Provinces look to Europe again on back of mixed fortunes
Jack Crowley of Munster in action during the URC agaisnt the Vodacom Bulls. Pic: Nic Bothma/Sportsfile
The provinces return to European action this weekend with the lowest Irish representation in the Champions Cup knockout rounds since none of the four featured in the last eight a decade ago.
It’s a statistic all the more bleak for the fact that we now have a round of 16 in between those two stages, but Leinster fly that flag alone now that Munster have rerouted into the Challenge Cup.
Alongside them in the second-tier competition will be Ulster and Connacht, and Ireland’s imprint on that tournament has been minimal. Only Leinster, in 2013, have won it outright and that remains the only time we have had an Irish finalist.
If ever a side didn’t add up to the sum of its parts then it is Leinster this season.
Maybe its been their massive input to the British and Irish Lions last summer. Maybe it’s the tactical and strategic approach and systems put in play by Jacques Nienaber.
Maybe it’s something else entirely.
Five defeats in their first 14 URC games tell a story that goes deeper than the elite players. Leinster have always coped effortlessly enough without their Test stars but they just haven’t hit their stride yet regardless of personnel available.
Last week’s win against Scarlets in Dublin was a familiar story with some decent stuff and lots of stuttering stuff besides. Can these players reach the heights in blue as they did in green against England and Scotland recently?
Their Six Nations contingent is back on board, Andrew Porter is fit again and Ryan Baird not far behind.
Even with RG Snyman injured again Edinburgh should not be much trouble on Easter Sunday. After that? We’ll see.
Just back from South Africa where they got stuffed by the Sharks and lost a game they probably should have won against the Bulls, Clayton McMillan’s side has now been beaten in nine of its last 13 matches across both competitions.
Still, the two bonus points secured at Loftus Versfeld last Saturday just about keep them inside the crucial top eight places in the URC as they absorb the looming loss of senior coach Mike Prendergast and news last week of voluntary redundancies to come.
McMillan has added recent signing and Irish-qualified Kiwi scrum-half Ben O’Donovan, Ireland U20 out-half Tom Wood and loosehead prop Mark Donnelly to his Challenge Cup squad ahead of the trip to England.
The returns of Jack Crowley and Craig Casey made a major difference last week and the hope will be that Tadhg Beirne joins them after a spell of well-earned rest on the back of what has been another huge workload this term.
Exeter are on the up again. Fourth in the PREM, they have won their two league games since the competition resumed post-Six Nations and they’ve won 12 and lost just once at Sandy Park this season.
Saturday will be tough.
The hope was that the opening of the new Dexcom Stadium stand in January would spark new life into Stuart Lancaster’s side.
They lost that first day in Galway, to Leinster, but it’s been five wins on the bounce since.
Last week’s latest, against Ospreys at home, wasn’t vintage but it showed the value of a winning mentality and habit as Connacht did enough to engineer victory against an opponent that pushed them all the way.
They did it without some key players too. Captain Cian Prendergast was on a down week and, while injuries are still an issue, Sam Gilbert is expected to be fit in time for this next Friday night game under the lights.
All five of their Six Nations players – Prendergast, Bundee Aki, Finlay Bealham, Darragh Murray and Billy Bohan – returned in fine fettle and Lancaster has already given notice of an intent to make it to Bilbao.
JP Pietersen’s side hasn’t won outside of South Africa all season. That said, Eben Etzebeth and Siya Kolisi may be available to them after suspension and injury respectively.
The new darlings of the Irish rugby scene on the back of the province’s play and a growing influence on Andy Farrell’s during the Six Nations, Ulster have been inconsistent of late with three wins and three defeats since their last Challenge Cup tie.
Last weekend delivered a scrappy bonus-point win against a lowly Zebre side that played over 50 minutes with 14 men, although they were delighted with the manner in which they locked the game down in the second-half.
Stuart McCloskey and Nick Timoney were back on board after their Ireland efforts. Other positives were the man of the match effort by wing Werner Kok and the sight of another import, Juarno Augustus, rampaging through and setting up a try.
The scrum is still a work in progress, even with the arrival of Wallaby prop Angus Bell, while Robert Baloucoune is out for the season and is a huge loss. Cormac Izuchukwu has been absent with concussion issues too.
Ospreys gave a good account of themselves in Galway last week but they’re ten points off the URC playoff places and playing with a guillotine over their heads given WRU plans to sacrifice one of the regions on the altar of financial needs.
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