URC Round 3 Review

Leaders Leinster looking forward to special day

There’s now clear distance between Leinster Rugby and the rest of the league as they look ahead to a “special” derby day next weekend.

They recorded their third successive bonus point victory by beating Benetton Rugby 35-5 in Treviso to move four points clear at the top of the table.

It’s a result which will put them in good spirits going into next Saturday’s huge all-Irish clash with Munster Rugby at a packed Croke Park.

Leo Cullen’s team had the four-try bonus in the bag inside 26 minutes out in Italy and finished with five tries in all.

“We are very pleased to get that outcome,” said head coach Cullen.

“We really imposed ourselves well on the game early on and made good decisions.

“There was a really good mix over the course of the first half hour and we came away with four good tries which was a great start.

“The last thing you want to do away from home with a heavy pitch and a partisan crowd is to get into a wrestle.

“We always had that advantage in terms of the scoreboard. So overall, very pleased.”

Now thoughts turn to the Dublin meeting with Munster which is set to draw a near full house at the 82,000 capacity Croke Park.

“There’s this anticipation always about this fixture and you’ve got the fact that it’s in Croke Park, which is an amazing venue,” said Cullen.

“It’s amazing to hear there’s already 70,000 tickets sold, so hopefully it will be close to being sold out and it will be a special day.”

Munster warmed up for the all-Irish showdown by bouncing back from their shock defeat to Zebre Parma with a bonus point 23-0 win over the Ospreys in Cork.

They made a record-breaking start to the game, with wing Shay McCarthy touching down after just ten seconds to score the fastest try in league history. That narrowly surpassed the previous quickest by Edinburgh Rugby winger Dougie Fife against Connacht in March 2018.

History was also made in Johannesburg as the Emirates Lions set a new league record for the biggest ever half-time margin.

Remarkably, they led Edinburgh 48-0 at the break, producing some scintillating rugby as they ran in seven first half tries on the way to a 55-21 triumph.

It means they join Leinster in having posted maximum posts from their league campaign to date, although they have played a game less.

The Vodacom Bulls are also two from two, having beaten Ulster Rugby 47-21 in Pretoria, with seven different players scoring tries.

Elsewhere, champions Glasgow Warriors ended Cardiff Rugby’s winning start to the season as they came out on top 52-36 in a 13-try Arms Park thriller, while Connacht Rugby and the Hollywoodbets Sharks also tasted success in Wales.

A Cathal Forde penalty three minutes from time saw Connacht beat the Scarlets 24-23 in Llanelli, while the Sharks left it until the very last play at Rodney Parade to snatch a 33-30 win over Dragons RFC.

In the weekend’s other game, the DHL Stormers responded to their Round 2 loss at the hands of the Ospreys by beating Zebre 36-5 in northern Italy.

Super rugby in the Vodacom URC

Glasgow coach Franco Smith says there has been improvement across the board in the URC on the evidence of the opening three rounds.

Smith’s side beat Cardiff 52-36 as they touched down eight times in a 13-try rollercoaster at the Arms Park, with the South African saying it reminded him of Super Rugby.

“It had real entertainment value to it. It’s good for the competition,” he said.

“Both teams wanted to play. It just shows the quality of the players that’s out there.

“It was a very inspired Cardiff team. They must be complimented for the fight they put into the game and the way they put us under pressure.

“We were completely rattled at one stage, but we problem-solved and found a way to win.”

Smith added: “There is not a bad team in this competition, there’s not a badly coached side.

“It’s evident to me that everybody has improved already in the first three rounds.

“It’s clear new lessons have been learned. We are in Vodacom URC four and every year somebody takes something forward.”

Giving his thoughts, Cardiff coach Matt Sherratt said: “It was a rollercoaster game. It was helter skelter, end to end with 80-plus points.

“It must have been a pretty good game to watch for the neutral.

“I spoke to Franco Smith afterwards and he said he’d never seen so many good individual tries. There was a lot of good play from both teams and a couple of snap shots from some quality individuals. It was certainly a pretty eventful game.”

Among the sub plots was Cardiff having to go down to 14 players for the last half hour due to the game going to uncontested scrums after they lost both hookers to injuries.

“We showed a lot of fight, we could easily have rolled over. It could have been a lot messier than it was,” said Sherratt.

“To go down to 14 men with 30 minutes to go against the best team in the competition last year and to get within four points at one stage was a hell of a fightback by the players.

