutes); S Prendergast for R Byrne, F Gunne for McGrath (both at 63 minutes); C O’Tighearnaigh for Molony (71 minutes).
The game was referee’d by M Ferreira from SARU.