Ulster 28; Munster 3
Ulster had something of a home run when they put a largely shadow Munster side to the sword in Belfast on Friday night.
Richie Murphy's outfit took their time to find their stride but then they hit 22 unanswered second-half points to climb above the Munster men in the URC table.
Neither side got going in a dour opening period with Ulster leading 6-3 at the break after Nathan Doak landing two penalties, and JJ Hanrahan got Munster's only score of the half.
The hosts were a different outfit on the resumption as tries for Tom Stewart, Jake Flannery and the in-form Bryn Ward helping to end a run of three successive defeats to this particular foe.
Leinster 52; Connacht 17
This was the ultimate game of two halves as Leinster extended their current winning run to seven with this Aviva Stadium triumph on Saturday night.
Stuart Lancaster's side suffered a third loss in succession - all the more galling because the Westerners were a match for their hosts for most of the first half.
Not for the first time, it was the few minutes before and after the interval where the match was lost as they conceded tries, which meant they went from leading by 17-14 before half time to a 26-17 deficit shortly into the second half.
It went from bad to worse from there as Leinster ended the day by running in eight tries and Connacht were a forlorn group long before the final whistle.
Lions and Ireland scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park was back to his very best as his side got ready for the visit of La Rochelle.
He created the opening try after just three minutes, with his quick penalty eventually leading to Dan Sheehan scoring and then minutes later Charlie Tector followed up Sam Prendergast’s probing kick to dot down under the posts to make it 14-0.
In the 18th minute Connacht got their first score through Dylan Tierney-Martin with Sam Gilbert converting before adding a penalty at a time when Joe McCarthy was sin-binned. In fact the Blues’ lack of discipline helped Connacht as Finlay Bealham pounced from close range for a try which Gilbert converted to make it 17-14.
Prendergast then scored a try to push Leinster 19-17 in front and once the early minutes of the second half rolled around, it was a different game as Brian Deeny helped them restore a 14-point lead along with a Tommy O’Brien special.
Tector and O’Brien both scored again, and then the highly impressive Joshua Kenny got in for his sixth try of the season.
