Leinster
Two from two, and yet many left the RDS slightly unhappy on a balmy Autumn Saturday. Leinster came into this game off the back of one of the most impressive performances in the tournament in recent years, but shorn of their scrum fulcrum and other key leaders.
I mentioned in my preview that Castres were a typical dogged, tough French side, and despite the rainbow nature of their pack (the front 5 contained a Romanian, Georgian, Scot and Uruguayan), they certainly channeled traditional French rugby values –a beastly rumbling pack led from 9 matched with powerful backs.
In reality, neither team looked much like contenders for the cup. This was a game dominated by errors, at times aimless kicking, and, worryingly for Leinster in particular, incoherent back play.
In terms of selection, the choice of Jimmy Gopperth was the right one to begin with, but the 10 debate will continue to heat up. The New Zealand pivot, despite inexplicably being named MOTM by Shane Horgan, had a very mixed game. At times, at complete odds to Leinster’s play of the last few years, the backline looked staid, almost fearful, while the decision not to bring on Ian Madigan until late on, and even then to bring him on in the unfamiliar 12 spot, will be talked about.
Madigan made a big point of slapping hands with Gopperth as he came on, but the audible gasp when the starting 10 was named as the player of the day tells its own story.
O’Connor’s substitutions were slightly strange overall, taking off Mike McCarthy and Cian Healy and putting on two young guys into an already youthful pack.
Leinster tended to kick long and often, an obvious change in tactics from last season, and one that paid off in Swansea. Buoyed by strong defense again, the tactic, based on the scoreboard, did work, but won’t sell many RDS tickets you’d wager.
In terms of the game itself, Leinster should have wrapped it up a lot earlier, and but for poor blindside positioning from McFadden and Boss allowing Castres an easy run in, probably would have.
It was left to Jack McGrath to do his best Healy impression on 61 minutes to tie up the win, while management will be happy that Castres remained tryless in the second half, particularly after battering the home line late on.
Encouragingly, there were some big propping performances. Young Martin Moore has a long way to go yet, but the way he handled two seasoned Castres looseheads was very important in building Leinster’s platform.
Interestingly, it was Moore’s replacement, the much maligned Michael Bent, that really went after the away scrum, winning at least three penalties during an impressive 15 minute cameo.
Elsewhere, Dave Kearney, Eoin Reddan, Mike McCarthy and the indomitable Tullow Tank all impressed.
The big story of the day though, in reality, was a man who played for less than a quarter of the game. Madigan must surely be downbeat at the moment, having started the season as a potential superstar and second in line to Johnny Sexton in the green jersey.
The Blackrock man will likely start next week, and must show the new coach what he’s really made of.
The inclination from fans is that O’Connor has gotten his defensive system in place and will now begin to work on attack patterns. Whether and where Madigan will be involved remains to be seen.
A win, two from two, but lots of questions still to be asked of this Leinster team. Northampton, with two Lions and a team of athletic brutes will be a bigger test.
Ulster
On a fantastic weekend for Irish Rugby, in which all the provinces won, the highlight was a truly historic win by Ulster at Montpellier.
Although probably not quite as complete a performance as last season’s 5-pointer at Franklin Gardens, or as enjoyable as the thrashing of Leicester the season before, the scale of Ulster’s achievement cannot be understated. Montpellier lie 2nd in the Top 14, level on points with Toulon and Toulouse. This was their 6th game of the season at Stade Yves du Manoir and their first defeat, having drawn with Toulon (apparently they were robbed by a shocking decision) and despatching Toulouse 25-0 and Clermont 43-3! There’s still a long way to go in this group but par for the first 2 rounds would have been 5-6 points so to have 8 at this stage is fantastic and means that Ulster’s destiny remains in their own hands.
Montpellier are renowned for their muscular pack and they certainly won the collisions making good ground with almost every carry. When they got going they looked irresistible but they made too many errors, compounded by some magnificent defensive work by the Belfast team with Best (17 tackles), Cave and Wilson to the fore. The Old Instonian No8 had another magnificent game. He is bordering on flawless. He might not make many eye-catching carries, but he always gets the nudge forward and presents clean quick ball. In defence he misses nothing and one strip 3 metres out from the Ulster line was particularly impressive.
Where Montpellier lost the game was in the total inability (I am not exaggerating) of their back 3 to catch the ball. It’s likely that Ulster will have targeted their former team-mate Jim Nagusa’s frailties under the high ball during their preparation at New Forge this week. But no one can have imagined the chaos caused by the bombardment launched by Pienaar and Jackson. I’ve seen some comment that it was a little one-dimensional, but why change a tactic that is working, particularly when it is being executed so well? The Ulster chase, led by Tommy Bowe and a Andrew Trimble, was excellent and put pressure on almost every kick. In defence, Bowe was particularly secure under the high ball, to such an extent that one suspects had Nagusa and he swapped sides, Montpellier would have won.
Ulster’s tactical kicking was excellent throughout with Pienaar and Jackson both outstanding. Sensibly, they aimed to play the game in Montpellier’s half and there were any number of super kicks into the corner that ensured they did just that.
