Dramatic Munster win has major ramifications for URC table
An absorbing and pulsating double round of festive season Vodacom United Rugby Championship matches was ended on New Year’s Day with two Irish derbies that both made big statements about what to expect in the second half of the competition.
While Leinster rounded off the New Year weekend with a comprehensive home win over Connacht that was entirely expected, Munster again confirmed their resurgence under Graham Rowntree’s coaching with a dramatic last gasp win over Ulster at the Kingspan, thus avenging the defeat they suffered to Ulster at home at Thomond Park earlier in the season.
Ulster led for most of the way via three first half penalties from John Cooney, and seemingly had the match wrapped up when Rob Baloucoune went over for a try that put daylight between them and Munster on the scoreboard with just 10 minutes remaining. But the visitors dug deep and produced the goods in the last minutes, with a Ben Healy penalty narrowing the gap to within seven point range with five minutes remaining.
Many thought then that the visitors would be happy to take the losing bonus point from the fixture but that reckoned without the determination that has been built up in the Munster team over the last few weeks and which was exemplified in the tenacity they showed in a recent away win over Northampton Saints in the Champions Cup.
Munster weren’t finished and after Jack Crowley produced a moment of magic to wriggle away from a host of tacklers and get into the Ulster 22, Healy sniped over from a tap penalty to send the away fans into raptures as Munster sealed the win.
For neutrals, it would have been the impact on the overall log that would have had the most impact. While the win takes Munster to ninth, just outside the top eight and play-off qualification with most teams having seven games to play, the Ulster defeat has interesting ramifications for what previously was a tight top four that looked like it was running away from the rest of the field.
With the DHL Stormers having completed their two derby matches played over the Christmas and New Year week with full points, and third placed Ulster only managing five from their games against Connacht and Munster, the gap between the Stormers in second and Ulster in third place is now eight points. That is same number of points that Leinster lead the log by, but the Stormers do have a game in hand.
So what the festive season games have delivered is a starkly changed outlook when it comes to the log position. Whereas before the Christmas derbies it was a four horse race at the top, with the rest lagging, the middle of the log teams have now caught up with the fourth placed Bulls, while the top two have opened a considerable gap on third and fourth.
You need to factor in too that the Stormers, who now lead the Bulls by 10 in the South African conference and the battle for the Shield, also have a game in hand on their rivals from Pretoria. So there’s every reason to believe it is the reigning champions who start 2023 in the pound seats locally and are now clear favourites to retain their SA Shield trophy, although it would be a brave man who bets against Leinster ultimately reasserting the hegemony they enjoyed when the URC was still the PRO14.
The Cell C Sharks are now the team that looks more likely to challenge the Stormers for the Shield as they joined their coastal rivals in picking up a full house of 10 points from their two festive week matches. Ironically, it you look at the scores of the four matches played in South Africa since two days before Christmas, the Stormers and the Sharks did things that were remarkably similar.
The telling games for the two teams could be their derby meetings in February and March, but unfortunately both games are likely to be without their Springboks, who will be resting in that period. That probably favours the Stormers more than it does the Durbanites, who are a very different team when they have their top Boks playing.
The Sharks have now lifted themselves to fifth on the log and have now fully recovered from the nightmare of their 35-0 defeat to Cardiff in November, but the other South African team, the Emirates Lions, has dropped out of the top eight after two losses and are now 11th.
It is still all to play for though for most teams with Champions Cup qualification and play-off aspirations, as there are just nine log points separating the fifth placed Sharks from the 13th placed Connacht.
There was movement in both the Scotland/Italy and Welsh Shields over the festive week, with Glasgow Warriors having lifted themselves to the top of the Scotland conference after two wins in their home and away 1872 derbies against Edinburgh. That was after they’d started the festive week games behind Edinburgh.
Glasgow are joined at the top of the Shield log by Benetton, who won their two Italian derbies against Zebre Parma, with the two teams level on 29 points and currently occupying sixth and seventh respectively on the overall log. It is important to note that Glasgow, who host the Stormers in an important home game at Scotstoun on Sunday, have a game in hand on Benetton, and indeed on Edinburgh, who are four points and now five positions behind them.
Cardiff are still top of the Welsh Shield but the gap has been closed quite significantly by Ospreys, who confirmed the apparent turning of the corner signified by their away Champions Cup win over Montpellier with two good derby wins in the URC over the festive period.
Their tight 22-19 away win over Cardiff was important as it ensured the Swansea based team still has plenty to play for, something that wasn’t likely to be the case had they lost, in which event Cardiff would have had a 12 point lead on their rivals.
