No one would describe it as a perfect competition logistically but the URC may be better placed than other leagues to cash inHere’s a quiz question as an eventful domestic rugby season enters its closing days: which of the two leagues staging grand finals in Twickenham and Cape Town respectively this weekend has had the better campaign? As the Premiership braces itself for the financial demise of a third club inside nine months, a clear winner is increasingly emerging.No one would describe the United Rugby Championship as a perfect competition from a logistical perspective, other than for long-haul travel experts specialising in flights to and from southern Africa. But credit where it is due. While tickets for Saturday’s final between...
Going into Saturday’s Champions Cup last-16 first leg at Exeter, Ireland’s fallen giants face an uncertain futureAll the best rugby teams are striving for the same things. An identity. A tight-knit culture. An environment in which words, eventually, are superfluous. Where what really matters is not individual ability but the unbreakable bond of togetherness. And where, after a while, winning becomes so natural it feels almost preordained.Until, that is, the magic dries up. Star players retire or get injured, coaches come and go, supporters grow restless. Worse still, the arch rivals up the road are flying. History, all of a sudden, counts for little. Which is roughly where Munster, once the European Cup’s ultimate feelgood story and guardians of what...
It was a difficult weekend for English clubs, with Irish provinces picking up a triple crown of victories over Premiership sidesIreland look like going into the Six Nations Larmour-plated. Joe Schmidt, who stood down as the national side’s head coach after the World Cup, never seemed to trust Jordan Larmour fully, certainly at full-back, but the 22-year old showed in Leinster’s emphatic victory over Northampton at Franklin’s Gardens that he is ready to take over from Rob Kearney, who was among the province’s replacements on Saturday. Larmour was the architect of Leinster’s first two tries, showing how deadly he can be in broken play if given just a trace of time and space, and he was part of a defensive...
The No8 has been under scrutiny for his support of Israel Folau and delivered an intense performance in a hostile atmosphere against MunsterHe must have thought he had begun to leave the last 10 days behind him. No sooner had Billy Vunipola scored the try that secured Saracens latest semi-final victory, that secured him the man-of-the-match award, than a Munster fan confronted him after the match, gesticulating aggressively. Vunipola jogged on in a lap of honour, but he knows his support of Israel Folaus socialmedia antics will not be so easy to leave behind.If his performance, or that of his team, is anything to go by, the hostility will only serve to intensify Saracens focus, which sharpens where that of...
Gloucester dogged by inconsistency, Edinburgh and Glasgow head for the last eight and Leinster have look of championsThe pool of champions has polarised. Leinster, for all Toulouse’s attempts to recapture past glories, are the team in control, even if they trail the French club by two points. Their victory over Bath was imperious, and Toulouse, who rode their luck anyway in round one in Bath, must travel to Dublin next. Leinster’s trip to Wasps in the final round does not look the challenge it might once have been. For two of England’s greatest clubs to be mathematically out of it after only four rounds is a sobering reflection on the Premiership, which looks worryingly short of the sort of teams...