Indeed, it was another such kick from Luke Marshall which gave Montpellier a lineout in their own 22 which led to the Ulster try after just 11 minutes. Montpellier secured the ball and Pelissie’s clearance was fielded by Bowe on his own 10m line. He passed to the magnificent Jared Payne who carried towards the on-rushing defence then pinged a sublime flat pass 15 metres to Darren Cave on the left wing, taking out 2 defenders in the process.
Cave straightened and then gave a lovely no-look pass to Trimble galloping up on his outside. Trimble gave it to Bowe on the inside who could have shipped it on to Best but chose to return it to Trimble who stepped inside 2 defenders to leave Jackson with a straightforward conversion. It was brilliant and it was great to see the Ballymena man back on top form (he was the leading carrier with 79m) after his off-day last week.
Despite dominating territory (61%) and possession (59%) and some fine passages of play, Montpellier couldn’t get back into the game. Gorgodze knocked on twice when the line beckoned and in the 72nd minute, replacement Benoit Sicart seemed to have been put away by Trinh Duc only to be tackled magnificently by PJ, placing the ball inches short of the line. Trimble picked the ball up, chipped forward and Pienaar fly-hacked the ball downfield where Montpellier conceded a penalty in front of the posts. A 10-point swing that summed up Montpellier’s afternoon.
Despite the performance, there are some concerns for Ulster. Most worrying, is Tom Court’s technique at the scrum. He is getting into a horrible position with his arse pointing at the sky. Only his immense strength is keeping him out of trouble.
Despite the excellent try, Ulster still lack the cutting edge that they will require if they are to secure a home quarter, let alone win the tournament. Montpellier’s butter fingers meant that this was not a major issue but against other teams they will not be so lucky. However, there is no shortage of talent and I am sure it will come.
Finally, Ulster lacked go forward until Iain Henderson took the field. In this regard, Nick the Brick was missed but it is hard to fathom why the outstanding young lock-cum-blindside is not playing from the start. I’d certainly like to see him starting for Ireland in the autumn internationals.
Talking of which, it has been a magnificent 3 weeks for Paddy Jackson. 16 days ago, very few would have argued for Jackson to be in the Ireland squad ahead of Madigan. Then the Ginger Prince masterminded a superb Ulster victory in Swansea whilst Madigan had a so-so performance in a losing cause at Thomond Park. Since then PJ has been instrumental in Ulster victories against Leicester and Montpellier whilst Mads has been shining the pine for all but 11 minutes while his ‘understudy’ steers the Leinster ship in Europe. It’s an interesting dilemma for Joe Schmidt but a good one to have.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the first two rounds and am looking forward to the festive back-to-backs. There have been some amazing matches and some really remarkable results, none more so than at the Arms Park on Saturday. I will comfort myself in the knowledge that it wasn’t just me who didn’t see that coming whilst I tuck into my third helping of humble pie.
Connacht
Zebre have got to be sick to the teeth of Connacht. Six wins in thirteen months means Italy's second team have been our favourite opponents of recent times, none more so than Saturday. But while Pat Lam's side delivered the win they were expected to, and though there were 27 points separating the sides, it would be wrong to say it was a wholly satisfying trip to Parma.
Firstly, hands up - there's no doubt but that the score line flattered Connacht. Zebre were inefficient - 13 penalties and 18 turnovers to 7 for Connacht in each category - while Dan Parks was flawless with the boot. Without those errors it could have been a different day altogether because the home team dominated possession and territory. And that surprising-when-you-see-the-score fact perhaps typifies all that was wrong with Connacht. Too often it seemed they were happy to soak up pressure - fairly comfortably it has to be said - rather than put their opponents to the sword. With 20 minutes to go, leading 19-6, Parks kicked a penalty at goal rather than going down the line. In the next six minutes, on two different occasions, the same option was taken even though Zebre's chances of winning had all but gone. Connacht were happy to take four points for the win, rather than push for a confidence-boosting, and potentially important bonus point.
And what makes this especially disappointing is that on the rare opportunities in which they did go for the try line, Connacht scored with comparative ease. Both tries originated from line-out ball near the try line, and the way in which the straight-from-the-schoolyard dummy throw to George Naoupu was so successful should have been an indicator that it was an area open for exploitation. It may not have looked as well in the end, but I’d have rather won by a narrower score line, perhaps conceding more points by trying for more tries than taking the easy three.
That said, Connacht did achieve their first aim i.e. build on last week’s win over Saracens, and if Parks can continue his strong kicking form then this does bode well for the games ahead. James So’oialo had one kick to the corner from 75m away which showed his potential, some players returned from injury and, perhaps because it bears repeating (to myself if no one else) we did just win by over 20 points away from home in the Heineken Cup. That I’m disappointed shows the progress Connacht have made in the last while.
For now though, after a satisfactory if not spectacular brace of games, Connacht are second in their pool and are about to take on Toulouse in a top of the table clash in France. Sure, there's four points and a gulf in class between the sides, but those are issues for another day.
