Howlett injury blow opens door for Zebo

IF you were in any doubt who calls the shots in professional rugby at present then events of the last two weekends should help to enlighten you.

The fact that Australia were willing to travel half way around the world to fulfil a meaningless fixture against the Barbarians and a Test against Wales, despite the fact their players had played no rugby since the World Cup, just shows how desperate the ARU treasurers are to accumulate badly-needed revenue.

Wales are no different. Shane Williams’ final Test at the Millennium Stadium was their 17th international in 2011. To put that in context, it took me from November 1981 to March 1985 to win 17 caps, despite playing every Test during that period. While it was a fantastic way for the mercurial Williams to bow out, the day was nothing more than a money-making exercise for the two unions involved. Wales are set to play Australia in five consecutive Tests between October and next June.

The simple fact is that the international game now funds about 80% of every union’s expenditure, so nothing is about to change on that front.

So much for player welfare.

Even Warren Gatland was forced to admit that Saturday’s Test was probably a step too far for his troops even before the game was played and you just wonder how counter-productive it may prove.

That comfortable win for the Wallabies could undermine the feelgood factor surrounding Welsh rugby at the moment and given the timing of the game just a week before the key back-to-back Heineken Cup contests, preparations for the three participating Welsh sides have also been compromised. To what extent we will just have to wait and see.

Wales have made great strides in recent times but they are still a team that struggles once they fall behind. Undoubtedly Gatland has some exceptionally talented players coming through but there is a missing ingredient when it comes to getting over the line in tight international contests. Ireland breached this gap by the experience generated by Munster and Leinster in winning four Heineken Cups in six seasons. Remarkably, no Welsh side has won the Heineken Cup and one senses experiencing that winning feeling would greatly enhance the development of their current squad.

The fact that Wales did so well at the World Cup has certainly brought a fresh vigour to the European campaigns of the Cardiff Blues, the Ospreys and the Scarlets this season, with all three remaining unbeaten. Even the Dragons, who are competing in the Amlin Challenge Cup, are unbeaten — with a very credible 23-13 win over Perpignan thrown in for good measure.

The Welsh clubs are less than enamoured that their international players were in national camp for 10 days and this had a knock-on effect over the weekend with the Ospreys the only Welsh side to record a victory in the Rabo Direct Pro12 league. Cardiff were shambolic in Dublin and were duly punished by Leinster while the Scarlets were also found wanting in Ravenhill.

Munster are the only Irish side to face Welsh opposition this weekend and thus could benefit from the fact that the full Scarlets squad only reassembled on Monday morning. Tony McGahan could do with a break given the injury woes surrounding all his pace men in recent months. By the end of last season the revamped back three of Doug Howlett, Keith Earls and Felix Jones had propelled Munster to Magners League success with some inventive running and counter-attacking. How cruel that all three are now out of commission while Munster are still in the process of getting the balance right in midfield. The news that Howlett is out for the season is a huge loss to Munster given his spectacular form. Pace is everything in this game and Munster are now largely devoid of it.

Simon Zebo has been offered the opportunity to make the breakthrough in recent games and has the ability to make his mark. He needs to work on his concentration levels but could become the latest in an impressive line of young players to make their Heineken Cup debut.

UNFORTUNATELY for Munster, the Scarlets have pace to burn. Four of the potential back line to face Munster on Saturday featured against Australia with George North, Rhys Priestland, Scott Williams and Travis Knoyle all getting game time. Jonathan Davies would also have started if fit while they also have one of the few Scottish successes at the World Cup in Sean Lamont. Stephen Jones also remains in the mix.

None of the Scarlets pack featured in the starting Welsh eight but former captain Matthew Rees did appear off the bench. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist therefore to recognise where Munster need to attack them on Saturday. Anthony Foley is doing a marvellous job with the forwards and the improvement in the scrum and the maul is well timed given the potential weather conditions over the weekend.

The Scarlets pack, despite the absence of big names, competed very well against the giant Northampton eight and will be up for the challenge. Playing against Munster, despite the many changes in personnel, tends to still bring out the best in most oppositions. The problem for Munster at present, as we saw last weekend against the Ospreys, is that they find it very difficult to compete when they are less than 100% emotionally committed. It is very difficult to always be at that peak. To win on Saturday, however, they will have to scale those heights once again.

Leinster are on a roll at present and could well have their Heineken Cup pool wrapped up for Christmas. They have sufficient quality in hand to operate at about 80% capacity in the Rabo Direct and still produce a positive result. Their next opponents, Bath, are an average side and are suffering a crisis of confidence at present. It hasn’t helped that their injury woes are even greater than Munster’s and losing at home to lowly Sale Sharks last weekend will have done nothing for them.

The more I see of Joe Schmidt, the more he impresses me. The loss of Brian O’Driscoll and Nathan Hines was only felt in that away draw in Montpellier and, in my view, Eoin O’Malley has stolen a march on Fergus McFadden for O’Driscoll’s number 13 Leinster shirt. It will be interesting to see if Schmidt agrees and should O’Malley get the nod then he will be looked at very closely by Declan Kidney over the next two weeks.

For the first time in years, there is a vacancy at outside centre for Ireland’s Six Nations campaign and the race to fill The Great One’s jersey starts in earnest this weekend.