OUR own Harry West and Fiachna Barrett helped Connacht to a memorable win in Parma this evening as the western warriors defeated Zebre 31-15.
The win was richly deserved and the bonus-point was secured by a try in the eleventh minute of injury time at the end of a roller-coaster encounter with the home side. Both Harry and Fiachna played major roles in the stunning finish with Barrett using his muscle and power to help his colleagues remain moving forward, while West, who started at centre, stepped in to the scrum-half spot and directed traffic brilliantly.

Connacht had to bounce back from a controversial disallowed try and the celebrations at the end illustrated how much the result meant to the men of the west.

The visitors thought they had taken the lead when wing Chay Mullins crossed in the 22nd minute. However, TMO Keith David intervened for a possible knock on from Josh Ioane in the build-up, before a technical issue on the big screen in the stadium meant referee Ben Whitehouse could not verify the call.

Whitehouse deferred to David and ruled the try out, but the delayed replays suggested the score should have stood.

Zebre immediately went on the attack, and they took the lead in the 26th minute when Martin Roger Farias knocked over a penalty.

Connacht turned down two kickable attempts at the posts but could not convert from either line-out, and that handed Zebre a three-point lead at the break.

Stuart Lancaster's side made the perfect start to the second half when centre Cathal Forde charged down Roger Farias' clearance, and that opened space for second row Joe Joyce to score.

More Connacht pressure followed and Sean Jansen crashed over, and full-back Sam Gilbert landed his second conversion of the game.

However, Zebre responded well and scrum-half Gonzalo Garcia showed good composure to score, but Roger Farias' conversion was wide.

Garcia was then sent to the sin-bin for an infringement on the line, and Jansen scored his second try from the rolling maul before Gilbert added the extras.

Mullins was yellow carded with eight minutes to play for a deliberate knock on and Bautista Stavile powered over from the resulting line-out to set up a tense finish, but Gilbert's penalty with two minutes put Connacht two scores clear.

With the clock in the red in the ninth minute of overtime, centre Marco Zanon was sent to the sin bin for a deliberate knock on and Connacht got the bonus-point they deserved with the final play when Oisin McCormack rounded off a rolling maul, and Gilbert ended the match with his fifth kick of the game.

Zebre remain rooted to the bottom of the table, while Connacht's third win of the league campaign moves the province up to 10th place.