I guess this blog would get pretty boring if I banged on about the lack of television coverage every time I had nothing to judge a Leinster performance by. But what else can I do?
By all accounts it seems Leinster were fully in control of this match, and even had a 23-3 halftime lead just like the national team had next door the previous Saturday.
The tries in our case however came right at the end of the opening period with first Isaac Boss and then Jordi Murphy getting the touch-downs. We even had a Welsh comeback of sorts in the second half, though this time they only managed to get within 12 points…still, that’s less than two scores so when Ian Madigan was lining up his penalty kick with 10 minutes to go, the pressure would have been on as it was a match-winner, and he nailed it.
That’s about as much as I can say regarding the action…for more details you can read the official account on the Leinster rugby website.
And before I rant…we can just take it as a given that my point about the craziness of having Pro12 matches the same weekend as Six Nations ones has been done to death by me online.
When it comes to telly, simple question…should I expect all Leinster matches to be shown live on television?
Simple answer…yes. And not because I think it’s “all about me”, either. It just seems to be common sense.
First of all, yes, I know all about the argument that Connacht fans have. When I rant about missing one Leinster game no doubt they would ask me to cry them a river. My only response would be that if they expect one-for-one treatment by the media regardless of fan base size then they are free to write about it on their own blogs!
My argument is based mostly on a marketing perspective. The reason this match wasn’t shown was that apparently BBC Wales decided at the last minute that they couldn’t be arsed covering this match because with the Six Nations and all this weekend it meant they had priorities elsewhere.
So my obvious question is…why were they allowed to take this decision so late?
This competition went for many years as just “The Celtic League” and needed to work hard to go find a sponsor before Magners came along. Even then it was brand that went by a different name in Ireland, so clearly it wasn’t a case of sponsors banging down the league’s door. Then the cider manufacturers pulled out, and the league was re-branded as the “Pro12” to allow for the Italian teams and eventually RaboDirect tacked on its unwieldy name to make it the brand we know it today.
Now I’m not a morkeshing person by any stretch, but I would have thought that if I was shelling out dosh to sponsor an competition, I’d want every opportunity taken for the general public to get at least get a squizz at my logo?
Which means that when a match is being played between teams representing the most heavily populated markets in two of the four countries in the league, I’d be rightly pissed off to learn it wasn’t going to be broadcast!
So my query goes back to the signing of the original contract with the broadcasters. Basically if you’re a TV company and you want to secure rights to cover the league then off you go. But surely it makes sense to establish a deadline date before a particular fixture when you must guarantee that you’re going to show a match, one that allows an alternative network enough time to step in if you couldn’t be bothered?
I mean…if THESE matches can be shown on Irish telly this weekend… Dewsbury v Featherstone (English second tier rugby league), Ebbsfleet v Macclesfield (English FIFTH tier football – and this was a re-run so Setanta certainly had a free slot on Friday evening) & Cork v Kildare (GAA – I know these teams are Irish but at least this was played on Irish soil and attendances are extremely poor at the league matches; before anyone gets hot under the collar if it were a Championship fixture it wouldn’t be on this list) then I don’t see why the people involved can’t get together and ensure a team with one of the biggest fan bases on the island can’t get match coverage.
Not that I minded watching the Wolfpuppies of course, but BBC Northern Ireland didn’t have much problem showing Ulster v Ospreys at the same time and no doubt their ratings were more than decent. If this Cardiff v Leinster match had been on I would probably have watched it live while recording the Under 20s.
And if it absolutely positively can’t be on the box, then it certainly wouldn’t take a whole lot of effort to get it onto the wireless. But again, I have banged that drum before.
But looking ahead on the Pro12 schedule it seems this won’t be the last Leinster contest to be blacked out this season. Like next weekend when Ulster, Connacht AND Munster all get screened live. Though this time I get the last laugh, as barring an emergency I’ll be at the RDS to watch us try and close the gap on the Ulstermen even further when we take on Treviso.
Instead get to wait another few weeks before you read another post like this one…there doesn’t seem to be any plans to show Leinster’s visit to Rodney Parade on Friday March 1st. But not to worry…at least we’ll get to see Wolves host Watford that night.
Finally I’d like to thank @leinsterrugby, @inshin and @barmchugh for keeping us up to date with the events at Cardiff Arms Park on Friday night via twitter, as well as to @FaveColourPink for the photo. JLP
UPDATE – Glasgow’s bonus-point win at Zebre on Sunday means that Round 14 saw not only the Pro12 leaders Ulster lose, but also everyone from positions 2nd to 6th all won, which makes for a fascinating battle for the final eight rounds to see who finishes in the top four. Munster’s trip to Llanelli is the pick of the ties in Round 15.
Also this weekend…
Dragons 23 - 14 Benetton Treviso
