On another weekend, the latest chapter in the Munster European heroics tome would be more than enough to keep aficionados sated. Being the first helping of continental fare for the season, it was never likely to be the only talking point.
Not even from an Irish point of view. Teams from the Emerald Isle going against the grain is nothing new. Going all the way back to 1999 when a fine Ulster team comprising of Simon Mason, Jonny Bell, David Humphries, Jeremy Davidson and others became the first Irish team to lift what was and should always be known as the Heineken Cup in 1999.
They were also the first of the provinces into action in the current incarnation and indeed laid down a marker for their kinfolk when engineering a noteworthy success over former powerhouses of the competition Clermont Auvergne. Dan McFarland’s charges led 19-10 at the break with Stuart McCloskey and Nick Timoney going over the whitewash and John Cooney proving productive from placed balls. Despite an improved showing from the hosts after the break, and in particular the efforts of former Munster fly half JJ Hanrahan, his fellow Irishmen held on for a deserved away win.
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Things were much more straightforward for the aristocrats of the tournament Leinster who opened their campaign with a facile win over hapless Bath outfit in front of 25,403 fans at the Aviva Stadium. Five first half tries from Jamieson Gibson-Park (2), Tadhg Furlong, James Lowe and Hugo Keenan had the job as good as done by half time with Leo Cullen’s side clear by 33 to 13.
Further seven point hauls were tacked on after the restart courtesy of Ronan Kelliher and Josh Van Der Flier, with Ross Byrne converting all but one of the tries. Not for the first time, however, they, and in fact the other two Irish sides, were upstaged by the gallant and gifted men from the West. That is not in any way to detract from the other teams’ fine achievements over the weekend, but, to this writer at least, Connacht have always had to punch above their weight.
Remember, it’s not all that long ago they were threatened with being decommissioned as a team altogether. Thankfully, owing to the influence of people like Eric Elwood and Pat Lam and Mick Bradley and, most likely, Johnny Muldoon, that asinine idea was kicked to Row Z of the nearest stand.
A decision wholly vindicated when under the direction of the impressive Lam they defeated Leinster in what was known as the PRO14 and results like that achieved against Stade Francais on Sunday will only serve to endorse their belonging at that level and in fact burgeoned their standing therein incrementally over time. Getting the better of a French outfit certainly won’t do those aspirations any harm.
Like our other representatives over the weekend, the boys in green engineered their victory in the first half, thanks to tries from scrum half Caolin Blade, and John Porch and Alex Wooton. However, even though the visitors predictably did tighten things up considerably after the break, but a further three five-pointers from Diarmuid Kilgallon, Eoghan Masterson and Cian Prendergast.
The five county province are also fairly well placed behind Munster in the United Rugby Championship. Thus all the Irish teams are well placed at this stage of the season but there’s still a huge amount of rugby to be played yet.
Fág freagra