The competitive nature of the Guinness PRO12 was once again on show at the weekend.
All-conquering Connacht fell to a surprising defeat at the BT Arms Park on Friday night to Cardiff, despite only a week before taking a win away from Thomond Park. Munster themselves suffered their second consecutive loss as they were well off-colour in their 22-6 defeat at Rodney Parade to the Newport-Gwent Dragons.
In the end it was actually a very good weekend for the Welsh sides as they all picked up wins – the Scarlets squeaked home with a 22-20 win in Treviso that takes them to the top of the table heading into the second round of Champions’ Cup games, while the Ospreys routed Zebre in Parma to make up a little bit of ground on the top six and the Champions’ Cup places for next season.
And it was yet another demonstration that anyone can beat anyone in the Guinness PRO12.
Who really anticipated the tenth-placed Dragons to overturn Munster? Who expected ninth-placed Cardiff to do what Munster couldn’t and defeat Connacht at home? Predicting results in the PRO12 nowadays is more of a lottery than it was – even the Italian sides at home are becoming tricky opponents with Zebre’s wins over Edinburgh and Cardiff proving that.
And it makes it incredibly interesting at the top of the Pro12 table with just eight points separating first and sixth place, which adds a bit of extra spice to the Christmas and New Year derby matches. Even at the bottom of the table there’ll be two heated contests between Zebre and Treviso for the Italian place in the Champions’ Cup next season.
At the top Connacht showed their first signs of frailty while the Scarlets continued their impressive run without themselves looking overly impressive.
On paper the Cardiff game should have been a win for Connacht, especially in the form they were in going into the game. Perhaps their heroics at Thomond took a lot more out of them than they had anticipated, but certainly a second loss of the season was not what Pat Lam had been hoping for – and it was a pretty big anti-climax after everything that was written about them in the aftermath of last weekend.
They will be disappointed, of course, but perhaps it does reflect the limitations of this Connacht side. They do not have the deep squad that the likes of Leinster, Munster and Glasgow have and therefore maintaining this kind of form for a whole season will prove difficult. They can do it, but you get the feeling that they will need a rather extraordinary bill of health for an extended period in order to do so – something that was probably true even after last weekend.
Meanwhile the Scarlets are looking ominously powerful without getting out of first gear for the last two weeks. A home win over Zebre that did not yield a bonus point is never ideal for a top four-chasing side and a narrow win away to Treviso last Saturday again is not the result they would have hoped for, but one they will gladly take given the resurgence of the Italians.
It’s also rather concerning for the other sides in the PRO12 that the Scarlets are managing to grind out these wins without having to overexert themselves. They’ve lost one of the main components of their potent back row in James Davies, but if the Scarlets can get themselves into a good run of form and put a little bit of breathing space between them and the chasing pack then they will be a tough team to hunt down. Highlighted by the results of this weekend is the simple fact that there are no easy games any more.
