As any sports nut will tell you, the off-season can never be short enough. Often the highlight of that time is the announcement of the fixtures for the upcoming campaign.
There is indeed an excitement surrounding the release of the Pro12 fixtures, but by merely naming weekends rather than actual dates it does tend to take the edge off it. Kind of like opening a Christmas present you thought was the Breaking Bad Series 4 you wanted and instead finding out it’s Season 3 which you already have. Yes, I’m still bitter.
But still, the release of the matchups can tell you a thing or two, and I noticed some as I looked through Leinster’s schedule, most of which I tweeted at the time, but still figured I’d put in the one spot for good measure.
- Kickoff away to Welsh team yet again – September 22, 2007 was the last time Leinster played their first match at home. It’s also the last time they’ve won to start a Celtic League campaign. Since then they’ve drawn at Cardiff then lost to the Scarlets (who they face this time round), Glasgow and last year those pesky Ospreys.
- Munster at Aviva before first HCup begins again – You can pretty much set this one in stone every year. Great way to get a Test-level matchup to prepare for the European stage, at the Aviva to boot.
- Heineken don’t do coincidences but if they did… Four of six Pro12 matchups on opening weekend involve teams in same HCup pool
- Munster mystery – Although the pre-Christmas classic is as it always was on the schedule, the return match is shrouded in mystery. Traditionally it would take place a week before the HCup quarterfinals, for reasons similar to those for the first match. But this time, it’s not only a week AFTER them, the venue is listed as “TBA”???
- Those pesky Ospreys – They were Leinster’s bogey team last season more than ever, the only team we faced but never beat. At the risk of sounding petty, there were mitigating circumstances surrounding all three matches. The first kicked off the season without World Cup players (for both sides, granted, but Leinster were hurt more by this), while for the other two Leinster had the HCup as a distraction either in the weeks before or after. Just ONCE I’d like a Leinster v Ospreys matchup to be played without the need for an asterisk. Well in the Pro12 regular season, that still won’t be the case this time around. The first meeting comes a week before both Wales & Ireland have their opening Autumn internationals while the return match in the final one before the playoffs, and surely at least one if not both will be safely through at that stage.
- Even split of home/away matches for once – for the past couple of campaigns we have had an uneven stacking of home and away matches…last season for example 7 of our opening 11 Pro12 matches were at the RDS. Didn’t stop us topping the table, but you’d still expect a more even spread which we get this time around.
- Ulster & Connacht at Christmas again – Because the Scots & Italian derbies are set for the holiday period and Leinster v Munster tends to be October & April, we can always expect to face the other two provinces over the Yuletide period. Despite the published dates I’d say the trip to Ravenhill will be moved to Dec 26 and Connacht at the RDS will probably be on New Year’s Day.
- Once again, Pro12 final ends the season. If were down to me, the Heineken Cup final would.
- Who needs travelling fans? – This last one baffles me more than any other. In November 2010, Leinster played away to the Ospreys on the same day as Ireland hosted Argentina at the Aviva. Not only did this make it impossible for fans to go to both matches, but the date of the Test match was announced well after the Ospreys one so some may have committed to travelling to Swansea on that date. We’re probably not talking large numbers here I know, but still it seems like a peculiar way to organise it. Well this season, as the weekends stack up right now, there are as many as THREE weekends with clashes : Glasgow v Leinster & Ireland v Argentina, Cardiff v Leinster & Ireland v England, and finally Scotland v Ireland & Leinster v Scarlets. I expect that last home Leinster game to be moved to Thursday based on recent seasons, maybe Glasgow & Cardiff will follow suit.
That’s about all I can see in the schedule, if you spotted anything else by all means get in touch. Whatever about my foibles, bring on the new season I say!!! At least Breaking Bad Season 5 starts this weekend to keep me going in the meantime. JLP
