European Rugby Weekend 1 Round-Up

Heres a round-up of the main talking points following the four provinces
European games over the weekend. We had predicted a clean sweep for the
provinces and we nearly got there but in general the games were quite a bit
closer than we were expecting. First up the men from the Wesht (and the one
game of the four that I didnt watch, this is journalism at its finest folks!!).
Connacht trounced La Rochelle 48-12. The French visitors might as well have
stayed on their stool at half time as the game was well and truly over with
Connacht up 29-0 and the bonus point already secured, they finished with 7 tries
in total. La Rochelle indicated their intentions for the Challenge Cup by
effectively fielding a second-string side making 13 changes from their last top 14
game. Connacht on the other hand fielded a very strong side and the difference
in class was evident.
It will be interesting to see how this competition develops; it could descend into
farce if too many teams throw their hat at it early and decide to prioritise their
own league instead. It would be hard to blame them as there is no longer the
giant carrot of qualification to the premier European competition for the winners
thanks to the new Champions Cup qualification system. Should they really try
their all, field their strongest teams and risk yet more injuries to their best
players therefore harming their chances in their domestic leagues all for just a
chance at winning a relatively meaningless competition (with a trophy which
looks far too much like the Vince Lombardi Trophy for my liking)? Even the much
maligned Europa League, which every football manager involved in seemed to
despise for its pointlessness, is changing tack with the winner set to qualify for
the Champions League from 2015, its hard to imagine the Challenge Cup will not
have to follow suit unless the prize money is particularly lucrative.
Getting back to the game its hard to read too much from such a one sided
game. Its always great to see an Irish side wrack up a bunch of tries and beat
French opposition. Hopefully it will help with the development and confidence of
Pat Lams young team and in particular their exciting back line who well
hopefully see more and more of in Joe Schmidts squads in the next few years.
So a good win for Connacht but in all honesty it doesnt tell us anymore about
their development under Lam than we already knew.
Ulster had a much tougher night against Leicester Tigers at Welford Road. Giving
up big first half leads to English opposition before fighting back for the victory
was the story of the weekend for the provinces but unfortunately Ulster didnt
quite follow the script losing 25-18 in the end having trailed 22-3 shortly after
half time. Leicester, for their part, were a lot better than many anticipated. It
would be foolish to ever expect a game away to the Tigers to be easy but given
their injury woes and form many had predicted an Ulster win. Ben Youngs had a
good game at 9 following a slow start, they have some powerful carriers in the
back even with Manu Tuilagi being forced off with yet another injury and there
pack are big, tough and streetwise epitomised by Brad Thorn who lets remember
is nearly 40 YEARS OLD.I hope you all feel suitably inadequate, we sure do.

However Leicester are no world beaters and its hard to see them going far with
Freddie Burns at 10, who despite his try looked like a major liability. Leicester
fans must be bemoaning George Fords excellent form at Bath thinking what
might have been.
Ulster started the game with an amazing 22 phase passage of play which
resulted in a reasonably straight forward penalty attempt for Jackson. To come
away with nothing following his subsequent miss seemed to take the wind out of
their sales and after this they were their own worst enemies at times. The
penalties from Bowe and Gilroy and the ensuing yellow for Gilroy were
indefensible.
It is crucial for Ulster to get Ruan Pienaar back in to the team the as soon as
possible. Paul Marshall does not appear to be up this level and cries from a
couple of years ago for him to be more of a feature in Ireland squads seem in
hindsight to be level on craziness with the similar calls for Fionn Carr which were
going around at the time. His mistake for Youngs intercept try was inexcusable.
Rory Best is one of my favourite Irish players. His work rate, defensive effort,
breakdown work, scrummaging and general contribution on top of the fact that
he possess old school farmer toughness (playing with a broken arm for example)
and seems like an incredibly nice genuine guy has him up there, along with
Woody and Fla, as one of our greatest ever hookers. However his lineout
throwing has always been his Achilles heel and on occasion, such as Saturday,
really falls apart. I remember watching one of the Lions games which he was
involved in following Dylan Hartleys ban for one of many brain meltdowns in my
own rugby club surrounded by drunken Englishmen. His lineout throwing was
really struggling and many of them were complaining that Hartley should have
been there. I tried my best to stand up for him stating that if Hartley had been
playing in that game he probably would have already been sent off for spitting
on a ball boy, punching the forth official or gouging the TMO but my points were
falling on deaf ears due to too many crooked throws and watered down pints of
Fosters.
I would be interested to hear Ulster fans take on Jared Paynes selection at 13.
Murray Kinsella wrote an excellent piece yesterday questioning whether it is a
case of suiting Ireland at the expense of Ulster to have him in there. He had a
good game and he does seem to be improving in the role, question marks still
linger about his defence in the 13 channel and he certainly went too high in the
tackle which forced him off to be assessed for concussion. In spite of his own
good performance it was obvious that the Ulster backline functioned better when
he moved to fullback and Olding and Cave came into the centre. Following these
changes Ulsters two tries, particularly Bowes, really showed what the team and
backline are capable of. In the end a losing bonus point combined with denying
Leicester a winning one was a reasonably positive result in a tough fixture. If
Ulster can sort out the lineout, cut out the unforced errors and get their best
available backline on the field (Pienaar is unlikely to be fit) there is no reason

