Jamison Gibson-Park
You can't get better than four from four can you? Connacht got the ball rolling, and kick started their season with good bonus point win over Edinburgh. We saw some of the Connacht of old, with flowing off loading rugby. We also saw some of the Connacht of new though, with half the country sitting there thinking would you ever just stop faffing around in your 22 and kick it out? A long way come, a way to go.
Munster monstered Zebre, scoring 7 tries, and providing a big confidence booster against a sterner test next weekend against Leinster.
Ulster eked out a precious victory against the Ospreys, in a night where defense was king. That showed a lot of charachter, hanging in there, and snatching it at the end. Jaryd Payne looks to be coming into some serious form. And the Ospreys are under pressure now.
Finally, Leinster hung in there and ground out a gutsy victory over previously unbeaten Cardiff. They also cleaned up the hoodoo of their second half performances this season, overturning a first half deficit of ten points to pip the Blues at the end. The Blues didn't score at all in the second half, and turned down an opportunity to go for the draw. The Welsh press had a few doubts about Leinster referee Dudley Phillips, but to me he dished out wonky decisions with no bias. Leinster just took their chances better. But it's an impressive Blues outfit, that look like the pick of the Welsh teams right now. For Leinster, Sexton pulled the strings well, Van Der Flier is still on fire, but my MOTM was Jamison Gibson-Park, that's the tempo Leinster want. Rory O’Loughlin made an eye catching debut
In the Rugby Championship, the Springboks overpowered the Wallabies in a dull encounter. Players dropped the fall, fell over, committed fouls and even played some rugby from time to time. Australia spurned numerous opportunities to pull clear, while the Boks reverted to type - the forwards play with the ball, the backs tackle, the fly half gets the points.
Argentina v New Zealand was a much better match - up until the last 5 minutes of the first half, where the All Blacks scored three tries and totally wrecked the game. Big spoil sports! Clinical doesn't cover it, they played without the ball most of the game, but when they had it they were deadly. Even their B team is deadly!
1 Oct 2016
Cardiff Blues 13-16 Leinster
Benetton Treviso 6-22 Scarlets
Ulster 9-7 Ospreys
Munster 49-5 Zebre
30 Sep 2016
Connacht 28-15 Edinburgh
Newport Gwent Dragons 17-26 Glasgow Warriors
Rugby Championship
South Africa 18-10 Australia
New Zealand 36-17 Argentina
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