Weekend Vodacom United Rugby Championship results
Edinburgh 25 Glasgow Warriors 32
Zebre 17 Benetton 40
Cell C Sharks 47 Vodacom Bulls 20
DHL Stormers 40 Emirates Lions 8
Cardiff Rugby 19 Ospreys 22
Scarlets 33 Dragons 17
Ulster 14 Munster 15
Leinster 41 Connacht 12
Comments on RugbyPass
Did the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
1 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
4 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
16 Go to commentsJake White is a brilliant coach and a master in the press. This is another masterclass in media relations and PR but its also a very narrow view with arguments that dont always hold water. White wants his team to win, he wants the best players in SA and wants his team competitive. You however have to face up to the reality of a poor exchange rate and big clubs with big budgets. SA Rugby cant compete and unless it can find more money SA players will keep leaving regardless of Springbok eligibility and this happened in 2015 - 2017. Also rugby is not cricket. Cricket has 3 formats and T20 cricket is where the money is at. When it comes to club vs country the IPL is king but that wont happen because the international calendar does not clash with the club calendar in rugby. So the argument about rugby going down the same path as cricket is really a non-starter
16 Go to commentsNZ rugby seem not to have learnt anything from professional rugby. Super rugby was dying and SA left before they died with the competition. SA rugby did a u turn on their approach to international players playing overseas and such players are now selected for Bok teams. As much as each country would love to retain their players playing in local competitions, this is the way the world is evolving my friends. Move with it or stay 20 years behind the times. One more thing. NZ rugby hierarchy think they are the big cheese. Take a more humble approach guys. You do not seem to have your players best interests at heart.
3 Go to commentsBeaches? In Cardiff? Where?
1 Go to commentsHe is right , the Crusaders will be a threat. Scott Barrett, ( particularly), Fergus Burke , Codie Taylor, ( from sabbatical) etc due back soon for the Crusaders. There are others like Zach Gallagher too. People can right the Crusaders off, Top 8 , here we come !!
1 Go to commentsWe will always struggle for money to match the other sides but the least the WRU can do is invest properly in Welsh rugby. Too much has been squandered on vanity projects like the hotel and roof walk amongst others which will never see a massive return. Hanging the 4 pro sides out to dry over the last decade is now coming back to bite the WRU financially as well as on the pitch. You reap what you sow.
1 Go to commentsWhat do you get if you cross a doctor with a fish? A plastic sturgeon
14 Go to commentsWhat happened to feleti Kaitu’u? Hasnt played in a while right?
1 Go to commentsGregor I just can’t agree with you. You are trying to find something that just isn’t there. Jordie Barrett has signed until 2028. By the end of that he would have spent probably 11-12 years on Super Rugby and you say he can’t possibly have one season playing somewhere else. It is absurd. What about this scenario, the NZR play hard ball and he decides to leave and play overseas. How would that affect the competition. There seems to be an agenda by certain journalists to push certain agendas and don’t like it when it’s not to their liking. I fully support the NZR on this. Gregor needs to get a life.
3 Go to commentsHope he stays as believe he can do a great job.
1 Go to commentsMake what step up? Manie has a World Cup winner’s medal around his neck and changed the way the Springboks can play. He doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone. The win record of the Boks with him in the team is tremendous. Sacha can be wonderful and I hope he has a very succesful Bok career, but comparing him to Manie in terms of the next Bok flyhalf is very strange. Manie is the incumbent (not the next) and doing pretty incredibly.
4 Go to comments00 😍 U
1 Go to commentsSabbaticals have helped keep NZ’s very best talent in the country on long term deals - this fact has been left out of this article. Much like the articles calling to allow overseas players to be selected, yet can only name one player currently not signed to NZR who would be selected for the ABs. And in the entire history of NZ players leaving to play overseas, literally only 4 or 5 have left in their prime as current ABs. (Piatau, Evans, Hayman, Mo’unga,?) Yes Carter got an injury while playing in France 16 years ago, but he also got a tournament ending injury at the 2011 World Cup while taking mid-week practice kicks at goal. Maybe Jordie gets a season-ending injury while playing in Ireland, maybe he gets one next week against the Brumbies. NZR have many shortcomings, but keeping the very best players in the country and/or available for ABs selection is not one of them. Likewise for workload management - players missing 2 games out of 14 is hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Again let’s use some facts - did it stop the Crusaders winning SR so many times consecutively when during any given week they would be missing 2 of their best players? The whole idea of the sabbatical is to reward your best players who are willing to sign very long term deals with some time to do whatever they want. They are not handed out willy-nilly, and at nowhere near the levels that would somehow devalue Super Rugby. In this particular example JB is locked in with NZR for what will probably (hopefully) be the best years of his career, hard to imagine him not sticking around for a couple more after for a Lions tour and one more world cup. He has the potential to become the most capped AB of all time. A much better outcome than him leaving NZ for a minimum of 3 years at the age of 27, unlikely to ever play for the ABs again, which would be the likely alternative.
3 Go to commentsJake White talks more sense than anything I've read in the last 5 years. Hope someone's listening.
16 Go to commentsThe Springboks tried going down the road of only picking home-based players and it was an unmitigated disaster in 2016 and 2017. Picking overseas-based players has been one of the main reason the Boks have done so well since 2018, not only because of the quality Rassie could call on, but because of the knowledge and experience those players brought into camp from England, France and Japan. With some of the big names playing abroad it also gave younger players in SA the chance to break through at franchise level. Would we have seen the emergence of a Ruan Nortje if RG and Lood were still at the Bulls? Not so sure. I understand why Jake would want to block players leaving since his job depends on good results but it’s an approach that would take Bok rugby back to the bad old days and no South African wants to see that.
16 Go to commentsExeter were thumped by 38 points. And they only had to hop on a train.
39 Go to commentsI am De Groot.
1 Go to comments