Leinster get the win, small room for improvement though!

 

Leinster got things going on Friday with a far from faultless performance, winning but losing out on a bonus point, and even winning looked a bit dodgy at one point. But I think they did ok under the circumstances. Treviso for a start were not rubbish, they played pretty well, putting us under sustained pressure at times. Kieran Crowley is their new coach, fresh from coaching Canada, and they look completely different from last season. We didn't give them enough respect - we were spreading the ball too early, and we had too many missed tackles. Joy Carbery was the main postive, now that's what I call a debut, with two tries including a superb 70m solo effort. I think Leinster are trying to play a better style of rugby, it's just learning when to turn it on. All in all, it was 7/10 performance, that they can only build on.

Ulster had a good solid bonus point win at home, just the way you want to start the season.

Munster got an away win over the Scarlets, again a great start, getting something to build on going forward. I've no doubt they've already put last season behind them.

Finally, a start to forget from Connacht, I think the weight of expectations is heavy on them. But it's hardly surprising that Glasgow are such a good well drilled side. There's some serious finance behind the club, you can see that in the quality of their recruitment's and their forward planning is immaculate. They have the future Scottish coach, and then replacing him next year one of the best coaches in World Rugby. So a bit of a bump for Connacht, but they'll be back!

 Leinster Rugby 20-8 Benetton Treviso RDS Arena 11217
Ulster Rugby 29-8 Newport Gwent Dragons Kingspan Stadium
Ospreys 59-5 Zebre Rugby Liberty Stadium 6509
Scarlets 13-23 Munster Rugby Parc y Scarlets 6107
Connacht Rugby 5-41 Glasgow Warriors Sportsground 6063
Cardiff Blues 34-16 Edinburgh Rugby BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park 4807