Stuart Lancaster's Connacht climb into play-offs after Belfast raid

Finn Treacy’s second-half try double helped Connacht to a 26-19 victory over Ulster to climb into the play-off places.

Connacht drew first blood after 19 minutes when Jack Carty’s break put the hosts on the back foot that saw the under-pressure defence penalised and from the resulting penalty, Sean Jansen went over.

Ulster hit back when Bryn Ward broke a tackle and offloaded to Nathan Doak to speed over and converted his own score to send the teams into the break locked at 7-7.

Connacht then put themselves in charge with two tries in four minutes as Finlay Bealham and Treacy went in, with Sean Naughton converting the first to make it 19-7.

Ulster, though, would not lie down and Zac Ward escaped down the left wing to score.

Treacy’s second try of the match restored breathing space for Connacht and although Angus Bell went in four minutes from time, Ulster left themselves too much to do.

Jarrod Taylor scored a pair of tries as Scarlets leapfrogged Welsh rivals Dragons in the table with a bonus-point 36-17 victory over Zebre.

The Scarlets made a fast start as scrum-half Archie Hughes spotted flanker Taylor in space on the right and he did the rest to touch down in the corner in just the second minute.

And with 13 minutes on the clock the home side went in again as lock Sam Lousi barged over from close in from a line-out drive, with Carywn Leggatt-Jones adding the extras.

Macs Page’s angled run saw him power in under the posts and the bonus point was secured as Ellis Mee strolled over.

Dan Davis capitalised on another line-out drive after the break before Zebre got on the board through Simone Gesi.

Taylor went in straight from the kick-off to move Scarlets further ahead, while two tries in the last minute for Zebre from Bautista Stavile and Davide Odiase gave the score a bit more respectability.