We’re not happy here at HoR covering just the Irish provinces in the RaboPro12, so throughout the season Liam Sinclair will keep an eye on the rest of the league for us.
An interesting weekend in the Pro12. All the teams in the top half beat teams in the bottom half meaning no positional changes at all. Ulster show no signs of slowing down, traditional powerhouses Leinster and Ospreys continue their steady progress up the gears and the best of the rest, Scarlets, Munster and Glasgow all recorded wins to keep themselves in the mix. In the bottom half Connacht, Dragons and Zebre are where most people expected them to be, Treviso are performing slightly above expectations and Edinburgh and Cardiff continue doing their best to prove my optimism on their behalf wrong languishing in 7th and 9th respectively.
The internationals have gone to their camps so the upcoming matches will heavily involve squads. Hard matches to predict but we’ll have a go.
Warriors; Stadio di Monigo is building a reputation as a tough place to visit so Glasgow would have been happy to navigate this. Treviso deservedly led at the break but an impressive 2nd half performance, inspired by Tommy Seymour and substitute Scott Wight, saw them turn things around and escape with a hard earned victory. A morale boosting day out has them in rude health as we head into November.
Dragons; More of the same for poor, besieged Newport. The runts of the Welsh litter are getting further from the Pro12 teat with every week. Shipping 40 plus points for the second time this season and doing it in front of their own fans is a hard blow to absorb. Big improvement needed. Fast.
The Match; The international break can be the great equaliser and that counts extra in this match. Warriors have a long injury list of 6 or 7 and this will be compounded by the loss of 13 players to Scotland. There aren’t many squads that could handle this loss and any team sent onto the pitch is bound to struggle. The Dragons are being left in much better condition. Only Toby Faletau heads off to Poland leaving the Dragons with, essentially, their full complement. It’s easy when seen from that point of view and I see a much needed win for the Dragons.
Scarlets; A hard earned win for Llanelli in the Scottish capital. Despite having the try BP secured before half time it took a 78th minute penalty to secure a one point victory. The match swayed back and forth for the entire match and always had that ‘’could go either way’’ feel. Five points away from home always represents good value but the manner leaves a lot of questions.
Zebre; Still not giving us much to discuss with the talking points from this match centering mostly around Munster’s, admittedly impressive, JJ Hanrahan. They managed to keep the score low and drawn until half time. The second half was all Munster, a try at 46 minutes and they continued in this manner securing BP win. Zebre stayed on 3 for the duration and remain bottom.
The Match; Scarlets are another team that will be hit by the international break with 13 players unavailable. Zebre are losing five to Italy so neither are at full strength. In this case I don’t think it will be enough. Despite the shallowness of the Scarlets squad this is probably the match for them, what every team wants in these circumstances.
Cardiff; Cardiff were rolled over on easily on Saturday. While there was no denying that Leinster were at their ruthless best the Blues made it easy for them. Lowered expectations were needed for Cardiff leading to this match but they still landed well below acceptable. A deserved hiding for the Welsh region and down seems to be the only way for a team who looked to be building towards something at the end of last season. Next up are Munster in Cardiff Arms. Another match where teams will be changed due to call ups. 8 for Cardiff, 10 for Munster. Munster have, by a distance, the better squad. Closer than the weekend but Cardiff will have another in the loss column.
Edinburgh; That they were involved in the most entertaining match of the weekend will provide no comfort to Edinburgh. The biggest losers of the European break restarted domestic affair with a home loss to the high flying Scarlets. It leaves them very near to last year’s dismal end position and it will get harder before it gets easier. The Ospreys visit soon and a trip to Connacht in deepest winter follows that. First up though are Ulster. Unstoppable at the moment, it’s a big ask. I’ll save my Ulster are due a loss mantra until they have a toughish away game. In Ravenhill against a misfiring Edinburgh there’s only one likely outcome.
Treviso; A disappointing defeat for Treviso at the weekend, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Bigger picture? 8th is a decent position for Treviso with only 6 points between them and 5th. Home form has been the backbone for lots of teams throughout the ages and they’ve had a go at making this part of their arsenal. Definitely a team looking forward they are the showing that the Italian-Celtic league experiment was worth a whack. Connacht are next for Treviso and it’s a big one for both teams. Taking points off your closest rivals is the way to achieve positional goals. Treviso’s 17 players on International duty dwarves Connacht’s 3 and, once again, this could be key. Timing is the killer for Treviso here and Connacht should see this through.
Ospreys; A stylish showing against Connacht in Galway was the 4th consecutive victory for the Ospreys in the Pro12. Groove well and truly found just in time for the renewal of an epic rivalry. They really had Leinster’s number last year and will fancy their chances in the Liberty Stadium. It will be a tough outing though with so many players unavailable. Leinster are in a similar situation but their squad is stronger. Really not much in it and a losing BP no matter which way it goes. I’ll call Leinster this time for the usual unscientific reason of them being ‘due one’.
That’s that for this week. Not always the silkiest of rugby at these times but it’s a great time for the fringe players to put their hands up and a great chance for us to have a look at the stars of the future.
Liam Sinclair (@liam_bs) – Guesses, generalisations and clichés.
