Heineken Cup - Irish teams in 1,2 and 3 in the qualification standings

Devin Toner (http://bit.ly/zjvEFB )

Leinster had their work cut out for them by the burly Scots in Glasgow. The Warriors brought unrivalled physicality to the party, and had Leinster rocked and pegged back in the first half. So smart game plan by the Scots, absolutely playing to their strengths. Leinster had to keep themselves occupied with repelling the Scots, and it took a moment of magic by Sexton and Kearney, and one prolonged attack finished by a belligerent Boss lunge, to win the match. Well, we know Leinsters defense is the business, but the Scots had their attack under control. They missed Fitzgerald, and I’d be looking at Carr not Dave Kearney. McFadden showed a few good touches, and his place kicking is immaculate. Cronin had some stormng runs, and Toner is growing more influential in the team all the time. Even my photocopier is telling me, you need more toner! Leinster qualify for the quarters, and have next week to work on home advantage.

Ulster Leicester was the match of the weekend, with the Ulstermen using home advantage to absolutely pulverize the Tigers.  It’s seldom that you see the Tigers get so comprehensively outplayed in every facet of the match, but they weren’t just played, they had a tank driven over their scrums, their lineouts, their mauls, their backline. Good times for Ireland as Trimble, Cave, Tuohy, put their hands up for national honours. The crowd, the atmosphere, this match has passed straight into Ulster folklore. It had the hairs on the back of your head standing up the whole match.

Munster had a tough encounter at home against a determined Castres side. Post match interviews with O’Connell talking about frustration with their performance. Hard man to please, five from five, qualification in the bag, only unbeaten side in the tournament, and they feel they should have done better. Admittedly they left a few tries behind, but Castres are some team, big strong talented players. Munster need more composure in the last 5 metres, and I think that’s where Murray is still learning his trade, his control of players and split seconds decisions are still coming. Great to see three Irish sides in such good form, one two and three in the current qualification table.

Toulouse beat Connacht 24-3, so fair showing from the Galwegians. Exiles passed up a good chance to push for something more as they fell to the Blues. I also saw the Scarlets hopes dashed by the Saints, just felt the Scarlets should have done better, they needed to take their chances. And I saw Saracens beat Bairritz, not very convincingly, but they all count.

Heineken Cup
Friday , January 13
Ospreys 44 - 17 Benetton Treviso 
Racing Metro 92 24 - 27 Edinburgh 
Ulster 41 - 7 Leicester
Saturday , January 14
Montpellier 24 - 22 Bath 
Scarlets 17 - 29 Northampton 
London Irish 15 - 22 Cardiff Blues 
Aironi Rugby 0 - 82 Clermont Auvergne 
Munster 26 - 10 Castres 
Harlequins 20 - 14 Gloucester 
Toulouse 24 - 3 Connacht
Sunday , January 15
Glasgow 16 - 23 Leinster 
Saracens 20 - 16 Biarritz 

Heineken Cup taster

(Picture http://bit.ly/ynrFms )

Leinster have a full bill of health for their encounter in Glasgow, with  Leo Cullen, Luke Fitzgerald, Shane Jennings, Ian Madigan, Eoin O'Malley, Rhys Ruddock and Richardt Strauss all in the frame for selection. Glasgow are in fourth in the Rabid 12, and sit at second in their HC pool behind Leinster. A win here and they could really fancy their chances of topping the group. So this is a big match for Leinster,  Scottish teams have often been stumbling blocks in the past, and they want to win all their remaining matches starting on Sunday, and see if they can get home advantages in the next round. I’ve just watched some of the Bath highlights, and awash with pride I’m going with the Leinstermen to crack Firhill , down the bogeyman Scots, and come away with a win, if not a bonus point.

Ulster take on Leicester at home, in what promises to be a fantastic match. Both teams have put together a good string of results in the last few weeks, something to build on and take into this round of HC matches. Ulster would love to put some daylight between themselves and Clermont, and a win against the Tigers would see them get one foot into the next round. I think Ruan Pienaar is the key to this match, his return and excellent form is driving the team forward, and I’m expecting a home win from them.

Munster have Castres at home and have no recent injury worries to contend with, with even Niall Ronan in the frame for the match. There are several new faces in the Munster team at the moment, but the ethos is the same- stand up and fight!  Castres are bottom of the group, and have never made good tourists. I can’t see them telling all their friends that Limerick is a great place to visit after this weekend either. So Munster with a comfortable win then.

