Ulster topple league leaders Connacht

* In other Friday matches Ospreys bounced back from derby defeat to the Scarlets with a bonus-point win over another Welsh rival, hanging on for a 26-20 success away to the Newport Gwent Dragons.

* And Damien Hoyland's second-half try double kept Edinburgh's Pro12 top-four hopes alive as they notched what was eventually a comfortable 29-0 bonus-point victory over Zebre at Murrayfield.

We look at all the Friday matches!

Newport Gwent Dragons 20-26 Ospreys

The Ospreys bounced back from derby defeat to the Scarlets with a bonus-point win over another Welsh rival, hanging on for a 26-20 success away to the Newport Gwent Dragons.

With their Pro12 play-off hopes effectively over, the Ospreys still had plenty of pride to play for, and ran in three first-half tries before wrapping up the bonus point early in the second half.

Jeff Hassler had them on their way just three minutes in, and despite Hallam Amos' response - the first of two tries on the night - the Ospreys were able to pull clear by half-time.

Rhys Webb got their second, and Dan Evans' effort just before the break allowed the visitors to lead 19-8 at half-time at Rodney Parade.

Amos grabbed his second early in the second half but the response, through Sam Underhill, was immediate.

However Carl Meyer's try heading into the final ten minutes set up a grandstand finale but despite their best efforts, they could not find a final score, going down on what could be Taulupe Faletau's final game for the Dragons at Rodney Parade.

The first half was played at a ferocious pace and the Ospreys had the lead after just three minutes. Hassler was the man to finish but it came after some great hands from the backline, with crisp passing opening up the Dragons and sending the winger over on the left.

From the touchline, Dan Biggar couldn't convert, and soon after the Dragons were on level terms.

Just like the visitors, it came from some slick backline play, with Tyler Morgan showing his pace and intelligence to slice through before finding Amos outside him for the try - his third in his last two games.

Like Biggar, Dorian Jones could not convert from out wide, making it 5-5 after ten minutes.

Webb had made his Test return for Wales during the Six Nations, and picked up a second try of the Pro12 season with a trademark snipe.

After a number of charges by the forwards, the scrum-half finally spotted a gap big enough and was able to force the ball down despite the best efforts of Lewis Evans.

Biggar converted and the Ospreys looked in control when the Dragons lost Rynard Landman to the sin-bin for a blatant deliberate knock-on.

But despite being down to 14, it was actually the Dragons who scored next, Meyer nailing a long-range penalty to make it 12-8.

The Dragons saw out the remainder of the sin-bin period, but then conceded right on the stroke of half-time. It came after good work from the forwards, and with the home side stretched, Owen Watkin's fine miss-pass took out the remaining defence and sent Evans over for the simple try.

Biggar had converted from the touchline to make it 19-8 at the break, and the Dragons needed to start the second half quickly.

They did so, with Amos again the man on the end of it. He had a lot to do, but after collecting it out wide on the left, he chipped past Sam Davies, collected and had the pace to get over. Jones couldn't convert from out wide.

The Ospreys soon had breathing space once again though, and the bonus point. After Watkin had been stopped just short of the line, the ball came back to the left where Aaron Jarvis found Underhill for the powerful burst and score. Biggar stretched the lead to 26-13 with the extras.

Time was running out for the Dragons to come back, but a powerful finish by Meyer, who converted his own try, allowed them to cut the deficit back to six points with 12 minutes remaining.

The Dragons had their chances in the final stages, but couldn't break through with a final attacking line-out coming to nothing.

The scorers:

For Newport Gwent Dragons:

Tries: Amos 3

Con: Meyer

Pen: Meyer

For Ospreys:

Tries: Hassler, Webb, Evans, Underhill

Cons: Biggar 3

Yellow card: Rynard Landman (Newport Gwent Dragons, 20)

Teams:

Newport Gwent Dragons: 15 Carl Meyer, 14 Ashton Hewitt, 13 Tyler Morgan, 12 Adam Warren, 11 Hallam Amos, 10 Dorian Jones, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Taulupe Faletau (captain), 7 Nic Cudd, 6 Lewis Evans, 5 Matthew Screech, 4 Rynard Landman, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Elliot Dee, 1 Phil Price.

Replacements: 16 Thomas Rhys Thomas, 17 Boris Stankovich, 18 Lloyd Fairbrother, 19 Nick Crosswell, 20 Ed Jackson, 21 Charlie Davies, 22 Geraint Rhys Jones, 23 Adam Hughes.

