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Zebre stop the rot, Cheetahs beat Scarlets
By Peter Thompson
Zebre halted a six-match losing streak with a 24-10 win over Connacht and the Cheetahs consigned Conference B leaders Scarlets to only a second Pro14 defeat of the season on Saturday.
Not since the end of September had Zebre celebrated a victory, but tries from Johan Meyer and Giovanbattista Venditti and 14 points from the boot of Carlo Canna gave them just a third Pro14 win of the campaign.
The Italian side are now within two points of Connacht in Conference A after a hard-fought success at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, where two Canna penalties put them 6-0 up at half-time.
Tom Farrell raced through for a converted try to put the 2016 champions in front early in the second half and Jack Carty slotted over a penalty to restore their one-point advantage after a third Canna kick.
Zebre were not to be denied, Meyer and Venditti going over in the last 13 minutes and Canna nailing a drop-goal as the Parma-based side stopped the rot.
Craig Barry claimed a brace in a 28-21 win for Cheetahs over Scarlets at Free State Stadium.
William Small-Smith also dotted down as saw their advantage over Leinster at the Conference B summit cut to three points, tries from James Davies and Ioan Nicholas proving to be in vain.
Munster, second in Conference A, eased to a five-try 36-10 victory over Ospreys, while James Lowe scored two tries on his debut in Leinster's 36-10 win at Benetton Treviso.
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Latest Comments
i think Argentina v France could be a good game too, depending on which Argentina turns up. The most difficult to call is Scotland Australia.
Go to commentsSmith is playing a different game with the rest of the backs struggling to understand. That's the problem with so called playmakers, if nobody gets what they're doing then it often just leads to a turnover. It gets worse when Borthwick changes one of them, which is why they don't score points at the end. Sometimes having a brilliant playmaker can be problematic if a team cannot be built around them. Once again Borthwick seems lacking in either coaching or selection. I can't help but think it's the latter coupled with pressure to select the big name players.
Lastly, his forward replacements are poor and exposed either lack of depth or selection pressure. Cole hemorrhages scrum penalties whenever he comes on, opponents take advantage of the England scrum and close out the game. Is that the best England can offer?
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