Connacht travel to Toulouse, and won’t disgrace themselves I’m sure. They have nothing to lose, Toulouse will be underestimating them, and I could see Connacht giving Toulouse a fright like they did to Quins.
Exiles take on the Cardiff Blues at the Ma-jet-ski stadium, and on recent form it’s hard to know hat to expect from Irish. Expect the unexpected! For the record, I think they’ll win and throw the whole pool open.
Elsewhere, I’ll try and see the Scarlets Saints match to see two form tams slug it out, and will catch the Saracens Biarritz match as well. Sarries are my dark horse team to go far this tournament.

Heineken Cup Friday , January 13
Racing Metro 92 vs Edinburgh 20:00
Ulster vs Leicester 20:00
Ospreys vs Benetton Treviso 20:00
Saturday , January 14
Scarlets vs Northampton 13:30
Munster vs Castres 15:40
London Irish vs Cardiff Blues 15:40
Montpellier vs Bath 13:00
Aironi Rugby vs Clermont Auvergne 13:30
Toulouse vs Connacht 15:40
Harlequins vs Gloucester 18:00
Sunday , January 15
Glasgow vs Leinster 12:45
Saracens vs Biarritz 15:00

Ulster thump, Connacht slump, Leinster slide in on their rumps, and Munster shouldn't get down in the dumps!

Legend! (picture http://bit.ly/A7P2lq)

Leinster welcomed back their internationals, and put last weeks performance behind them as they narrowly beat the Cardiff Blues at Cardiff City Stadium. The Blues were still in holiday mood for the first 10 minutes, asLeinster ran in two excellent tries that the Blues were interested bystanders to. But  the Blues fought their way back into the match and could have sneaked a win with better kicking. The Leinster pack stood up to be counted, Heaslip was immense, Cronin was lively, Toner played the best match I’ve ever seen him play, and in the backs Kearney and McFadden always looked threatening. Reddan has his detractrors, but he sets perfect tempo for Leinster, like a master traffic director. For the Blues, Halfpenny was great, but I thought I’d see more of Warburton than I did.

Munster looked a bit ring rusty as they beat Treviso and landed the bonus point for four tries. The match was closer than the final score suggests, and Munster have to be concerned with the ease with which Treviso scored their try. The International camp, had the biggest influence on Munster of all the four provinces, but this is the sort of warm up they needed for the Heineken Cup matches coming up. The highlight of the match was Nigel Owens’ dressing down of the Treviso scrum half Botes. ‘I don’t think we’ve met before. I’m the referee, you’re the scrum half, you do your job, I’ll do mine. If you keep on shouting at me, I’ll penalize you – this is isn’t soccer’! Legend! Bloody right as well! Munster had a few good touches, Earls, unrecognizable with a new hair cut was sharp, Zebo was useful, and O’Connell led from the front. They need to calm down a bit when they’re in the red zone, and not descend into one off runners, as they left a good few tries behind. And Treviso, to their credit, are a much improved side.

Connacht were in dismal form as they were trounced by Aironi in Viadana. They can turn it around though, they just need to work on tackling, handling, scrums and lineouts then they’ll be there. They can play so much better than this, and they will next weekend in the Heineken Cup. It’s time for them to settle on a fly half, and from what I’ve watched it should be O’Connor or Nikora. At their best, they have a running style similar to Leinster, but we didn’t see any of that.

Ulster got a good win away to Edinburgh, that’s never an place to come away with a result, and they did it emphatically.

London Irish were back to win winning ways with a close win over Sale.

I watched the Saints/Quins match, where Northampton ran a tank over Harlequins, giving them a comprehensive hammering in every facet of the match. Quins miss Nick Evans badly, and have no big guns to bring in and save the day either, while Saints had a really powerful bench. I’m still expecting Quins to bounce back though. Lee Dickson must be in hot contention for an England place, especially after party boy Danny Care ruled himself out with a series of drink related incidents.

RaboDirect PRO12
Aironi Rugby 20 - 6 Connacht 
Munster 29 - 11 Benetton Treviso 
Cardiff Blues 19 - 23 Leinster 
Scarlets 16 - 14 Glasgow 
Newport-Gwent D'gons 21 - 20 Ospreys 
Edinburgh 20 - 42 Ulster 
Aviva Premiership
Sunday , January 8
Saracens 26 - 19 Bath 
London Irish 21 - 19 Sale 
Saturday , January 7
Worcester 21 - 15 Gloucester 
Newcastle 10 - 16 Exeter 
Leicester 29 - 11 Wasps 
Northampton 24 - 3 Harlequins

Leinster take on Cardiff in the battle of the Blues and all the provinces are back to full strength.

