Round 13

[big ginger 8]

FRIDAY, MARCH 4​

Ulster v Cardiff Rugby

Kingspan Stadium, Belfast – KO 19.35 IRE & UK / 20.35 ITA / 21.35 SA

Referee: Hollie Davidson (SRU, 3rd league game)

AR 1: Peter Martin (IRFU) AR 2: Nigel Correll (IRFU)

TMO: Leo Colgan (IRFU)

Live on: BBC NI, RTÉ 2, Premier Sports, BBC Wales & URC TV.

Edinburgh v Connacht

The DAM Health Stadium, Edinburgh – KO 19.35 IRE & UK / 20.35 ITA / 21.35 SA

Referee: Craig Evans (WRU, 29th league game)

AR 1: Finlay Brown (SRU) AR 2: Ross Mabon (SRU)

TMO: Andrew McMenemy (SRU)

Live on: Premier Sports, TG4, SuperSport & URC TV.

SATURDAY, MARCH 5​

Benetton v Leinster

Stadio Monigo, Treviso – KO 12.55 IRE & UK / 13.55 ITA / 14.55 SA

Referee: Ben Whitehouse (WRU, 80th league game)

AR 1: Manuel Bottino (FIR) AR 2: Alex Frasson (FIR)

TMO: Stefano Roscini (FIR)

Live on: Mediaset, RTÉ 2, Premier Sports, SuperSport & URC TV.

Scarlets v Glasgow Warriors

Parc y Scarlets, Llanelli – KO 17.15 IRE & UK / 18.15 ITA / 19.15 SA

Referee: Chris Busby (IRFU, 17th league game)

AR 1: Elgan Williams (WRU) AR 2: Steffan Edwards (WRU)

TMO: Jon Mason (WRU)

Live on: Premier Sports, SuperSport & URC TV.

Munster v Dragons

Thomond Park, Limerick – KO 17.15 IRE & UK / 18.15 ITA / 19.15 SA

Referee: Sam Grove-White (SRU, 19th league game)

AR 1: Andrew Cole (IRFU) AR 2: Stuart Douglas (IRFU)

TMO: Colin Stanley (IRFU)

Live on: TG4, S4C, Premier Sports, SuperSport & URC TV.

SUNDAY, MARCH 6​

Ospreys v Zebre Parma

Swansea.com Stadium, Swansea – KO 14.00 IRE & UK / 15.00 ITA / 16.00 SA

Referee: Andy Brace (IRFU, 75th league game)

AR 1: Gwyn Morris (WRU) AR 2: Wayne Davies (WRU)

TMO: Joy Neville (IRFU)

Live on: S4C, Mediaset, Premier Sports, SuperSport & URC TV.

 

[big ginger 8]

ULSTER
15. Stewart Moore; 14. Robert Baloucoune, 13. James Hume, 12. Stuart McCloskey, 11. Ben Moxham; 10. Billy Burns, 9. Nathan Doak; 1. Andrew Warwick, 2. John Andrew, 3. Marty Moore; 4. Alan O’Connor, 5. Iain Henderson (captain); 6. Jordi Murphy, 7. Marcus Rea, 8. Nick Timoney.
Replacements: 16. Tom Stewart, 17. Jack McGrath, 18. Gareth Milasinovich, 19. Sam Carter, 20. Duane Vermeuelen, 21. John Cooney, 22. Ian Madigan, 23. Aaron Sexton.

CARDIFF
15. Hallam Amos; 14. Owen Lane, 13. Rey Lee-Lo, 12. Willis Halaholo, 11. Aled Summerhill; 10. Jarrod Evans, 9. Lloyd Williams; 1. Brad Thyer, 2. Kirby Myhill, 3. Dmitri Arhip; 4. Josh Turnbull (captain), 5. Matthew Screech; 6. Ellis Jenkins, 7. Josh Navidi, 8. James Botham.
Replacements: 16. Keiron Assiratti, 17. Rhys Carre, 18. Will Davies-King, 19. Teddy Williams, 20. James Ratti, 21. Jamie Hill, 22. Ben Thomas, 23. Matthew Morgan.

As usual, an exciting backline for Ulster. Moore at 15 is interesting and potentially shows a lack of trust in Sexton. Good to see Murphy and Stewart back.

