Munster chasing best PRO14 start in 11 years
Munster coach Johann van Graan will be hoping his team can shake off the rust that may have gathered because of last week’s postponement when they host Ospreys in Sunday’s prime time Guinness PRO14 game in Limerick.
Munster have been one of the in-form teams in the PRO14 so far, and are one of three teams that remain unbeaten. However, it will be noted that whereas the other unbeaten teams, Leinster and Ulster, have played five games, Munster have played just four after last week’s away clash against Benetton was called off because positive Covid-19 tests in the home camp.
Should Munster win on Sunday against the Ospreys it will represent their best start in the PRO14 in the last 11 years as it has been that long since they last won their first five matches, something that is quite confounding if you consider how consistent they have been recently. Van Graan’s men, far from being rusty, will probably be refreshed and should be expected to easily beat the visiting Welsh team and strengthen their position at the top of Conference B.
In the other conference an interesting tussle is developing between leaders and champions, Leinster, and Ulster. While Leinster have just kept rolling along like they usually do, Ulster have become incrementally stronger with each game they have played, and their trip to Parma to play Italian side Zebre on Monday night will be an opportunity to build further on the momentum.
They were excellent in dispatching Glasgow Warriors 40-15 earlier in this week and although Zebre have shown flashes of form recently, the Irish side, with Springbok looseforward Marcel Coetzee very much their talisman, should be expected to win.
If you look at recent history, Leinster have a tougher assignment this week even though they are at home. Richard Cockerill’s Edinburgh, with several players with South African roots in his mix, started this season poorly and were perhaps suffering from the hangover of having unexpectedly lost their first home PRO14 semi-final against Ulster at the end of the 2019/2020 season.
However, they have won two on the bounce now and go to Dublin to play Leinster in Dublin in the late Monday night game with the confidence that comes with having been one of the more recent conquerors of Leinster on their home ground. That is some time ago now, but the memory of Edinburgh’s away win over another Irish team, Munster, in last year’s competition should still be relatively fresh and they will go to the RDS Arena feeling they have a chance.
Adding to Edinburgh’s motivation is the knowledge that they would have travelled to Dublin to play Leinster in last season’s final had Ulster not tripped them up in the final quarter of their semi-final at Murrayfield. So for them it is the final that never happened.
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But the last time Leinster lost at home in the PRO14 was against Glasgow Warriors in 2018 and if the extent of their recent form can be summed up by the fact that a bonus-point win in this game will put them just one short of the all-time record of seven successive bonus-point wins.
Benetton, who travel to Newport to play Cardiff Blues, and Connacht, who host Scarlets in the first game of the weekend on Saturday night, will just be pleased to get back onto the field again after Covid-19 kept them off the field for the past two weeks, making this their respective first games in three weeks.
Comments on RugbyPass
Except for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
33 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
2 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
33 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
49 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
33 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
33 Go to commentsI’m a pensioner so I've been around a bit. My opinion of SBW is he is an elite athlete and a great New Zealander and roll model. He has been to the top and knows what he's talking about. To all the negative comments regarding SBW the typical New Zealand way, cut that tall poppy down.
17 Go to commentsI'm not listening to a guy moralise over others when this is the guy who walked out mid season on Canterbury RLFC when he had a contract with them, what a hypocrite. Those praising him are a joke.
17 Go to commentsI’d put Finau at 6 instead of Blackadder but that’s the only change I’d make. Can’t wait to see who Razor picks.
33 Go to commentsTamati Williams, Codie Taylor, and Same Cane? Not sure about Hoskins Sotutu at test level. Wasn’t that impressive last season. Need a balance between experience and talent/youth.
33 Go to commentsInteresting insight. Fantastic athlete, and a genuine human being.
17 Go to commentsThey played at night in Suva last weekend and it’s an afternoon game forecast for 19 degrees in Canberra this weekend. Heat change is a non issue.
1 Go to commentsWishing Rosie a speedy recovery
1 Go to commentsObscene that SA haven’t been knocking
1 Go to commentsChances of Blackadder being injured seem too high to give him serious consideration. ABs loosie combination finally looked good with 2 committed to tackling and clearing rucks in the centre and Ardie roaming. Hoskins/Ardie together would force one of them into where they don’t excel and don’t get to use their talent, or require a change in tactics. If we continue to evolve last years systems I would take Papali’i and Finau at 6 and 7 (conceding that Blackadder will be injured) and Ardie at 8.
33 Go to commentsArdie’s preferred position 7? Where do they get these writers from? I've no idea where he's playing in Japan, but the previous two seasons he wore the 7 jersey exactly twice.
17 Go to commentsNot good to hear Ulster described as “financially troubled”. Did not think it was getting to that level. I would hope the Irish system of spreading players of talent away from Leinster would kick in now. Better to have a Leinster fringe player with Ulster or Connacht, then getting only a few games a season in Dublin. 10, for example, would seem to be a case for spreading the talent. I would not be at all adverse to a SA man coming in as head coach/DR. Ludeke is worth trying. Certainly got a long and impressive coaching career at this level…..149 games in SR, then Japan, 30 years experience. And Ulster’s ledger of successful SA coaches and players is on the positive side. Is talk of Ruan Pienaar interested in coming back as a coach…..could be a good combination with Ludeke. And Pienaar and family would have no settling in to do, one would judge. He loved life in Ulster when there, by all reports.
1 Go to commentsSome thoughts to consider here, Sam. Thanks
2 Go to comments