AN EXCITING EVENING OF PRO 12 ACTION AS ZEBRE, GLASGOW & DRAGONS ALL RECORD GREAT WINS

What a Friday of rugby it was. Historical first victories and some real shocking results across the board. A kind of Friday that not a single game can be singled out as all were enthralling, exciting and exhilarating regardless of what team you support. Possibly the first exciting evening of rugby that the Pro 12 has seen this season and arguably the first in a very very long while. 

Glasgow have yet to lose a game this season in the Pro 12 but with visitor's Leinster arriving in Scotstoun on Friday having convincingly and confidently cruised through their first few games it was very possible that Glasgow would be served their first taste of defeat but alas Hogg and his team managed to beat their Irish opponents 12-6 in a hard fought game. 

The Warriors looked threatening throughout the match but the score was incredibly tight for most of the eighty minutes and despite Glasgow looking incredibly promising on the attack Leinster were still in the game. However, when Warriors' centre, Yanuyanutawa, crossed the line towards the end of play it looked very positive for the Scottish side and with tackles such as the one Ruaridh Jackson performed on Leinster's Ian Madigan being carried out it was getting more and more obvious how determined the home side was for another win.  With huge pressure being thrusted upon Leinster from the Glaswegians with the men in white playing phase after phase of bone crunching, leg sapping attack there was nothing the visitors could do and when referee Peter Fitzgibbon blew the whistle the time was up on Leinster's fight as they left the field with their first defeat of the season.

A great game and an even greater win for the Warriors. 

Having been in the league for a few seasons Zebre had yet to record a single victory but that all changed on Friday night as they came off the field at Cardiff Arms Parks with an historical victory. With the game ending 25-30 for the visiting side it meant that after 25 matches a W could be placed by the team's name. Even with the Lions player of the series, Halfpenny, back in the squad, the Blues were unable to defeat the Italian side who finished in last place the previous season. 

With Mauro Bergamasco, David Odiete and Brendan Leonard all fighting it out on the field and Luciano Orquera keeping the score board ticking over with his boot, Zebre looked reasonably comfortable after 15 minutes on the pitch despite going 7-0 down after only two minutes as Dafydd Hewitt crossed over the try line to score the Blues' first five pointer of the season. 

With the lead see-sawing back and forth with each team giving away penalty after penalty, it wasn't until David Odiete crossed the whitewash to put Zebre ahead 23-19 in the last quarter of the match that the scores began to settle. With the Zebre defence staying strong throughout the game and especially in the dying moments as the Blues advanced on their opponent's 22, the Italian side achieved what they had never achieved before and when the final whistle was blown the black and white side erupted with a kind of joy that only comes with a first hard fought win. An historic day for Zebre rugby and an exciting day for the Pro 12. 

The Scarlets made their way East down the M4 towards Rodney Parade on Friday night as they prepared to face their fellow Welshmen the Dragons. The Dragons' Rodney Revolution has been fully underway since they beat last year's Pro 12 runner ups, Ulster, in their season opening match thus the Scarlets knew that they were in for a tough game. The Dragons can no longer be seen as the fourth region - they are one of the strongest welsh sides in the Pro 12 and after Friday's game they look like one of the strongest in the whole league. 

Having lost 9 out of 9 previous games against the Scarlets, the Dragons were looking to end their bad run of losses against the West Walian side and with prop Phil Price crossing the whitewash with 11 minutes on the clock it looked as if the Newport based team were on their way towards another victory against one of last year's top 4. With tries from ex Scarlets player Dan Evans and numerous penalties from Prydie and Tovey it was the Dragons who found themselves walking off the pitch as the winners with a score of 23-16. 

On some occassions the Scarlets looked threatening and with only a few minutes left on the clock it seemed as though the strong Scarlets scrum would push over the line to get at least another five points on the board but alas it was the same ending that we've seen from the men in red all season - promise but no finish. With numerous chances at points throughout the game the Scarlets threw them away with silly fumbling of the ball, scrappy passes and bad protection at the break down. 

But it was the Dragons who won the game and not the Scarlets who lost it. This team who only but a season ago were put on the back burner by many are now one of the most talked about. Not only did the Dragons end their marathon losing run against the Scarlets but they also, and more importantly, gained enormous amount of confidence that will undoubtably benefit them going in to the rest of the season.