**A hat-trick of tries amid a captain’s performance from Paul Boyle helped Connacht to a convincing 31-14 bonus-point victory over Benetton, as they climbed to second in Conference B.** Skippering his province for the first time, the armband certainly didn’t weigh heavily on the No.8 as he dashed over for two tries off the back of attacking scrums in a first half that also saw Peter Sullivan and Alex Wootton dot down for the hosts. With the four-try bonus point wrapped up by half-time, Connacht were stymied somewhat by the visitors after the break as Boyle completing his treble was the only additional try they could manage, while Dewaldt Duvenage went over for Benetton late on to add to Filippo Alongi's first-half try. However, the Irishmen still extended their winning streak over Italian opponents to seven games, while Benetton’s wait for a first Guinness PRO14 victory of the season will stretch until after Christmas – with their next league game being the Italian derby against Zebre on December 26.
