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What a weekend of rugby, the launch of the URC and a thrill in Townsville between the All Black and the Boks.
The opening round of the URC started with Zebre versus the Lions, and for the first 40 minutes you would have assumed you were watching a safari in South Africa as the Lions killed Zebre to lead 35-0. If this was boxing the ref would have stopped the contest but the second half come back from Zebre was almost like a Rocky movie and they were unlucky not to get a losing bonus point or maybe even more. Nine tries in the game all scored at the one end, not bad for the first game of the competition.
The other games on Friday saw Ulster come out on top against Glasgow in a 7 try thriller in Belfast and Connacht lose away to Cardiff where a late try from Kieran Marmion put some level of respectability on a 33-21 scoreline. Ulster will be delighted with the performance of their young guns, especially Nathan Doak who replaced the injured John Cooney early in the game. Doak is a real star in the making and his performance on Friday night showed why he is likely to be playing in a green jersey fairly soon. Two yellow cards in two minutes cost Connacht the game but it was their inability to hold onto the ball and play the game in the right areas that was their undoing.
Benetton beat the Stormers in the early game on Saturday in what turned out to be the only one of the three games to be competitive in the score board. Like the Lions, the Stormers started well but if you can't score in the last 35 minutes of a game its going to be hard to win.
The Bulls learned early that if you make mistakes and miss tackles against Leinster they will make you pay. 15 minutes into the game and the Bulls were down by 17 points and the contest was over. From that point at least the Bulls showed some heart and played well but they never really troubled the scoreboard despite the periods of possession and territory they had.
The All Blacks against the Boks was an absolute nail biter right to the full time whistle. The Boks went back to what they were good at and controlled the game through their kicking game. The Boks were able to control the All Blacks attack and force the contest onto their terms and it turned out to be a kicking duel between Pollard and Barrett. The Boks had the game won but poor on field game management and lack of leadership cost them the game not their playing style. 4 minutes left on the clock, one point up and the Boks have a knock on advantage close to the half way line. Hershel Jantjies decides to play it wide to his backline despite my screams from my couch to take the scrum. If only the Boks had taken the scrum, eaten up the clock and potentially used the threat of Pollard, Steyn and Le Roux for a 50:22 to push the All Backs deep into their territory or at best win a scrum penalty and kick down the line. Instead the went wide, a poor tactical kick in broken play turned ball over and the All Blacks get into South African territory to win the penalty that decides the game. While the South African fans and media now bicker over the style of play I think a more inward look at the on field decision makers is needed not a more expansive game.
And now to the highlight of the weekend Munster back in Thomond Park kicking off their URC season. The Sharks looked formidable on paper with a solid tight five and some exciting backs, but Munster matched them physically and showed glimpses of attacking threat that will serve as a warning to the rest of the league.
One of the biggest issues Munster need to address is in their tight five and to introduce players that can add the attacking extras to make Munster a proper elite team again. Kilcoyne continued to show how good he is with ball in hand, Scannell's set piece was excellent and Keynan Knox was unreal off the bench. Munster were dominant in the scrum but it was Knox's impact with ball in hand, both carrying and offloading that provides real hope for this season. We need to see more performances like this from him but he could stake a claim for the starting 3 jersey if this continues.
Jean Kleyn was immense. His physicality was unrivaled and I actually felt sorry for some of the Sharks players as Kleyn seemed to bully them in contact. Gavin Coombes showed again why you just can't afford not to have a player of his carrying and offloading ability in any team. Two tries, numerous gain line battles one and willingness to carry time and time again.
Craig Casey was the live wire in ensuring that Munster kept the tempo up and didn't allow the Sharks to settle. He took his try well and deserved his player of the match award. There will be a few worries over Joey Carbery's performance though, where he compounded several mistakes in a row before being replaced by Ben Healy. Also his tackling is something that continues to be an issue since his return from long term injury last season. While missed tackles themselves don't tell the whole story, it was noticeable against Leinster in the Pro12 final how he was targeted in the 10 channel so successfully and 6 missed tackles last night doesn't make for good reading.
The Munster back three were excellent, some real good intent to attack from deep including from inside their own 22. Simon Zebos return showed what a class player he is, with the long range finish for his tries and his solidity under the high ball. I'm looking forward to seeing more of him at first receiver as the season goes on. Andrew Conway really is amongst the worlds elite in terms of kick chase and he caused the Sharks all sorts of problems.
Overall the South African sides have found the transition to northern hemisphere rugby tough but that was to be expected. All four sides had to travel north for the opening round without their Springbok stars. Their only advantage was their pre season preparation should have been a lot better than their opponents due to the Currie Cup and that may have led to the like of the Lions and Stormers have good opening 40 minutes. Overall though I think they will be worried about how easily Munster managed to read and contain the Sharks attack, how Leinster soaked up the Bulls attack and read their lineout to limit the Bulls attacking platform. The Lions and Stormers second half performances will also start to raise questions around the conditioning of the South African sides. Any South African fans who thought the URC was going to be a kick and clap competition that the South African sides would stroll through are currently rethinking their expectations and I think to be fair to the South African sides it will be next season before we should evaluate them properly.
And here is without doubt the try of the opening round. The camera missed the restart and offload from Snyman to start the move, but the delicate hands and offloads from the Munster backs and forwards are hopefully something we can expect to see a lot more of this season.
Also keep an eye out for the future superstar that is Munster second row Tom Ahern, keeping up with speedster Simon Zebo as he scores.