Au Revoir Delon (Picture http://bit.ly/xXuzDu )

Coming up for Leinster is a date in Cardiff with the Blues. All of the Welsh sides have been bursting wth confidence since the World Cup and a trip to Cardiff City Stadium is a tough proposition. I didn’t learn much from the Blues website – most of these  club sites are crappy ticket sale vehicles masquerading as information about the club. They say their squad is ‘nearly up to full strength’ As the Heineken Cup gets going again the weekend after this, they are probably right. And ‘Blue Magic’ reckons that Kevin McLaughlin, Cian Healy, Jamie Heaslip, Rob Kearney, Eoin Reddan, Mike Ross and Jonathan Sexton are all in the frame for selection. It’s going to be close to full strength for both sides to try to kick themselves into shape for the weekend after, and notwithstanding home advantage, I reckon Blue Magic will prevail.

Ulster are on a high after thumping Munster, but Edinburgh are no pushover with Michael Bradley in charge, and they’ll be hurting from a loss to Glasgow. At full strength, Ulster should do it though.

Connacht travel to Vidana to have a go at Aironi. If they can nearly beat Leinster, they should sort out the bottom team, even away. I see winger Tiernan O’Halloran has signed up for 2 more years with them, which is excellent news. I expect the Galwegians to take this one.

Munster are going to like a bear with a sore head after last weekend, and Treviso are going to feel the pain. They need to pay the Italians their due respect and work through their phases, but they will. Munster are back at full strength, and I’m expecting a big showing from Paul O’Connell, new Ireland captain in Brian’s absence, and having just signed a new two year contact himself.

London Irish are going to have to try and right the wrongs of their humiliation by Bath last week, and do it against in form Sale too. Rumour has it that Delon Armitage is off to France and taking Nick Kennedy with him. Delon will not be a desperate loss, as he hardly seems to find time to play any rugby these days with his busy schedule of suspensions and injuries. Nick Kennedy is a whole different kettle of fish though. At the Madejski, home support should just about see them through, but then I thought they were going to hammer bath, so what do I know. Saints and Quins should be a cracker too.

RaboDirect PRO12
Friday , January 6
Newport-Gwent D'gons vs Ospreys 19:05
Edinburgh vs Ulster 19:30
Saturday , January 7
Aironi Rugby vs Connacht 15:35
Scarlets vs Glasgow 18:15
Cardiff Blues vs Leinster 18:15
Munster vs Benetton Treviso
Aviva Premiership
Friday , January 6
Northampton vs Harlequins 19:45
Saturday , January 7
Worcester vs Gloucester 14:45
Newcastle vs Exeter 15:00
Leicester vs Wasps 17:00
Sunday , January 8
London Irish vs Sale 15:00
Saracens vs Bath 15:00

Munster stumble, Leinster stagger, and the IRFU get it in the neck

O'Hallaran -one to watch ( picture http://bit.ly/rPjfr4 )

I caught the Ulster Munster match on Friday, where Munster were absolutely spanked by the Ulstermen at Ravenhill.  Ruan Pienaar was the star of the show for me, scoring a try and doing everything a scrum half should. Terblanche scored a try and is a shrewd short term signing. Munster looked disjointed, and sadly lacking in ideas behind the scrum. In fairness to them, they were heavily affected by the loss of their internationals, while Ulster were hardly affected at all, as they have all their foreign stars to fall back on.


 I suppose the IRFU is hoping that their new rules on foreign players are going to mean all provinces are equally affected when the internationals are withdrawn. I’m not sure if the treatment here isn’t going to kill the patient. I was feeling fine until I saw the doctor, now I don’t feel so good. My two cents worth is that we currently don’t have enough quality players to field 3-4 top level teams. Foreign players are going to avoid Ireland because of the complicated transient nature of the contracts offered. At the same time, the number of games being played goes up and up, so bigger squads are needed. The net result is going to be that the provinces are going to struggle to compete in the Pro 12 and the HC, and if that happens, it hard to see how the national team isn’t going to struggle. Then if  our stars get fed up and chase big contracts in France, we’ll really be shagged.

Now I’ve depressed the hell out you, my alternative suggestion would be that the IRFU brings in a minimum number of games over the season where Irish teams have to field all Irish qualified players, start with 6 maybe, going up to say 12 over 4-5 years. I’d also be interested to see a how restricting players from playing in Ireland would stand up in court.

