Connacht boosted their Guinness Pro12 playoff hopes with a 30-17 bonus-point win over the table-topping Scarlets at the Sportsground.

Pat Lam's men avenged their recent narrow loss in Llanelli with three tries off lineout mauls and a fourth from lively replacement Rodney Ah You's direct run.

The hosts' dominant scrum and maul provided the platform for a 13-0 interval lead, with flanker Jake Heenan crashing over twice.

Having opted to play into a strong wind during the first half, the Scarlets turned around with the elements in their favour and hit back with a 10-point blitz, including a DTH van der Merwe try.

But yellow cards for Phil John and Tom Price in quick succession left the league leaders under all sorts of pressure, and tries from man-of-the-match Denis Buckley and Ah You settled the issue.

Although Gareth Owen responded for the weakened Scarlets side, their late push for a losing bonus point went unrewarded.

Cardiff Blues continued their improved form to record a 10-3 win over third-placed Edinburgh at the Arms Park.

Dan Fish scored the only try, which Rhys Patchell converted before adding a penalty. The margin of victory should have been greater but Patchell missed two penalties and the home side did not take a number of try-scoring opportunities which would have rewarded their dominance.

Edinburgh were disappointing and fortunate to come away with a bonus point as they could only manage a penalty from Nathan Fowles.

Stuart Olding scored a try on his return to action for Ulster as they secured a bonus-point 32-13 victory over Benetton Treviso at the Stadio Monigo.

Flanker Sean Reidy, centre Darren Cave and winger Rory Scholes crossed before Olding went over for the crucial fourth try in a clinical second-half performance from the Irish province that kept them in the play-off hunt.

Elsewhere, Mark Chisholm scored his first try for Munster to help the Irish province to a 16-12 victory over Zebre in Parma.

In Sunday's match, the mid-table clash between Ospreys and Glasgow Warriors ended all-square at 20-20.

A try from Glasgow's Rory Hughes cancelled out Eli Walker's opener, and Gordon Reid looked to have won it for the visitors when he touched down in the 53rd minute, but Dan Evans went over late on to share the spoils.

On Friday, Leinster missed the opportunity to move top of the league.

Press Association Sport contributed to this report.