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Season so far
Tournament record
Dan Parks has been the main man for Connacht this season and is hot on the heels of becoming the latest member of the ERC Elite 500 points club. With 50 points already bagged this season
Dan Parks has been the main man for Connacht this season and is hot on the heels of becoming the latest member of the ERC Elite 500 points club. With 50 points already bagged this season, the Scottish international outside half is now only 27 away from another notable career landmark.
This is the second season in a row that the two PRO12 rivals have clashed in the Heineken Cup and Connacht enjoyed their best return in the tournament with three wins last season. A double over the Italians would get them to that mark with an away trip to Saracens to come in round six.
Not that Pat Lam’s men will take anything for granted against a Zebre team that recently notched a vital league win over arch-rivals Benetton Treviso. In their return meeting in Galway in round six last year the Irishmen struggled to win 25-20.
The introduction of Waikato Chiefs lock Craig Clarke has made a massive difference to the Connacht pack and his line-out work has provided the side with the perfect springboard to launch their attacking back line.
Zebre have yet to win a Heineken Cup tie in their two seasons in the tournament and will want to end a run of 10 successive defeats. They went down 33-6 at home in round two, but will arrive on the west coast of Ireland in better shape now than they were then.
The battle may be more about pride that quarter-final places, but there will still be plenty at stake with ranking points for next season to be added into the equation.
Match Facts
- Connacht have won all three of their meetings with Zebre in the competition, including a 33-6 win away from home in Round 2.
- Connacht have produced 30 kicks from hand per match so far this season, more than any other club in the Heineken Cup. Exeter (81%) are the only side to have a worse tackling success rate than Zebre (82%) this season.
- Connacht have made (533) and missed (95) more tackles than any other side this season.
Connacht will be without influential flanker John Muldoon for their trip to Zebre after he was ruled out for as long as eight weeks. - 17/10/2013 14:43
Connacht claimed their third Heineken Cup win for the second season running but missed out on a bonus point at home to Zebre.
Pat Lam, who was a European Champion with Northampton 14 years ago, saw his side run out comfortable victors but they were only able to cross the opposition tryline on two occasions.
Connacht’s stunning win at four-times Heineken Cup winners Toulouse in Round 3 means they are still mathematically alive ahead of Saracens’ trip to France tomorrow, although a place in the Amlin Challenge Cup quarter finals is a more realistic outcome even if they pick up maximum points in London next week.
It was the Italians who opened the scoring with a penalty from international outside-half Luciano Orquera after a quarter of an hour at The Sportsground and it took Connacht until the second quarter to get off the mark.
Young playmaker Jack Carty, who was starting ahead of the vastly experienced Dan Parks, made amends for an early miss with a brace of penalties after 24 and 29 minutes to push the Irish outfit 6-3 in front.
The first try of the game arrived six minutes before the break when Heineken Man of the Match Matt Healy touched down out wide, although the TMO made the Galway faithful wait by checking to see if there had been a double movement when he stretched for the line.
Carty’s conversion from wide on the left made it 13-3 and it stayed that way until the interval.
Connacht’s slow start to the first half wasn’t replicated in the second as they celebrated their second try just four minutes after the restart. Highly-rated centre Robbie Henshaw darted through from close range after a fine move that featured a through-the-legs pass from veteran back row Michael Swift.
Carty again added the extras and Connacht were effectively home and dry against a side who jumped above them at the foot of the RaboDirect PRO12 table with victory over Treviso last week.
But they failed to kick on and claim the bonus point they were looking for, though, as Zebre defended resolutely for the rest of the half.
Healy twice went close to grabbing a third try but twice he was denied over the line. The left wing lost control of the ball as he slid over out wide with 66 minutes on the clock before he was held up by David Odiete after intercepting possession deep in his own territory with five minutes remaining.
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