Treviso's final three home games are against us, Blues and Edinburgh. They'll be looking to finish strong and probably will. Blues have a tough run in, though, so finishing above them is a possibility, but we need points from our trip to Cork, which hasn't been a great venue to Munster this year.

Borders no.2 wrote: Treviso picked up 3 points in Ravenhill tonight (fair play to them) which again shows that no game can be taken for granted in this league. Edinburgh and Dragons picked up losing bonus points but Cardiff got nothing which keeps 7th place within our reach. Treviso and Edinburgh games are huge. We need to win at least one of them games but these 3 victories have at least given us a platform to have something to play for in the final 5 games.

Unless Treviso slip up against the Blues and/or Connacht beat Munster I'd have to say Connacht's chances of finishing 7th are very slim and they will realistically require them to beat Treviso at the end of the month. Good news, they (Connacht) finish the season with two home games. Bad news, they're against the top two in the league.

A good win and keeps the momentum going. We would have lost this game last year so happy with the result. Loughney got sin binned for two professional fouls in the space of 15 minutes. The first he pulled back a player to let one of our backs through and then pulling down a maul. So he deserved it. Bergamasco was a harsh one but he could have made more of an effort to roll away.

The highlight for me was Dan Parks' penalty to touch deep in 22 with about 8 mins to go. Pure instinct, he didn't delay, just bang into the corner, a kick of beauty, I loved that moment. Very few 10s are that instinctive.

FACECUTTR wrote: Scrum was under pressure but it was because we were too light in the second row. Poolman again looked superb.

I'd agree. Was worried about it before the match and was a bit surprised they brought George on for Eoin McKeown. Thought they could have moved him to 2nd row to steady the scrum, wouldn't be ideal but would have bolstered the scrum a bit. Remembering back to Edinburgh in December when Swift and McCarthy were missing the scrum was poor also against a side we usually have the measure of at scrum time, just shows the importance the signing of Craig Clarke, you can get away with one of Browne and Kearney at scrum time but not both of them.

To be fair to ref he received zero support or assistance from his two touch judges who may as well have been standing on the terraces. I thought he did ok overall. One or 2 went opposite way to what it prob should but thats every game these days.
Their lineout went well in 2nd half with change of hooker and throw to 2 with rolling maul. Ironically went to back for pen after loughs sinbinning when goin to 2 and maul wud have had us i serious trouble. Lost possession as result. Big moment in game imo.

First half was good second half was poor.
Lineout was great and some lovely steals from Kearney who carried superbly too. A really good player.
Scrum was under pressure but it was because we were too light in the second row. Poolman again looked superb. Robbie Henshaw is a class act i just hope we can hold on to him in years to come. Murphy was good at 12 but didnt think Griffen added too much. Great to see George back on the field.

I recorded the match and had a quick look at it last night. Seems to me Bergamasco was unlucky to be binned for not rolling away. If you're pinned down there isn't much you can do.

Gavin played really well in the first half and Pooleman looked good whenever he got his hands on the ball, as did Henshaw. Zebre seemed to be making progress up the middle alright and Murphy didn't seem to be all that creative, neither was Griffin for that matter.

Bar the odd scrum I think it was competitive area rather than one that was completely lost. A couple of good line-out steals as well. The try conceded was very disappointing as there was nowhere for the Zebre player to go yet he was given the space and managed to get it to the only support player that was anywhere near him.

Crowd got very annoyed with ref where I was standing but at least he wasn't booed on the way out...

Loughs was sinbinned for pulling down maul. There had been warning in 1st half for too many pens conceded.long break before card i know but hard to argue. Bergamasco was very annoyed over his card . Didnt see it but assume it was for slowing ball down.

ill write a sober report tomorrow.
we did good first half but the second half was awful for the ref. locks was head locked and sin binned? why?
sinotti was class. world class. he sat on the side line 10mins after the final whistle crying, unbelievable stuff, a game they could of won.

good craic in the marque after, need quicker pints tho

32 pts after 17 games. Not quite the 2 pts per game ave we hoped for at start of season but close. Showed tonight the value parks brings to the team. If zebre had a parks they wud have 5-6 wins by now, this game included.
Pack with browne and kearney in 2nd row was always going to be under pressure scrum time. They were the better team. I think sinotti hurt himself in clash with robbie. Our defence, in spite of being porous in middle of field, held out in end and won game.

Their kicking from hand in last 7/8 min was terrible and let us off the hook.if they get a decent goalkicker they will be a different proposition altogether.

I'd agree. Very relieved to get out of there with a win. Ran in two good tries early on but Zebre were the better side for most of the match. Played some fine rugby and belied their league position. You could see near the end why they haven't won a tight game though, handed the initiative back to Connacht with poor decision making. Couldn't believe they took off Sinoti as he was causing us all sorts of problems.

We weren't great but in fairness the players showed good resolve when needed, we had to dig it out and we did. The kick from Dan Parks from the penalty on half way got us the field position to win us the match. Took an ill advised drop goal near the end but apart from the drop goal he helped us play the game in the right areas when the going got tight.

Scrum was a major worry, we were struggling all night.

Treviso picked up 3 points in Ravenhill tonight (fair play to them) which again shows that no game can be taken for granted in this league. Edinburgh and Dragons picked up losing bonus points but Cardiff got nothing which keeps 7th place within our reach. Treviso and Edinburgh games are huge. We need to win at least one of them games but these 3 victories have at least given us a platform to have something to play for in the final 5 games.

Very lucky to get a win. Just like the Aironi game last year we were second best. Zebre remind me of us last winter, just missing that ability to close out games. Hard to believe they've yet to win a game as they are far from out of their depth. Gav played very well on the wing, well worth his place ahead of Fets. Wille had a dose of bad karma after the last two games. Ref was very lenient, all sorts of stuff, from offsides to crossing in the lineouts let go. Did well to spot the dizzy lad though!

2 great trys. Duffy was very good in the st half. Much quieter in the 2nd. Murphy was Matthews-esque in his tackling. We made that game way too difficult than it should have been. Again we got dragged into the game Zebre wanted to play. We robbed them again

try Mc Keon 2nd minute of the game

Creedence wrote: If that was the case then why not rest Robbie, who has played an amount of rugby this season and play Gav in his natural position, and leave Fets on the wing?

RogueXV wrote: Perhaps it has been decided that Henshaw's future lies at fullback, but I've heard often enough on these boards that centre is his position. I figured this game would be a good opportunity to give him a run there especially with McSharry and Tonetti injured.

He had a rest last week and if he is on the panel for the France game that would be another week without a game, so it is the choice of three weeks without a game for a fully fit player who can become rusty or a player who had a rest last week and will play one of the three weeks.

Going by the Ireland player management system, Henshaw is being played in the position he is being considered for with Ireland. This isn't the time to be trying out Robbie in a position he hasn't played all year, there are more important things at stake like trying to secure the win at a vital time in the season. Injury should be the only reason for experimentation. Robbie will be a center in the future.

I would have chosen Fets over Gavin but Duffy did very well on the wing versus the Ospreys.