why they cant be confident of beating Toulon at home in front of a raucous

support, if they dont it will be another tough outing.
Leinster managed to beat Wasps 25-20 at the RDS almost in spite of themselves.
Injuries are of course a big factor and losing Mike Ross and Rob Kearney late in
the week only added to this however their unforced errors and occasional sloppy
play (including another intercept try conceded) is frustrating to watch. Leinster
have not only lost a lot of talent over the last few years they have lost a lot of
their leaders too and it shows at times when e=they look a bit directionless.
When you watch Jimmy Gopperth play he does not fill you with confidence I cant
imagine he fills his teammates with it either. One man who absolutely led from
the front was much maligned captain/ruck inspector who had one of his finest
games in years leading both the tackle and carry figures and generally being
everywhere and putting in another 80 minute shift on his way to the man of the
match award. Gordon DArcy, Sean Cronin and Rhys Ruddock all played well also
and the back row complimented each other very well.

Leinster followed the trend of letting Wasps into a big first half lead trailing them
20-8 late in the first half before eventually reeling them in. Darragh Fanning
continued his good run of form taking his two tries well. I am yet to be
convinced whether he can really cut it consistently at this level, he always strikes
me as a poor mans Alex Cuthbert, but maybe its just a matter of my own bad
taste as I have also never rated the Welsh man despite his fine try scoring
record. Either way if Fanning keeps scoring the Leinster fans will be happy.
In the end it was a fine result for Leinster and a very entertaining game where
defending at times seemed optional, Christian Wade being the epitome of this:
incredible for his own try and invisible for Fannings. However it will not be
enough to paper over the cracks of an at times average performance. The return
of a few more frontline players will make a big difference however for them to
really make waves in the competition they will need to improve their defence,
get the handling and passing back towards the levels of the Schmidt days and
try and sort out the out half situation.
Early on Saturday afternoon, Munster were possibly more Munster than Munster
ever have been before! These guys just dont know when theyre beaten. I think
only New Zealand have similar levels of self-belief to keep going until the very
end of games in search of a winning score. The way they were able to construct
the drop goal opportunity for Keatley was incredible. He deserves huge credit,
not only for the nailing the kick but also for the way he didnt panic when he got
the ball a few phases earlier in a weaker position on his wrong foot. The
calmness not to panic in that situation and just have a pot shot because he had
the ball was vital. CJ Stander deserves huge credit for his performance and the
way he has developed this year and Anthony Foley also deserves credit for
Standers increase in confidence and fitness. His ball carrying was immense on in
this game, for a guy who isnt as obviously powerful looking as a David Wallace

or Sean OBrien he is impossible to stop. Foley has surely found his first choice
backrow with Stander flanked by OMahony and ODonnell.
Other positives for Munster was their excellent lineout in both attack and
defence, OMahony, Foley and Casey deserve huge credit here. Conor Murray
continues to develop in to one of the best scrum halves in world rugby and there
was also a solid display from the back three in particular Felix Jones. Dave
Kilcoynes try was a great statement score and impossible to stop due to the
quick ruck ball created by the pack.
Munster still managed to end the half 23-7 down however. Sale deserve huge
credit for this as they really attacked Munster in the first half. Danny Cipriani is
great to watch and is reminiscent of Quade Cooper in the way he moves and
passes, but like the Australian can also be guilty of making poor decisions at
crucial times when put under pressure. Johnny Leota and ex-Munster man Sam
Tuitupou were also making hay in the midfield while Sale also had the Munster
scrum creaking a bit in the opening half.
I believe that many of these problems are self-inflicted. James Cronin and BJ
Botha are Munsters obvious first choice prop combination and I think the
selection of Archer and Kilcoyne was a sign of Foley underestimating Sale. Their
introduction in the second half had a huge impact. The number 1 thing that
Munster need to fix, if they are to have any hope against Saracens and Clermont,
is their midfield defence and centre partnership. Defensively the centre is an
incredibly hard place to play. Hurleys power and direct running is a huge asset
going forward but can make him seem a bit slow to turn and laboured in defence.
The main problem though is Andrew Smiths play at 13. He continually tries to
tackle whoever is running at 12 for the opposition, biting in leaves a huge gap
outside him and quick hands will put the opposition 13 through every time like
Leota managed repeatedly on Saturday. Smith needs to defend from in to out
trusting the men inside him (mainly Hurley at 12) to be able to make one on one
tackles allowing him to stay on his man and therefore not letting those gaps
appear. Realistically the introduction of Hanrahan is the only change Foley can
make to the midfield, I believe this would improve the attacking play of Munster
but the defending of the 13 channel is the bigger issue. Saracens and Clermont
will exploit this much better than Sale could however if Munster manage to keep
it close to the end of these games I know who my money will be on!

All in all a good weekend for the Irish provinces. Plenty to work on for Ulster,
Leinster and Munster but we believe that if they can fix the issues raised in this
piece that they can all qualify from their groups and from there who knows.

Yours in Sport,
JM