Ospreys: 15 Dan Evans, 14 Hanno Dirksen, 13 Owen Watkin, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 Eli Walker, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Rhys Webb (captain), 8 James King, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Olly Cracknell, 5 Rynier Bernardo, 4 Adam Beard, 3 Dmitri Arhip, 2 Scott Baldwin, 1 Nicky Smith.

Replacements: 16 Scott Otten, 17 Gareth Thomas, 18 Aaron Jarvis, 19 Dan Lydiate, 20 Joe Bearman, 21 Brendon Leonard, 22 Sam Davies, 23 Jeff Hassler.

Referee: John Lacey

Assistant referees: Ben Whitehouse, Sean Brickell

TMO: Paul Adams

Ulster 18-10 Connacht

Rory Best's first-half try set Ulster on their way to a hard-fought 18-10 victory at the Kingspan Stadium as Connacht failed in their quest to record a first win in Belfast since 1960.

The victory sends the hosts back into the Pro12 top four while the league-leading visitors tasted defeat for the first time since January.

Ulster controlled the game in the first half with skipper Best dotting down for the period's only try and when Craig Gilroy went over shortly after the break, the hosts looked comfortable with an 18-3 lead.

But Connacht are not top of the table for nothing and Caolin Blade crashed over to give them hope.

But the visitors were down to 13 men for the final seven minutes thanks to a pair of sin-binnings, essentially ending any hopes of a comeback, as coach Pat Lam is still looking for his first triumph over Ulster since taking charge in 2013.

Connacht may not have won in Belfast for more than half a century heading into the clash but Lam's troops are a different beast this season - their ferocious pack and game-breaking backline combining to make them mainstays atop the Pro12 table.

But it was the hosts who troubled the scorers first as Paddy Jackson's sixth-minute penalty settled any nerves and established an early advantage.

Connacht eschewed a chance to level proceedings soon after as they kicked for touch rather than for the posts and not only left pointless but found themselves 6-0 down as Ulster marched down the field before Jackson slotted another three-pointer.

Unlike their opponents, opting to kick a penalty to touch paid dividends for the Ulstermen just before the half-hour mark as they formed an inexorable driving maul from the resulting ten-metre line-out with captain Best the beneficiary to establish an 11-0 lead.

Fly-half Jackson's conversion hit the post and his opposite number Shane O'Leary - making his first Pro12 start with Jack Carty, AJ MacGinty and Craig Ronaldson all absent - suffered the same fate with a penalty just before half-time.

The 23-year-old had a chance to redeem himself as the clock seeped into red with a three-pointer ten metres in from the right touchline and this time made no mistake to narrow the deficit to 11-3 at the break.

Ulster had lost three of their last four encounters to drop out of the play-off places but moved a step closer to a vital win early in the second half as Jared Payne, who had produced a try-saving tackle on John Cooney before the interval, expertly offloaded to Gilroy who dived over in the corner.

Jackson's touchline conversion extended the gap to 15 points but a sin-binning for Andrew Trimble soon after gave the league leaders hope and they duly took advantage.

A number of missed opportunities were consigned to the past when a string of offloads allowed Blade to slice through the defence and barrel his way over the whitewash to bring the visitors back into it.

Skipper Best almost put the game beyond doubt on 65 minutes but was held up over the line and when O'Leary and Sean O'Brien were yellow-carded with just under ten minutes to play, Ulster sensed a chance to earn a bonus-point win over their 13-man visitors.

However the Connacht defence held firm to stop any further damage although they slipped to just a sixth league loss of the season.

The scorers:

For Ulster:

Tries: Best, Gilroy

Con: Jackson

Pens: Jackson 2

For Connacht:

Try: Blade

Con: O'Leary

Pen: O'Leary

Yellow cards: Andrew Trimble (Ulster, 47), Shane O'Leary (Connacht, 70), Sean O'Brien (Connacht, 72)

Teams:

Ulster: 15 Jared Payne, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Luke Marshall, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Craig Gilroy, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Roger Wilson, 7 Chris Henry, 6 Iain Henderson, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Pete Browne, 3 Ricky Lutton, 2 Rory Best (captain), 1 Callum Black.

Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Kyle McCall, 18 Bronson Ross, 19 Robbie Diack, 20 Sean Reidy, 21 Paul Marshall, 22 Stuart Olding, 23 Darren Cave.

Connacht:  15 Robbie Henshaw, 14 Niyi Adeolokun, 13 Bundee Aki, 12 Peter Robb, 11 Matt Healy, 10 Shane O'Leary, 9 John Cooney, 8 Eoin McKeon, 7 James Connolly, 6 John Muldoon (captain), 5 Aly Muldowney, 4 Andrew Browne, 3 Rodney Ah You, 2 Tom McCartney, 1 Denis Buckley.

