I TOLD you Joe Schmidt and Jono Gibbes should have started!

(picture http://bit.ly/T7oRQF)

Sometimes you can’t wait to tell everyone about the rugby on the weekend – sometimes you can… I started the weekend by seeing a fair bit of Ulster beating Glasgow. A few rough edges to hammer out, but Ulster look in good nick, with a host of star players to return. Best, Wilson, Ferris, Bowe, Pienaar, they are going to be some team this season.

My appetite for rugby took a big dip after the Leinster match though. Fair play to the Scarlets, they have a good squad, played well, and had top class players to bring on from the bench to up the pressure throughout the match. Leinster’s lack of Ireland internationals, and long injury list showed. I wasn’t expecting miracles, but a bit of tackling would have done for a start. Jamie Hagan and Ian Madigan stood ou  in a forgettable outing for the men in blue. I can take this, given the disparity in strengths of the teams put out, but when the Scarlets come to the RDS…I want blood, and lots of it!

Well, after that, I had the Munster match on tape but wasn’t in the mood for any more rugby.Good win for them at Edinburgh though. Connacht picked a bonus point against Cardiff, and Treviso will be well pleased in beating the Ospreys.

The best rugby I watched was Taranaki successfully defending the Ranfurly Shield with a 49-40 victory over Tasman. End to end stuff, that’s what we want.

What I did like this weekend was the new scrum engage call, which has got the game moving again, and the Use it call from the ref.  Less hanging around, more rugby.

RaboDirect PRO12
Newport-Gwent D'gons 37 - 6 Zebre 
Benetton Treviso 12 - 6 Ospreys 
Ulster 18 - 10 Glasgow
Connacht 9 - 13 Cardiff Blues 
Edinburgh 18 - 23 Munster 
Scarlets 45 - 20 Leinster