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'This season the PRO14 has not been competitive outside the Irish teams whatsoever. It's been the worst I have seen'
Former Munster assistant coach Jerry Flannery has delivered a damning assessment of the Guinness PRO14, claiming that the just recently finished 2020/21 campaign was the worst ever. Leinster defeated Munster in last weekend’s latest final in the tournament that featured teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales with South Africa on a sabbatical before the competition becomes the PRO16 next season.
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Now a current Harlequins assistant coach, Flannery has been monitoring the PRO14 from a distance this term and he hasn’t enjoyed what he has seen.
Such has been the dominance of the four Irish teams, only two players from this season’s other eight teams had a representative in the PRO14 Dream Team, Glasgow’s Huw Jones and Cardiff”s Josh Turnbull.
With Europe competitions now taking centre-stage over the Easter weekend, the round of 16 draws in the respective tournaments will see one Gallagher Premiership versus PRO14 fixture in the Heineken Challenge Cup (Sale visiting Scarlets) and six more in the Challenge Cup, including Flannery’s Harlequins hosting Ulster in a late-night Sunday kickoff.
Zebre vs Bath, London Irish vs Cardiff Blues, Ospreys vs Newcastle, Dragons vs Northampton and Leicester vs Connacht are the other matches on the Premiership versus PRO14 schedule.
Outside centre and blindside the only two spots taken by players from outside Ireland #PRO14
https://t.co/Np0wvsVtuI— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 1, 2021
“I know that Ulster are very fit and they will test us to match their work rate around the corner and they have some real game-breakers,” said Flannery. “The Irish sides in the PRO14 are super fit and do the little things really well for 80 minutes. “People look at the PRO14 as not being as competitive as the Premiership and this season the PRO14 has not been competitive outside the Irish teams whatsoever. It’s been the worst I have seen. But the Irish system works well.”
Ulster boss Dan McFarland has described Harlequins as the strongest team left in the Challenge Cup but Flannery countered that claim. “I would say that Ulster are the strongest team in the competition! Dan is probably pissed off that the PRO14 was called off early this season and didn’t get a chance at knockout rugby. He will be gunning for this game very hard. Ulster were in a s*** place before Dan came in and I felt really bad for everyone. Dan has come in and turned the club around. I used to pick his brains when I was with Munster.”
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ICYMI: Ahead of Friday's game at Gloucester, @SkeltonWilliam spoke w/ @heagneyl ??? on:
Leaving @Saracens
Life at @staderochelais
Size 19 boots ?
Tackle height & 'big boys having no excuse'
His battle with diet ???
Best & worse Sarries COD players ? https://t.co/Bjdo9coewW— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 1, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
And the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
2 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
23 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
2 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
21 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
1 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
13 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
21 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
13 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
23 Go to commentsVern challenging this Blues side might be the edge they need to fulfill their potential. Convincing results from strong D and strong carries are hard to argue against.
1 Go to commentsLove seems to add a strong back field defense with speed to close the gap and tackle to his ability to attack, kick and pass (an accurate long pass). This sets him an edge over some of the other names - JRK in particular. Has to be said that Jordan and Stevenson have also been exposed defensively while Love has yet to face test match intensity. Spoilt for choice.
1 Go to commentsHe’s strung together a few strong seasons, I’d like to see him in the ABs and build some depth along with Reiko and ALB. Levi Aumua hasn’t taken the step we hoped to see but time yet.
2 Go to commentsWhere has our good friend Pecos gone!? Similar place to the Crusaders D, the abyss.
4 Go to commentsNice piece Nick. I haven’t seen much of the brumbies this year so will keep my powder dry on charlie, but clearly has the speed and footwork to be damaging in space. Similar to Samu, I’d worry about the size of our pack if the likes of Mcreight and Cale were in the b/row together. Maybe Cale could play a similar finisher role like Samu did for Rennie’s wallabies. Has Cale leapfrogged wilson in your eyes? He obviously has the lineout, but harry probably better (although not great) in the physical stuff and also has great hands in the loose. You’d have to say mcreight and valetini are shoe-ins at 7/8, so the question becomes who matches best with them at 6 and on the bench. I don’t know if he has a high enough ceiling, but id love to see wright given a shot based on how much bad luck he has had with injuries. He may also fit that no-nonsense graft/work rate irish approach…? If schmidt wants size and a 4/6 tweener then I’d probably pick Uru. On the bench I’d have no idea, Wilson if you want to give valetini a rest, and maybe hanigan/wright/uru as 6 replacements.
21 Go to commentsWho the heck is Billy Fulton?
13 Go to commentsCale has all the potential no doubt. So has Harry Wilson except for his dumb arse coach over the last few years who told him just to run at brick walls all the time. Valentini would be devastating at 6. As he was until some idiot thought oh yeah, move our best player to another position. Not mentioning any flightless or thank you names of course. I very much dislike claiming one player is the saviour, because injuries are so prevalent in the game these days as the players are bigger and faster, so the discussion should be who are at least the best two players in one position. For me it’s Harry Wilson and Cale at 8 at the moment with Valentini or Hooper from the Brumbies at 6. Great options. Seru Uru should be in the reserves too. A game changer.
21 Go to commentsScott Barrett is a card waiting to happen, Cane has been out with injury as well as playing in Japan, I think they’ll go with in-Japan-but-still-the-man Savea. Samisoni Taukeaho will be Captain after 2027, so he might get some Captain minutes against an Italy or Japan.
13 Go to comments