Limerick fires on all cylinders

Six days on from the tragic death of Anthony Foley, Munster fans and players put in an intense and emotional performance to completely stun Glasgow. Despite Keith Earls’ red card at the end of the first quarter, they ran in five tries in a 38-17 victory.

From the moment a sold-out Thomond Park finished observing the minute silence, and the eighty minute roar that followed, it was non-stop action from Munster. They catapulted themselves to a 14-3 lead before Earls had been sent off for a tip tackle, with tries from the marvellous Tyler Bleyendaal and Jaco Taute. Glasgow looked understandably rocked, but surprisingly failed to haul themselves back into the game, even with the man advantage. They conceded another ten points before the break.

When they returned to the field, it was still the men in red looking the more hungry. They extended their lead with a penalty try to seal the bonus point, before Glasgow finally showed some promise, crossing for a couple of tries of their own to give themselves hope of a losing bonus point. It wasn’t to be though as Rory Scannell deservedly gave the home crowd the last word.

The coach would have been so proud. With the performance bringing memories of the Munster of old, they could harbour ambitions of progress, but in a group this tight, it’s all about the away victories. Glasgow know this and, whilst this was a game played under extraordinary circumstances, they need to travel to Leicester or Paris needing to get one now.

Ulster and Exeter play out thrilling finale, Clermont set the pace

With both of these teams needing a win to keep their hopes of advancing from Pool 5 alive after a disappointing start, stakes couldn’t have been higher. With the way the match went at the end, that fact became increasingly evident. With the scores evenly balanced at 13-12 in Ulster’s favour going into the last ten minutes, a boot shoot-out commenced. Paddy Jackson extended the lead off the tee, before Gareth Steenson hit back with one of his own. The Chief then took the lead for his team with a well taken drop goal. Whatever he could do, the Ulster fly half could match, snatching back the lead with a couple of minutes to go. With the score now 19-18, Steenson had a final chance to win it, but his long drop attempt drifted agonisingly wide.

The contest leading up to the frenetic finish was something of a patchy and tense affair, strangely mixed with the attacking flair of Charles Piutau. The Kiwi constantly kept the defence on their toes and made things look like they could happen at any moment. In fact, it was he who set up the only try of the game, breaking the defence before Sean Reidy finished the good work.

The result leaves Ulster still in with a decent chance, but Exeter (unless they can win two away games in France) look all but out already. I think for both teams though, the domestic league is probably the priority for this season, with Ulster probably seeing this as a bonus if they can make something of it after an indifferent start.

In the other game in the group, Clermont continued to be one of the pace-setters for the tournament with another bonus point victory. This time it was fellow Frenchmen, Bordeaux, who were put to the sword. It was a high scoring affair, with defence optional and tries being scored left, right and centre.

Bordeaux had the better of the opening, but the hosts dominated the middle before a back and forth finish where both sides secured try scoring bonus points in a 49-33 result.

Champions crack on, Hughes grabs draw, Racing undone at Welford

Saracens kept on the road to defend their title with a bonus point win over Scarlets. At 44-22, and with the quality of the other game in the group (Sale v Toulon), it should be all too easy for the champions to go through as one of the top seeds. The five tries that the hosts ran in were all expertly converted by Owen Farrell, who also scored three penalties and looks like he hasn’t been away. The only concern was Maro Itoje’s injury, which the hysterical amongst us have estimated to reduce the quality of Saracens by 30% and England by a whopping 50% should he miss any games.

Nathan Hughes scored a last minute try, which Jimmy Gopperth nervelessly converted, to earn Wasps a just 20-20 draw. The match was an unusually conservative one by Wasps’ standards before the break, with both teams having only a couple of penalties to show for their efforts. After the interval, the game sparked to life. Both teams made some errors, and showed a bit more going forward as they scored two tries each. It leaves Wasps second in the group, but the smart money is still on them to just about progress top, looking at their fixtures. Toulouse must be thankful Zebre are in the group, if not they would be gone already.

