Weekend Review: Landmark weekend for Zebo

Domestic action took centre stage this weekend after the end of the Championship and we kept a close eye on which potential British & Irish Lions stood out. [more]

Weekend Review: Landmark weekend for Zebo

Domestic action took centre stage this weekend after the end of the Championship and we kept a close eye on which potential British & Irish Lions stood out.

As part of a weekly feature, we wrap up the action across Europe over the past three days and pick out some stand-out performances across the four countries for you to consider.

Top points scorers

While there were a few high-scoring games across Europe this weekend, the points were generally spread out with England’s Danny Cipriani leading the way with 17 points.

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He scored three conversions, two penalties and a fantastic solo try to help Sale maintain their unbeaten home record in victory against Leicester.

Elsewhere in England Owen Farrell enjoyed a return to his fly-half role with Saracens, finishing with 14 points including a try, while Finn Russell matched him for Glasgow, albeit all with the boot.

Top try scorers

Simon Zebo was one of a host of players to rack up two tries this weekend, and the Irishman became his province’s all-time top try-scorer.

Zebo’s double took him to 43 Munster tries, two more than Anthony Horgan, as helped the Irish side to a thumping win over Zebre.

It was a big weekend for braces, with Dan Robson and Thomas Young scoring two apiece in Wasps’ win at Newcastle Falcons, while Semesa Rokoduguni also crossed twice for Bath on Saturday.

And Wales winger Hallam Amos managed two second-half tries for the Dragons against Edinburgh, although it wasn’t enough to secure a win against the Scottish team.

Top tacklers

A battle at the summit of the Pro12 was the location for the two top tacklers of the weekend, Eoin McKeon and Josh van der Flier going head to head in Galway.

Both back rowers racked up 24 tackles, but it was McKeon who finished the happier as Connacht recorded a 7-6 victory.

Not too far behind was Scotland’s Blair Cowan, who managed 20 tackles in a losing cause for London Irish at Worcester, while Tom Wood racked up 19 for Northampton on Sunday as they beat Harlequins.

Ulster came away with nothing from their trip to Glasgow, but Rory Lutton showed off his work rate with 18 tackles in the loss, with Exeter’s Geoff Parling and Edinburgh’s Hamish Watson just behind on 17.

Top metre makers

An English full-back led the way in terms of metres made, Worcester’s Chris Pennell finishing with 129 in all as his side beat London Irish on Saturday.

He was closely followed by Matt Healy, who managed 122 metres despite playing in a low-scoring affair in Connacht.

The same could not be said of Dan Fish, who clearly enjoyed Cardiff Blues’ big win over Treviso, running for 114 metres, while Billy Vunipola also impressed racking up 107 metres, the best by a forward.

Finally Manu Tuilagi was in impressive form for Leicester, finishing with 98 metres, three more than Zebo in Munster’s big win.

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