URC 2022/23 - Other Sides

[justinr73]

Three points in 77 minutes in Galway then.

Glad i turned over!

[justinr73]

I’m also glad I didn’t take the -12 on Leinster!

[justinr73]

Stair-rods in Swansea!

[Neill_M]

Sharks 40-12 Glasgow
Cardiff 31-14 Dragons
Edinburgh 53-8 Benetton
Scarlets 36-12 Zebre
Munster 31-17 Bulls

[solidarity]

Cardiff eighth in the URC table, the other three Welsh sides in the bottom six, Embra and Glasgow in the bottom half. Maybe an Irish / Saffer league could work well.

[Neill_M]

Bonus point wins for Bulls and Connacht last night.

Benetton 22-44 Bulls
Connacht 36-14 Scarlets

Remaining Fixtures

Sat 1pm Zebre v Edinburgh
Sat 5:15pm Leinster v Munster
Sat 7:35pm Cardiff v Stormers
Sun 3pm Dragons v Ospreys

[Columbo]

Mixed bag so far for the Irish sides. We have looked strong, we’re starting to show the benefits of a strong, settled coaching ticket with a clear and consistent philosophy. Good squad depth (barring out-half ), good selections with well-balanced rotation, set piece going well, really good drills at the breakdown in attack and defence, and we still have some big players to come back.

Leinster have looked ok, might sound a bit churlish to say that given they’re 100% and beat us at home! But I don’t actually think they’ve looked quite on it. That said I think they have plenty left in the tank, and I’d say they’ll grow nicely into the season. I do think that the weather was a big leveller in our match - put us on a dry track and there’s not much between us IMO. As it has turned out they’ve got a decent draw in Europe with Racing not blowing anyones socks off atm - whereas we have La Rochelle and Sale, bang in form and both with the types of big pack most likely to do damage to us

Munster, well now... eek. They got the result last week against the Bulls and were good value for it, but tbh is was like a dust up between two drunks in a carpark, neither side brought much. For the last good few years, all of the Irish sides have generally looked fundamentally well-coached, even under tickets that have gone on to disappoint or whatever - but this Munster side under Rowntree is the first time for a long time that I've seen an Irish side look completely at sea and bereft of tactical coherence. Even their big names coming back into the mix hasn't helped, because they have all been anonymous or crap, even Beirne which is just bizarre to see given how good he was in NZ. They don't seem to have a clue how to use Fekitoa, and he's had an absolute mare so far. Their half-backs have been an absolute mess, Healy seems to be going backwards, Murray looking tired, Carberry looking, well.. like Carberry (I actually lolled last week when he was given MOTM, he wouldn't have been in my top 10 candidates). The one soltary bright point has been the emergence of Edogbo, who really does look like something else and I'm looking forward to seeing more of. I'm in two minds about them - on the one hand they're a dangerous side to write off, and while I think their squad looks patchy enough, these first half dozen matches could prove to be teething pains under the new coaches, and they might come good. On the other, there isn't much sign of progress or evolution so far, and I think they could cop an absolute hiding this evening in Dublin...

Connacht got a good result last night, but I think it's been a poor enough start to the campaign - in fairness they had a nightmare run of opening fixtures, but I was really disappointed by them in Belfast, they didn't fire a shot. Tbh I'm not seeing much progress from last year - they've added a few useful bodies to the squad but still some big gaps (decent back-up to Bealham & Carty in particular). They're an excruciating side to watch at times, because they mix the brilliant with the woeful - e.g. a classic is running a lovely starter play and then failing to support the player and getting turned over (actually watching them last night really made me appreciate our ruck work, when we played Scarlets McLeod and co didn't get a sniff of the ball, but the Scarlets back row were all over it last night). Other staples are winning a great poach penalty on half way, then missing touch, or kicking to the corner and losing the lineout - I know every team is guilty of these from time to time, but it seems to happen to Connacht much more frequently.. On the plus side Murray and Hawkshaw have looked really good. But I think it's going to be a long old campaign. I think Friend is moving on after this year (?) and tbh while I think he's done a good enough job, they look like a side that needs some new ideas..

[justinr73]

Munster have a big injury list this weekend - will be interesting to see how many recover for next week.

[Neill_M]

Zebre 19-38 Edinburgh
Leinster 27-13 Munster

Bonus point wins for Edinburgh and Leinster. Zebre no 7 got a brain fart red card when it was 0-19.

Leinster weren't great for their high standards, a patched up Munster did well.

[Jetstream]

Leinster butchered about 4 tries. Munster defended well but no cutting edge. Crowley looks the real deal. He played very solidly at 15. Think he is the best No 10 prospect I have seen but he needs game time.
Munster were lucky to get away with 2 yellows. You could have argued red.
If we can get a fit side out for next week we could sneak an away win.

[Columbo]

If I was a Leinster fan I'd be happy with the scoreline, but not the performance, goes back to what I said earlier, they're really not looking on it. With those starting 23s, I didn't look at the handicaps before, but that's a 20 point Leinster win for me, and they should / could have had a 25 point lead at HT! Strange to see them passing up so many opportunities. I have to say that they have a massive achilles heel at TH - I think Alaalatoa is awful, nowhere near the level that a team like Leinster should have as back-up to Furlong, and if Furlong isn't fit through their European campaign that could turn into a real stumbling-block for them. Clarkson was brilliant at 20s, but not there yet.

As for Munster, they put up a good fight, and defended pretty stoutly, but again - even acknowledging the injuries - didn't offer too much. It's getting to the stage that some of the Ireland selections are actually looking surreal - e.g. the idea of Murray or Carberry starting for Ulster if they were to transfer up is absolutely laughable. If we have any opinion of ourselves, and expect to be getting anywhere near silverware this year, we should be going there next week fully expecting the win (assuming we get the Delhi belly sorted out!)

[Neill_M]

Cardiff 30-24 Stormers (4-2 Match Points)

Only Leinster left as an unbeaten side.

[justinr73]

Pretty average fare at the Aviva.

Looked like Munster shipped some more injuries and that game would have taken a lot out of them.

[Neill_M]

Pretty average fare at the Aviva.

Looked like Munster shipped some more injuries and that game would have taken a lot out of them.

Team selection for both Munster and Ulster next week could be interesting given issues and no internationals.

[Dublin4]

I tend to agree with the criticism of Leinster. A lot of chances were butchered but Munster put up quite a bit of resistance. Still, we have a lot of point in the bank going into the international break.