Week Seventeen of Guinness Pro 12 saw a full house of defeats to Welsh teams for the Irish Provinces. Connacht lost out to Cardiff on Friday night. On Saturday both Munster and Leinster lost. Munster were easily beaten by the Ospreys while Leinster suffered the same fate against the Scarlets. Ulster were slain by the Dragons on Sunday afternoon. Here is my review of the Irish Provinces after Week 17 of the Guinness Pro 12.
Munster:
Munster went from one of their best performances of the season to arguably their worst in the space of a week. Fans of the Red Army will argue that referee Marius Mitrea was bias in favour of the Ospreys but Munster were well beaten in all aspects of this game.
The constant concession of penalties by Munster eventually led to Dave O’Callaghan being sin binned and the Ospreys took full advantage scoring 11 points in the period O’Callaghan was off the field. The home side eventually winning 26-12.
The only positive to come out of the game for Anthony Foley’s side was the try scoring return of Donnacha Ryan. Munster will be anxious to move on quickly after this game and have the perfect chance to do this when the Pro 12 returns on the 28th March when Connacht come to Thomond Park.
Ulster:
Ulster’s recent run of wins came to an end with a 26-22 against the Dragons. Craig Gilroy did keep up his prolific try scoring form with his seventh and eighth tries of the Pro 12 season. Debutant Ross Adair’s late score ensured a losing bonus point and second place in the table.
Despite earning the bonus point Ulster will be unhappy not to have taken more from this game. They had a relatively strong side out and did not perform to the best of their abilities. Ruan Pienaar in particular missing kicks he would normally convert with ease.
Cardiff Blues visit the Kingspan Stadium in Ulster’s next game on Friday 27th March. Head coach Neil Doak will be hoping for maximum points from this one and his side could rise to the top of the table with full points from this encounter.
Connacht:
Cardiff Blues scored the winning try in the seventh minute of injury time to deny Connacht what would have been a well-deserved victory. Pat Lam had plenty of choice words about assistant referee Leighton Hodges after the game and has now been formally charged for those comments.
In the third minute of injury time it looked like the Blues clearly knocked the ball on and with referee Lloyd Linton about to blow for full time, Hodges’ intervened. Joaquin Tuculet then went on to score a try which was converted by Rhys Patchell to give the Blues victory.
Connacht’s next game is a trip to Thomond Park to play Munster. Ironically Leighton Hodges is scheduled to referee this game and to say Pat Lam is unhappy about this is an understatement. His team will have to get over it to have any chance of coming away from Limerick with any points.
Leinster:
Leinster dropped to fifth place in the table after losing their sixth game of the Pro 12 season. Despite welcoming Cian Healy, Eoin Reddan, Marty Moore and Sean Cronin back into their starting 15 they were unable to manage even a losing bonus point.
Matt O’Connor’s outfit were ahead thanks to Ben Te’o’s first try for Leinster which was converted by Jimmy Gopperth. The Wasps bound out half also added a penalty to leave the score 10-8 to Leinster at the break.
However, the Scarlets fought back with tries from Jordan Williams and Rory Pitman to eventually win the game 23-13. Leinster take on Glasgow Warriors at the RDS in their next game and if they are to have any hope of getting to the playoffs a win is essential.
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