Great result in the end. Zebre seemed up for it, but just didn't have the stamina to last the full 80. Great to see SOB back and do so much on his first start in (!!) almost two years. Crazy.

O'Reilly had a much more assured game today, thought he handled things very well. Great break too, which shows that he's got the awareness a 9 needs. The kicking game worked ok today - lots of space out back which we tried to exploit well. Jacks kicks weren't the most accurate today (two missed conversions and a few balls failed to find touch) and you could tell that he was frustrated.

Not sure what to make of the red on Papali'i. In the course of play, I thought it looked very bad, but actually didn't look the worst when you went to the slow-mo. Think it was just accidental, but that's harsh penalties in 2/4 games for us so far.

Besides that, just great to see the team fire well and work well together. Scarlets have two games in hand and are only 1 point ahead of us.

We're the only Irish team that hasn't won 100% of their games in the Pro14 this year. Mental.

CONNACHT MATCHDAY 23 VS ZEBRE RUGBY
Sunday 22nd November, Stadio Lanfranchi, kick-off 14:30 Irish / 15:30 local

Number/Name/Caps
15. John Porch (22)
14. Sammy Arnold (5)
13. Tom Farrell (61)
12. Tom Daly (29)
11. Alex Wootton (5)
10. Jack Carty (143)
9. Colm Reilly (2)
1. Denis Buckley (183)
2. Shane Delahunt (81)
3. Jack Aungier (5)
4. Eoghan Masterson (95)
5. Gavin Thornbury (43)
6. Sean O’Brien (57)
7. Sean Masterson (4)
8. Jarrad Butler (C) (60)

16. Jonny Murphy (
17. Paddy McAllister (13)
18. Dominic Robertson-McCoy (55)
19. Ultan Dillane (99)
20. Abraham Papali’I (3)
21. Stephen Kerins (10)
22. Conor Fitzgerald (26)
23. Peter Sullivan (3)

Zebre has never been a happy hunting ground for us - and the lads know it. Zebre are missing a lot of their potential first team lads, but of course their coach knows a thing or two about Connacht Rugby and I'm sure would love to give us an upset. Weather promised better than Galway, I'd reckon, which might suit us!!

Join the Connacht Clan this Saturday when...