Magners League opening week

[TRF_Olyy]

And the captain is very young this year a 20 year old. Is he very influential or is this a gamble

Bit of a gamble, but he's a very good player (stole a starting spot from a well established lock in his first season), and was voted player and players player of the year, so the players and the staff both recognise he's good. He captained in all of the preseason and did well, and was captain of England U20s in the 6N (i think he wasn't the official captain, but he was the one doing the team talks and talking to the ref etc.)

 

[munstermuffin]

That good so and he has long future so hopefully it'll be good and we see Sale challenging again. Always enjoyed trips there in Heineken Cup

 

[durbutter]

Connacht are doing very well. Have the Dragons beat allover the field.

 

[Thingimubob]

Scarlets just had their 2nd try vs Treviso, young winger called Gareth North finished off a great try for them! They're showing a bit of the match on S4C before the Blues kick off against Edinburgh.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Connacht have looked good so far in beating the Dragons by 20-9 at the break. They've scored two good tries via Ofisa and Cronin. Hagan has scrummaged well at tighthead and offloaded for Cronin's try in a decent 1st half for him (one stupid penalty aside).

 

[durbutter]

Connacht absolutely hammering the Dragons. Destroying their set pieces, and cutting their backline to shreds. The bench as been unloaded. MOTM Keatly. Hagan had a great game, possible answer to the 3 crisis for Ireland?

Dragons have been awful, such hype over them and they look rubbish

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Connacht absolutely hammering the Dragons. Destroying their set pieces, and cutting their backline to shreds. The bench as been unloaded. MOTM Keatly. Hagan had a great game, possible answer to the 3 crisis for Ireland?

Dragons have been awful, such hype over them and they look rubbish

Long term, Hagan looks a good bet for the international team. Moving to Connacht has been the making of him. He's rarely in trouble in the scrum- only Toulon really knocked him about.

Keatley has been excellent, attacking the line with purpose (he's made a couple of breaks) and bringing his backs onto the ball with some sweet passes. Hopefully this new backs coach Brian Melrose can bring out the best in him because, whisper it, Keatley looked a better prospect than Jonathan Sexton a couple of years ago.

Ray Ofisa named MoM.

Christ, I know it's only week 1 but Connacht are top of the league!

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

The Dragons didn't have the Evans/Tovey partnership at 9/10, which was reponsible for most of their sucess last season.

Scarlets now 25-22 behind, after a try from Preistland and two from George North, with some Italian geezers looking to do a Scotland 2000 and win their opener.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

That's **** for the Scarlets but great for the league. The Italian teams need to be relatively competitive in order to give the sport there and their new franchises some credibility.

 

[Draggs]

Dragons looked awful.
Quite a few injuries in the squad, but that is hardly an excuse.

Matthew Jones was absolute rubbish, IMHO.
Dragons 15m out, doing well moving the ball, and he ******* kicks it.

Tovey is a much better 10, but we need him at 15 as Matt Evans hasn't learned how to catch yet.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

But saying that, Newport have such an easy opener against Connach!

:lol:

I called it!

Gutted for the Scarlets losing, but i'm glad to see the Italians doing well.
Aironi is holding their own against Munster as well (6 - 6 atm)

 

[Draggs]

Its the first week, and no team has really fielded a full squad.
A few shocking performances, but there are quite a few months to go.

Benetton beat Scarlets 34-28.
Bennton tries by Botes, Galon, and Benvenuti.
Conversions by Botes (2), and four penalties and a drop goal from Botes as well.

Scarlets had two tries from George North, who made his debut, and one from Rhys Priestland.
Two conversions and three penalties from Priestland as well.

Glad to see the Dragons managed at least one try; scored by Will Harries...

 

[Thingimubob]

Blues win 34 - 24 with a bonus against Edinburgh. Though the match has left me wondering how Peter Fitzgibbon can possibly be a professional referee :S the guy is a complete *** and managed to miss some very very obvious knock ons and forward passes that pretty much everyone else is the stadium saw

 

[Jockstap]

Munster 11 - 11 Aironi at halftime, great to see the Italian teams doing well.

 

[cyRil]

Landed for Treviso!

 

[durbutter]

End of the first round and Connacht are on top!!!! The Wesht is Awake!!!

 

[Jockstap]

Munster 33 - 17 Aironi at Fulltime.

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

End of the first round and Connacht are on top!!!! The Wesht is Awake!!!

Hey, this time last year it was the Dragons.

Oh, and the table's opposite of last years' positons: Connacht top, Ospreys bottom.

 

[cyRil]

Up to -3 though!!!

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Great opening weekend of rugby ... who said NH was dull?