Muddy marvels sitting pretty

WITH the exception of Ulster’s predictable defeat by the Ospreys on Friday night, it proved a very productive weekend for the Irish in Europe. For Munster, in particular, the sequence of Heineken Cup results could not have worked out better.

Leinster stuttered to their anticipated win over Edinburgh on Friday night but once again will have reason to feel disappointed with their inability to secure the four-try bonus point. It could well prove their undoing when this pool is decided next month. Connacht also recorded a remarkable win over a star-studded Newcastle side in the Challenge Cup.

The performance of the weekend, however, from an Irish perspective was undoubtedly Munster’s outstanding win at Stradey Park, their first at that venue for five years. No sooner had Munster’s plane touched down in Cardiff on Friday afternoon than word filtered through that Stephen Jones had been forced to cry off with a neck injury. Given how much of the Scarlets game-plan is channelled through the Lions out-half, the odds immediately shifted to Ronan O’Gara’s men.