Isa Nacewa
Two big derbies in Ireland and two convincing results, provincial rivalry is alive and kicking! First up, Connacht were much better than expected, certainly way better than Ulster were expecting. The Galwegians threw the ball around like last year, and scored three tries early in the first half. At that stage it looked like it was going to be a walloping for Ulster. Connacht's attack is superb, but they need to play smarter in their own 22, as Ulster picked up quite a few points just by pressuring them there.
Ex Leinster man Cian Kelleher scored 2 tries, and I thought Caolin Blade was superb. Ulster were just flat, but Tommy Bowe put in a few classy touches, and Jared Payne is at the top of his game. Les Kiss was fuming in the post match interview, you could just about see the steam coming out of his ears. Monday morning training should be interesting!
Then it was Leinster v Munster at the Aviva stadium, with Munster fans there in numbers, as much as a third of the crowd I reckon. It was a good hard match match, no handbags, no foul play, both sides just got on with it. The packs were pretty evenly balanced, although Leinster were gaining an ascendancy there by the end. It's behind the scrum that the difference between the teams is obvious. Sexton, Henshaw and Ringrose have the ball on a string, weaving lines, looking for space. And Isa Nacewa is The Man. Leinster play the game at a great tempo too, they have a few areas to work on but their game is developing nicely again, and their defense is superb. Bring on Castre! Munster got the most change out of their kick chases, and their rolling maul. Tyler Bleyandaal is starting to show what he's got, but he's ploughing a lonely furrow. They're still a work in progress, but they're not a million miles away from where they want to be.
In the first of the closing matches of the Rugby Championship, New Zealand absolutely smashed South Africa. Frankly the Springboks were embarrassing - they have the players, but no systems, no plan, no continuity in selection. The All Blacks are good, brilliant, but South Africa made them look like 15 foot aliens from space.
The other match was a pretty odd affair - playing away from home hurt Argentina, but on top of that there were a lot of changes in their team. They basically gave Australia two tries on a plate. Australia were all over the place too, high tackles all over the place and a blunt enough attack. It just didn't feel like a proper international, and at the end Nick Phipps shoved a physio over, for which he only got a citing commissioner warning. A bit unsatisfactory all round.
08-Oct-16
Scarlets 31-27 Newport Gwent Dragons
Zebre 28-33 Glasgow Warriors
Leinster 25-14 Munster
07-Oct-16
Connacht 30-25 Ulster
Edinburgh 45-10 Benetton Treviso
Ospreys 46-24 Cardiff Blues
Argentina 21-33 Australia
South Africa 15-57 New Zealand
No comments:
Post a Comment