Friday 31 August 2018 22:44, UK
There were wins for Leinster, Ospreys and Zebre in the opening round of the 2018/19 Guinness PRO14 on Friday.
With three fixtures taking place on Friday, here is a round-up of all that went on...
Leinster staged a superb second-half fightback to begin the defence of their Guinness PRO14 title with a 33-32 victory over Cardiff Blues.
Cardiff had looked set to topple the defending champions after building a 29-14 heading into the final half-hour at the Arms Park.
But three close-range tries from the visitors robbed Blues of a morale-boosting victory in a pulsating game.
For the hosts, debutant Jason Harries and Ray Lee-Lo scored two tries each with Jarrod Evans converting three and adding two penalties.
Leinster forward Bryan Byrne also collected a brace of tries, with Jamison Gibson-Park and James Tracy notching one apiece. Ross Byrne added two conversions - including the match-winning kick two minutes from time - and two penalties, with Fergus McFadden also on target with a penalty.
George North enjoyed a two-try dream debut as Ospreys opened their Guinness PRO14 campaign with a hard-fought 17-13 victory over Edinburgh at the Liberty Stadium.
The Wales wing turned the game in the space of 10 second-half minutes as Ospreys came back from 6-3 down in a largely defence-dominated encounter.
Edinburgh took the game down to the wire with a converted try for full-back Blair Kinghorn, but they fell short.
Along with North, Scott Williams and Aled Davies made their competitive Ospreys debuts, while Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones started despite not being involved in pre-season matches.
Zebre began their PRO14 campaign with a 32-16 home victory against the Southern Kings on Friday night.
Italians Zebre were 17-7 in front at half-time and withstood a flicker of a fightback immediately after the break when their South African visitors closed to just four points behind.
For Zebre, who pulled away to win by a convincing margin, Oliviero Fabiani, Mattia Bellini, Jimmy Tuivaiti and Apisai Tauyavuca all crossed for tries at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi.
Carlo Canna kicked three conversions and two penalties as the home side were comfortable winners in the end.
Michael Botha replied with the only try for the Kings while Masixole Banda kicked the conversion and three penalties.