The wide open nature of the European Champions Cup Group 1 was made plain to see, with Leicester confounding expectations by beating last year’s runners up Racing Metro 27-17. The result came a week on from one of the most embarrassing results in their recent history against Glasgow, but with a Welford Road crowd to please, they controlled matters up front and therefore the game. Replacement fly-half Freddie Burns scored 16 of the points in a 25 minute cameo.

Toulon struggle in Manchester, Connacht classy, Nadolo gets Montpellier off the mark, and Northampton???

Friday night’s game saw Toulon travel to Sale Sharks. A few seasons ago, this would have been an easy enough rout, and looking at the team sheets, it should have been. Sale are no mugs at home though, and Toulon’s star is falling somewhat. The hosts let the three time champions have 15 points early on, but from there on held them out and even looked the more threatening in parts, scoring a try that left the final score 15-5.

Connacht ran out as 52-7 winners over whipping boys Zebre. They now top a pool containing Wasps and Toulouse, and will be gutted if they miss out on the quarter finals from this enviable position. They started somewhat slowly, but were helped out by our Villain of the Week as they were able to run in 6 tries after the break. The star was Stacey Ili, who forged a hat-trick on his first start for the Irishmen.

Fijian superstar Nemani Nadolo starred as Montpellier got a first win of the competition against Leinster. The Irish province did stay top of the pool because Isa Nacewa scored a very late try and conversion to nick a bonus point in a 22-16 loss. Nadolo had been anywhere and everywhere, scoring two tries in an incredibly powerful performance for the men from the south of France.

Northampton. Who are you? Are you the same team that was champions of England as recently as 2014? The team that hasn’t seemed to find a foothold this season? The one that possesses stellar names from England and abroad? Or the team that went down 41-7 to Castres at the weekend? It was, frankly, worrying. It leaves them bottom of a group where anybody could beat anybody, but with performances like this and a lack of bonus points, Saints look least likely.

Challenge Cup continues

Maybe the best thing to focus on with the competition is the good. And a certain Russian team continue to prove that it has it’s merits.

Enisei-STM claimed another big scalp and now sit atop their group. They didn’t just beat, they thrashed Newport-Gwent Dragons 38-18 and claimed a bonus point. Now, let’s see how they go away, but how good would it be to see a Russian team in the quarters? In the same group, Worcester succumbed to a second successive loss, 24-25 to Brive.

La Rochelle and Gloucester both made it 10 points from a possible 10 in Group 1, with bonus point wins for a second week in a row. La Rochelle beat Bayonne in an all French affair. The West Country men saw off Treviso 37-8 at Kingsholm.

Edinburgh and Harlequins played out an exciting match. The Scots won 36-35, with both teams getting more than four tries and hopeful of the knock outs. Stade Francais used a second string side to conquer Romanian minnows Timisoara 27-0.

Bath and Bristol partook in a really quite dull West Country derby. Matt Banahan scored a late try as Bath won 22-6. In Pool 4’s other game, Cardiff stayed on the top spot by beating Pau 27-12.

Group 2 witnessed Ospreys go to Lyon and win 31-13, whilst Newcastle ran in the tries in a 50-7 demolition job over Grenoble.

New Zealand and records

The All Blacks claimed an unsurprising record 18th consecutive test victory. The sequence, which began last year, came about with an 37-10 victory in the third Bledisloe Cup match against arch-rivals Australia. The Wallabies were well in the game at 15-10 with 25 minutes to go, but Julian Savea inspired a dominant end to the game. Their Autumn opponents can’t be too excited.

Try of the weekend

Being a big fan of subtle skills in confined spaces, I am going to give it to David Strettle. With a fair few defenders around him, his cheeky chip and collect without a bounce so close to the try line and the touch line was absolutely classy. What a finish.

Hero of the weekend

Munster. Players, fans and everyone connected with the club. After such a difficult week, to come together and play so ferociously with such vociferous support was the perfect way to salute their hero. The whole rugby world was with them.

Villain of the weekend

Your team faces an uphill slog in the competition before any games have kicked off. You took a walloping at the hands of Wasps last week. You are playing the Pro12 champions, who are starting to look very good indeed. What is the last thing you need to do? Get a red card and make it all the more difficult. The fact that Oliviero Fabiani got one for such an obvious biting incident made it all the worse.

By Joe Large

Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images