Shout it from the rooftops, Connacht are serious PRO12 title contenders

Leicester City and Connacht winning titles in the same season? If you uttered that in August 2015, not a single person would have believed you.

Connacht stretched their lead atop the Guinness PRO12 table, this evening, with a dicey, daring victory over Edinburgh. Pat Lam's men are now six points clear of second place Leinster after a 28-23 win over the Scots at Murrayfield. A 72nd minute try from Eoin McKeon secured the bonus point and quelled an Edinburgh comeback. The men from the west dominated the first half and led 14-0 after converted tries for AJ MacGinty and Jake Heenan. Edinburgh answered back early in the second half but a superb line break from Bundee Aki, finished with a diving flourish, and a Craig Ronaldson conversion made it 21-5. The hosts gamely fought back and had Connacht reeling with tries from Damien Hoyland and Cornell du Preez. Connacht are made of stern, driven stuff these days and they scored through McKeon after a strong scrum by the Edinburgh posts. The conversion gave them breathing room and they saw out the final minutes for another valuable win. Edinburgh tagged on a late penalty to get the losing bonus point but Connacht are far beyond worrying about such issues. Up at Kingspan Stadium, in Belfast, Ulster beat Zebre 32-0 to take the maximum five points on offer. Nick Williams grabbed two first-half tries and Ulster got their bonus point after scores from Pete Browne and replacement scrum-half Paul Marshall.