Replacements: 16 Dave Heffernan, 17 Ronan Loughney, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Ultan Dillane, 20 Sean O'Brien, 21 Caolin Blade, 22 Cormac Brennan, 23 Danie Poolman.

Referee: Dudley Phillips

Assistant referees: Gary Conway, Nigel Correll

TMO: Brian MacNeice

Edinburgh 29-0 Zebre

Damien Hoyland's second-half try double kept Edinburgh's Pro12 top-four hopes alive as they notched what was eventually a comfortable 29-0 bonus-point victory over Zebre at Murrayfield.

Zebre's losing streak now stands at seven games but their hosts maintained an impeccable record that hasn't seen them lose a home match in any competition to an opponent other than an Irish province since April 2014.

A five-point haul for Alan Solomons' troops looked like a pipe dream following an error-strewn first half that saw Jason Tovey's long-range penalty as the only score.

But Edinburgh pulled away after the break as Hoyland's quickfire double gave them some breathing space. Sam Hidalgo-Clyne then took advantage of tiring Zebre legs before, with the last play of the game, Alex Toolis dotted down for the bonus point to see his side climb to fifth in the Pro12 table.

Zebre had beaten their Scottish opponents 19-11 at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi back in October and started strongly, setting up camp in and around the Edinburgh 22.

A series of big rolling mauls moved them towards the tryline but the hosts held firm and took the lead on the quarter-hour mark as the on-loan Tovey slotted a long penalty from halfway.

Tovey, who only joined the club temporarily last week, maintained the pressure on Zebre with some pinpoint kicking from hand and Edinburgh thought they had extended their lead on 21 minutes as Mike Allen dotted down, only for the TMO to rule there had been a forward pass in the build-up.

Further chances went begging for the home side thanks to loose passes and sloppy handling but the Italians failed to turn any of their territory into points.

Zebre were unable to score a single point in their previous three away matches - defeats to Munster, Ulster and Leinster - but thought they had ended that unwanted streak when hooker Oliviero Fabiani darted over on the stroke of half-time, only for the try to be chalked off for an off-the-ball obstruction.

Last year's corresponding fixture was a 37-0, five-try triumph for Edinburgh but a similar result looked unlikely as the cagey nature of the first half extended into the second.

However, on 51 minutes the hosts finally got the breakthrough they desired as Zebre sliced an attempted clearance straight up in the air, enabling Hidalgo-Clyne to put a grubber kick through which Hoyland hacked on and dotted down.

The winger then made it two tries in five minutes as the ball was worked wide and he showed his pace over a short distance to charge over in the corner.

Hidalgo-Clyne went from provider to scorer on 67 minutes as he burst over the line to move his side within one try of a bonus point that had looked unlikely when they were just 3-0 up at half-time.

Their chance of walking away with five points looked to have gone as time seeped into the red but with one final effort Toolis barrelled over the line to complete the job, ensuring they ended the evening in fifth place in the Pro12.

The scorers:

For Edinburgh:

Tries: Hoyland 2, Hidalgo-Clyne, A Toolis

Cons: Tovey 3

Pen: Tovey

For Zebre:

None

Teams:

Edinburgh: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Damien Hoyland, 13 Michael Allen, 12 Phil Burleigh, 11 Tom Brown, 10 Jason Tovey, 9 Sean Kennedy, 8 Cornell Du Preez, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Mike Coman (captain), 5 Ben Toolis, 4 Anton Bresler, 3 WP Nel, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Alasdair Dickinson.

Replacements: 16 Stuart McInally, 17 Allan Dell, 18 John Andress, 19 Alex Toolis, 20 Magnus Bradbury, 21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 22 Chris Dean 23 Will Helu.

Zebre: 15 Kayle Van Zyl, 14 Ulrich Beyers, 13 Tommaso Boni, 12 Matteo Pratichetti, 11 Leonardo Sarto, 10 Kelly Haimona, 9 Guglielmo Palazzani, 8 Johan Meyer, 7 Federico Ruzza, 6 Jean Cook, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys (captain), 3 Dario Chistolini, 2 Oliviero Fabiani, 1 Andrea Lovotti.

Replacements: 16 Bruno Postiglioni, 17 Guillermo Roan, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 Gideon Koegelenberg , 20 Emiliano Caffini, 21 Luke Burgess, 22 Carlo Canna, 23 Giulio Bisegni.

Referee: Leighton Hodges

Assistant referees: Sam Grove-White, Graeme Ormiston

TMO: Charles Samson

Source: @PRO12rugby