Edinburgh:

15. Henry Immelman 14. Ramiro Moyano 13. James Lang 12. Chris Dean 11. Emiliano Boffelli 10. Blair Kinghorn 9. Henry Pyrgos (captain) 1. Boan Venter 2. Dave Cherry 3. Angus Williams 4. Pierce Phillips 5. Glen Young 6. Ben Muncaster 7. Connor Boyle 8. Mesulame Kunavula
Replacements:
16. Adam McBurney 17. Harrison Courtney 18. Lee-Roy Atalifo 19. Jamie Campbell 20. Rudi Brown 21. Ben Vellacott 22. Jaco van der Walt 23. Matt Currie

Connacht:

15. John Porch 14. Peter Sullivan 13. Sammy Arnold 12. Tom Daly 11. Alex Wootton 10. Jack Carty (captain) 9. Caolin Blade 1. Jordan Duggan 2. Dave Heffernan 3. Jack Aungier 4. Oisin Dowling 5. Leva Fifita 6. Cian Prendergast 7. Conor Oliver 8. Paul Boyle
Replacements:
16. Shane Delahunt 17. Tietie Tuimauga 18. Dominic Robertson-McCoy 19. Niall Murray 20. Abraham Papali’i 21. Kieran Marmion 22. Tom Farrell 23. Jarrad Butler

Connacht are pretty ****** if Carty gets injured. Like the back five for them.

 

[big ginger 8]

Leinster Rugby team v Benetton Rugby (appearances in brackets):

15. Jimmy O’Brien (42)
14. Jordan Larmour (70)
13. Jamie Osborne (13)
12. Harry Byrne (31)
11. Tommy O’Brien (16)
10. Ross Byrne (117)
9. Luke McGrath CAPTAIN (164)

1. Peter Dooley (99)
2. Seán Cronin (201)
3. Thomas Clarkson (12)
4. Ross Molony (128)
5. Joe McCarthy (2)
6. Rhys Ruddock (200)
7. Scott Penny (35)
8. Max Deegan (77)

Replacements:

16. James Tracy (136)
17. Ed Byrne (78)
18. Michael Ala’alatoa (13)
19. Devin Toner (274)
20. Dan Leavy (77)
21. Cormac Foley (1)
22. Rory O’Loughlin (91)
23. Dave Kearney (172)

Munster: Mike Haley; Shane Daly, Chris Farrell, Dan Goggin, Simon Zebo; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Josh Wycherley, Diarmuid Barron, John Ryan; Jean Kleyn, Fineen Wycherley; Jack O’Donoghue (C), Chris Cloete, Gavin Coombes.

Replacements: Niall Scannell, Jeremy Loughman, Stephen Archer, Alex Kendellen, John Hodnett, Neil Cronin, Ben Healy, Rory Scannell.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Thank Christ HB is fit. Thought he'd done a rib last week.

 

[big ginger 8]

Bobby B has some pace.

 

[UlsterRugby2012]

Some score that. Moore with a couple of mistakes so far but if he can get the high ball sorted he could be a lethal 15 for us

 

[Tooting Carmen]

Matches between Ulster and Cardiff aren't usually this one-sided, are they?

 

[Tooting Carmen]

Two crap Cardiff lineouts!

 

[UlsterRugby2012]

I haven’t been particularly impressed with him this season but imagine being 24 points down and Duane Vermeulen comes off the bench…

 

[big ginger 8]

Moore looking very comfortable at 15.

Would love to know what's holding Farrell back about Baloucoune. He clearly rates him based on how he talks about him but is taking a very slow approach with him.

 

[UlsterRugby2012]

No better finisher in Ireland than Bobby B. Lovely

 

[UlsterRugby2012]

Moore looking very comfortable at 15.

Would love to know what's holding Farrell back about Baloucoune. He clearly rates him based on how he talks about him but is taking a very slow approach with him.

I guess he just doesn’t provide much coming in field to fill the playmaker role & I’m unsure on his kicking game tbh. seems to be the 2 big things Farrell is keen on. But he’s going to be too hard to ignore very soon..

It’s not a stretch of the imagination to think Conway could find himself out of the squad entirely due to no fault of his own, especially if JO’B steps up over the next year. His utility may be the only thing that saves him.

 

[UlsterRugby2012]

McCloskey doesn’t get enough praise tbh his hands are absolutely fantastic, he just makes every player around him shine with sublime passing and drawing in defenders with his size.

 

[Tooting Carmen]

This is far worse for Cardiff than I was expecting.

 

[Bluemoon]

This is far worse for Cardiff than I was expecting.

Ulster are a very good team and well settled. It’s been a bonkers season for Cardiff and they are more than rusty in a number of areas. Gutted the game against Zebre didn’t go ahead to get some cohesion back. Some serious work to do before a trip to SA haha!

 

[Tooting Carmen]

Wtf? 48-12 (Well at least the last try was denied).