“Ultimately, it was always going to be a tough ask against a quality side like Glasgow. They are a champion team for a reason.

“You play Leinster and it can almost be a bit of a slow poison. They just take it out of your legs over the 80 minutes. Against Glasgow, they can score very quickly with two people going the length of the field.”

While Cardiff certainly contributed significantly to the contest, scoring five tries of their own, they didn’t help their cause by missing no fewer than 27 tackles.

“We will obviously look at the defensive lapses. Against Glasgow, you have got to cut those out,” said Sherratt.

“They are always going to score tries, so you have got to minimise those individual tries they score and we probably gave them two or three that were too easy.

“It was one of those games where almost every tackle we missed ended in seven points.”

Winger Kyle Rowe and 20-point fly-half Tom Jordan both crossed twice for the visitors, while the pick of the tries was a superb solo effort from Player of the Match Sione Tuipulotu, with Sherratt dubbing the Scotland centre as one of the top three 12s in world rugby.

Match of the weekend

Dragons RFC 30, Hollywoodbets Sharks 33

The Arms Park try-fest took some beating, but this game down the road at Rodney Parade just edges it because of its hugely dramatic conclusion.

It all came down to the final play, with Sharks replacement hooker Fez Mbatha going over in the 85th minute after incessant pressure.

That wasn’t the end of the nail-biting though, with referee Andrew Brace going through a video review to check if there had been a knock-on just before the score.

But, in the end, he awarded the try to the delight of the visitors and the despair of the Dragons.

It had already been a compelling contest before that last-gasp twist to the tale.

The hosts had led 22-5 at one point in the first half before conceding three tries inside ten minutes either side of the break and then going back in front through skipper Ben Carter ahead of the grandstand finish.

So, in the end, it was five points to the Sharks and two for the Dragons, with both teams having played their part in an enthralling encounter.

The Player of the Match award went to try-scoring Welsh international flanker Taine Basham.

Reflecting on a heartbreaking defeat, he said: “The effort was second to none. We can’t fault that. It was just unfortunate to concede a try at the end. It’s narrow margins.”

Dragons coach Dai Flanagan added: "It’s just hard to swallow when you lose that late on. It’s the other side of it after we beat the Ospreys late on in Round 1.

“There is lots to be optimistic about. It was a step forward. But it was that ten minute blip either side of half-time and some skill-set errors that have cost us the outcome at the end.”

Player of the weekend

Rabz Maxwane (Emirates Lions)

The Arms Park rollercoaster put forward a strong candidate in this category as well, with Sione Tuipulotu delivering a masterclass of inside centre play.

But it’s winger Maxwane who just gets the nod for his hat-trick of tries in the Lions’ 55-21 victory over Edinburgh in Johannesburg.

The 29-year-old from Queenstown was outstanding in Round 2 against Ulster and even better a week on.

His finishing was just sublime, particularly when he evaded Darcy Graham with a classic in-out movement to score his first in the narrowest of channels down the left.

With his quick feet and devastating acceleration, he is just so hard to pin down.

Vodacom URC defences beware!

Quote of the weekend

Former Scotland captain John Barclay speaking on Premier Sports about Edinburgh losing 55-21 to the Lions in Johannesburg, where they conceded no fewer than seven tries in the first half:

"Edinburgh is a club with aspiration, ambition and great history and you are losing 48-0 at half-time. It’s an embarrassment, it’s a disaster.

“That, to me, points to something fundamentally wrong with the team. It feels like a big puzzle to fix. I think there are panic buttons being pressed everywhere at the moment. It will be a pretty bleak trip home and there will be some pretty honest conversations.

"Edinburgh have been very well funded, they have got a good squad. That team sheet is full of internationals and that is not translating on to the pitch right now.  They are in a pretty bad spell."

What’s coming next?

No doubt about the game of the round next weekend. That will be the all-Irish showdown between league leaders Leinster and third-placed Munster in Dublin, with more than 70,000 tickets having already been sold for the Croke Park clash.

There’s another inter-provincial fixture in Belfast as Ulster host fourth-placed Connacht, while there’s also a derby in Wales as Cardiff and the Scarlets meet for the second time in three weeks, this time at the Arms Park.

Second-placed Glasgow take on Zebre at Scotstoun, while the Bulls and Lions put their unbeaten records to the test on the road as they travel to the Ospreys and Dragons respectively.

The other games see Benetton and Edinburgh go in search of their first wins of the season as they entertain South African opponents in the Sharks and Stormers.