Zebre pay the penalty as Carty kicks up a storm for Connacht

TWO penalties from the boot of Ireland out-half Jack Carty proved enough for Connacht to claim a narrow win over Zebre in the Guinness Pro14.

The victory means Andy Friend’s side stay in third place, and move four points clear of Cardiff in the battle for a play-off place. The Welsh region visit the Sportsground next weekend.

Carty’s kicks came in the sixth and 23rd minutes, while Mattia Bellini’s try just after the break proved only a consolation for the Italians, who remain rooted to the bottom of Conference A.

Zebre’s lack of a placekicker was the main reason Connacht survived with the Italians missing eight points off the tee, including a late penalty from replacement Guglielmo Palazzani.

The stop-start nature of the opening half, with scrum resets and a litany of injuries, did little for a dominant Connacht side and they had to settle for a 6-0 interval lead.

The Connacht scrum was on top and Zebre’s lineout was in disarray but Friend’s men were unable to punish a side looking for their first win in the competition since October.

Jack Carty edged them in front with an early penalty in front of the posts but their decisions to opt for scrums from a couple of other kickable penalties didn’t pay a dividend.

In the end, they reverted to going for the posts at the end of the opening quarter but while they dominated from there to the break they rarely looked like getting over for the opening try.

ZEBRE: Edoardo Padovani; Mattia Bellini, Giulio Bisegni, Tommaso Boni, James Elliott; Francois Brummer, Joshua Renton (Guglielmo Palazzani ’66); Andrea Lovotti (Daniele Rimpelli ’59), Oliviero Fabiani (Massimo Ceciliani ’71), Marco Ciccioli (Giosué Zilocchi ’61); David Sisi, George Biagi (Leonard Krumov ’71); Jimmy Tuivaiti (James Brown ’21 inj), Maxime Mbandà, Renato Giammarioli.

CONNACHT: Tiernan O’Halloran; Darragh Leader, Tom Farrell (Tom Daly ’28-40 inj) (Daly ’44), Peter Robb, Matt Healy (Cian Kelleher ’62); Jack Carty, Caolin Blade (Kieran Marmion ’17-25 HIA) (Marmion ’56); Denis Buckley (Peter McCabe ’59), Dave Heffernan (Shane Delahunt ’62), Dominic Robertson-McCoy (Conan O’Donnell ’61); Ultan Dillane, Gavin Thornbury (Joe Maksymiw ’66); Eoin McKeon (Robin Copeland ’56), Colby Fainga’a, Jarrad Butler. REfEREE: Ben Blain (Scotland).