 

[UlsterRugby2012]

Very strange by the ref there? Relative motion of the ball has nothing to do with whether the ball is passed forward or not. The hands were backwards / flat and the TMO even explained so and she still still ignored it.

Marginal call but the explanation by the ref totally off there

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

That's a bit more like it from Edinburgh's Blair Mitch Project (sorry). I know Connacht without Aki are much diminished but they aren't so bad they should be getting a spanking like that. Kinghorn again showing his ability. Chris Dean showing the Scottish qualified players how you actually play centre (Dean probably not selected due to lack of pace and power).

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Why have I just listened to RTE questioning the running of Benetton?

They're having a tough season off the back of losing Garbisi and a few others but are literally the most recent URC team to win a cup. They face far more challenges than any club in the comp bar Zebre and churn out competitive teams that contend for Euro spots every few seasons.

 

[munstermuffin]

Sun shining in the Costa Del Thomond Park anyways

 

[thejackal]

That's a bit more like it from Edinburgh's Blair Mitch Project (sorry). I know Connacht without Aki are much diminished but they aren't so bad they should be getting a spanking like that. Kinghorn again showing his ability. Chris Dean showing the Scottish qualified players how you actually play centre (Dean probably not selected due to lack of pace and power).

Ben Muncaster was excellent, really impressed by him so far in the back row.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Ben Muncaster was excellent, really impressed by him so far in the back row.

Between him and Darge to add to the already decent back row options Scotland might be pretty stacked there for the forseeable. Interesting background. Born in England, raised in East Lothian but left to go England to play rugby and cricket and combine them with studies because he felt England offered the better development pathway. Hopefully the cricket swung it for him or that is pretty damning that someone would relocate hundreds of miles away because they think it provides better development opportunity.

 

[Groundhog]

Dragons got a slapping. Glad to see Casey just play lights out. He comes under some ridiculous criticism.

 

[Tooting Carmen]

Why have I just listened to RTE questioning the running of Benetton?

They're having a tough season off the back of losing Garbisi and a few others but are literally the most recent URC team to win a cup. They face far more challenges than any club in the comp bar Zebre and churn out competitive teams that contend for Euro spots every few seasons.

The Rainbow Cup win was in large part due to a fluky fixture range, i.e. playing Zebre several times, plus some other teams such as Connacht which were not at their best.

Anyway, this weekend has seen a peculiarly large number of one-sided matches - even Scarlets-Glasgow, the closest of the lot, was a 25 point victory for the hosts. More wrist in the grill for the "how crap and uncompetitive the URC is" brigade. (Much as I did personally enjoy Scarlets thrashing Glasgow, of course - that second half was the best they've played all season).

 

[Seeker]

Glasgow got creamed @ Scarlets, 35-10. #3 lost to #13, I sure didn't expect that.

 

[Tooting Carmen]

Glasgow got creamed @ Scarlets, 35-10. #3 lost to #13, I sure didn't expect that.

Scarlets' low ranking this season is in part due to a big backlog in fixtures (South Africa and covid cancellations).

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

The Rainbow Cup win was in large part due to a fluky fixture range, i.e. playing Zebre several times, plus some other teams such as Connacht which were not at their best.

Anyway, this weekend has seen a peculiarly large number of one-sided matches - even Scarlets-Glasgow, the closest of the lot, was a 25 point victory for the hosts. More wrist in the grill for the "how crap and uncompetitive the URC is" brigade. (Much as I did personally enjoy Scarlets thrashing Glasgow, of course - that second half was the best they've played all season).

They had it easier than most although beating Connacht, Glasgow and the Bulls in pressure situations isn't the sign of a poorly run team. Munster only really had to beat Cardiff and Connacht after Leinster and Ulster played weakened teams against them and couldn't get it done.

Losing Garbisi, Allan , Riccioni and Hayward is pretty massive too. Garbisi would be the second best 10 in the competition if he'd stayed and Allan is a very complimentary 12 to pair with him and strong guy to back him up when he's not available.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

There really does need to be more Tomasso Allan appreciation generally.

New coach Bortolami also for Benetton is bedding in. I would not judge them around 6N weeks as their depth just isnt there. I've lost hope of them getting a top 8, but 10th or 12th is doable and would be very credible.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

More like it from Zebre, losing BP away to Ospreys, over 20 points scored and in it right until the end. Hopefully a sign the new Argentine coach is going to be an upgrade (which I was not expecting).

 

[Tooting Carmen]

More like it from Zebre, losing BP away to Ospreys, over 20 points scored and in it right until the end. Hopefully a sign the new Argentine coach is going to be an upgrade (which I was not expecting).

Was it more that the Ospreys were poor or that Zebre were (relatively) good?