Leinster straggled past a gutsy Connacht side at the Sports ground. Without Isa Nacewa to kick them home, they would have been in deep poo. They didn’t ever put their stamp on the game, and with the disparity in resources available to both teams, they should have put Connacht away easily. I like the look of O’Hallaran for Connacht, and also their team ethic. Leinster have to work hard on their discipline. Connacht deserved that match all the way, but we’ll take it!

London Irish were hammered by Bath at the Recreation Ground. Player of the match was Michael Claasens with Stephen Donald close behind, and Abendanon is such a classy player for them. Irish looked like they were going to be all over them at the start, but Bath just wanted it more. Is there an issue with leadership at Irish? They really needed someone to pull them together and get stuck in to a vulnerable Bath team.

I went to the Quins Saracens match earlier this week with an 82 000 crowd, fireworks to start, and a lot to admire about the way the match was played. Unfortunately for Quins they got bad stage fright in the first 20 minutes, and Saracens had them eaten by that stage. Saracens have a very cautious game plan, based on massive forward power and watertight defense, and it works. They are going to make waves in the HC I reckon. I also watched Quins scrape past Exeter, with a diabolical kicking display from Clegg. You should never mix politics and sport obviously. From an Irish perspective, great to see prop Andress, fly half Steenson  and lock Hayes shine. Hayes hasn’t missed a league game in three years. Legend! Getting back to Quins, Mike Brown is a pleasure to watch, solid under the high ball and in defense and a danger with ball in hand.

Ulster 33 - 17 Munster 
Exeter 9 - 11 Harlequins
Bath 30 - 3 London Irish
Connacht 13 - 15 Leinster

Happy Christmas everyone!

Leinster soar, Munster rumble, and Quins excell.

The 'lip (photo http://bit.ly/sa2ZtT)

Another weekend, dominated by rugby, I do have a proper life as well, no really. Ok not really.

Leinster soared high on Saturday, as they pretty comprehensively thrashed Bath at the Aviva Stadium. 7 tries does it for me. Fitzgerald is getting back to his best, Heaslip was immense, and Sexton was masterful. They have an irresistible attack, but with three tries conceded, they have to work on their defence. BOD was in the Sky studio instead of on the pitch where we want him, and he’s going to have to impart some of his experience to McFadden and O’Malley. Their discipline was fairly ordinary in the first half but they always had too much for Bath, who apart from Louw, Barkley and Abendenon look very run of the mill.

Sunday afternoon saw Munster welcome the Scarlets to Thomond for a titanic battle that went right down to the wire. Scarlets would be making mincemeat of half the teams in the Heineken Cup the way they are playing, and they made a good fist of surprising the men in red, before Munster roared back and took the game away from them. Munster’s pack is impeccable, but somewhere between Murray and O’Gara their backline doesn’t get the chances they deserve. How many times did Earls get passed the ball for instance? That aside, the engine rumbles on, 4 from 4.

I also saw most of Connacht Gloucester, a pretty heart breaking loss for the Galwegians. They have a total team ethic, while Gloucester seemed to be every man for himself. O’Connor impressed at fly half – they impressed all over the pitch actually.

Ulster got the 5 points they needed, while Irish slipped up at home, and are really going to struggle to get out of the group now. Saracens Ospreys was a good hard match, won by Saracens doing all the basics well, solid scrum and line out and excellent defence. They don’t use their line much though. The Ospreys look really competitive, Tupuric is great to watch, Ryan Jones was the MOTM for me, and Ashley Beck is a star in the making. Mauritz Botha is outstanding for Sarries.

Finally, I saw Quins give Toulouse a bloody nose in their own back yard with an excellent away win. Don’t underestimate the power of the top 2 inches in a match, Toulouse were wondering by how much they were going to win, and Quins had nothing to lose. Mike Brown could do no wrong, Care was brilliant, and they all played for each other. Toulouse had two tries not given, missed plenty of penalties, and have no one to blame but themselves.

Biarritz 29 - 12 Benetton Treviso 
Edinburgh 19 - 12 Cardiff Blues 
Ospreys 13 - 16 Saracens
Aironi Rugby 20 - 46 Ulster 
Leicester 23 - 19 Clermont Auvergne 
London Irish 19 - 25 Racing Metro 92 
Gloucester 23 - 19 Connacht 
Leinster 52 - 27 Bath 
Montpellier 13 - 13 Glasgow
Sunday , December 18
Munster 19 - 13 Scarlets 
Toulouse 24 - 31 Harlequins 
Northampton 45 - 0 Castres