Pro 12, after round 5, How the season is shaping up?

Pro 12 table
http://www.rabodirectpro12.com/matchcentre/table.php

It's aways too early to look judge a team after only 2/3 rounds, however by round 5 we should be getting a picture of how teams are going, and have they moved on from previous years or appearing to be going backwards.

Ulster;
Top of table with a game in hand, unbeaten. Wins against 3 of the 4 play off teams from last year, plus an away bonus point win against Cardiff, no small feat, given the tragic last few weeks. We have carried on strong, some top players still to come back as well. The team have a very good defence, least points and tries conceded (but played a game less), and are dangerous in attack with that, the season looks like it could be a very good season for Ulster.

Scarlets;
Great start to season winning first 3 games, 2 of the last seasons play off teams, including a big win over Leinster, and a good win away in Connacht. Lost Derby to Ospreys, and followed up with a loss to Terviso, has taken wind out of sails a little, will look to get season back on track against Dragons. Look to have improved and to be genuine play off contenders this year, playing the attacking rugby they are famed for showing as they are top try scorers in the league.

Munster;
New coach in, looking to play closer to a super XV team style, wins against Edinburgh, Terviso and Dragons, loses to Ospreys and a close Ulster game, (both away). Look to be beating the teams they are expected to beat, losing the tough away games, performing well and as expected at present, big game away to Leinster next will tell more, and how they do at home against the top teams. Going as expected so far.

Glasgow Warriors;
Lost to Ulster, Scarlets, look back on track with wins over Ospreys, Connacht and Zebre. Looking in decent shape, but just feel they are not playing as well as last year, but have won the expected games, though Zebre was to close to be comfortable, could improve, but currently feel they are winning playing badly, but thats not a bad thing to build on, and could make the play offs again, but will be hard work and need to find that bit more.

Cardiff Blues;
Beat Connacht, Dragons and Terviso lost to Edinburgh and Ulster. Performing like a mid table team, beating teams expected to be below them losing to ones expected to be above them. Have lost a lot of players and are rebuilding, and having injury problems in some positions. Think that the squad may not be strong enough to mount a top 4 challange, and will be a tough season, that said they are still in 5th place but next games against Warriors, Leinster and Munster may be hard to get points from. Overall not going as bad as feared by some, plenty of positives, but squad depth may be their undoing.

Leinster;
Normally start slowly, but this has to be the slowest start ever, and maybe starting to worry fans, that leinster haven't found their mojo and Munster then H-cup are up next!
Close win v Terviso and good wins against Edinburgh and Dragons, but heavy losses to Scarlets and Connacht, see's them midtable. We know Leinster are prob the best team in League and Europe but currently have a few injuries. Things like having shipped the most tries, and most points in the league, are worries, but everyone is just waiting for Leinster to click, but they are running out of time to do it with big games coming up.

Edinburgh;
Lost to Munster, Leinster and Dragons beat Blues and Zebre. Had a poor league last year, and its hard to tell if this season will be different. Picked up losing BP against Munster and Leinster suggest they can mix it with the top teams, 2nd top try scored shows they are still playing their attacking game, but big loss against Dragons shows maybe last seasons issue of lack of depth or slipping up against teams they are expected to beat are still there? Looking like they will do better in the league, but still can't tell will it be a lot better or just a bit better. To be fair, playing Munster, Leinster and Blues within first 4 games is a tough start.

Connacht;
Lost to Blues, Scarlets and Glasgow, won against Zebre and Leinster. Bonus point win against Leinster was the standout, and will prob have Harliquins fans a little nervous. Would have hoped for a better start winning one of the home games against Blues or Scarlets, but beating Leinster was one they wouldn't have expected and are therefore sitting where they would have expected to be at this time. Away to Ulster and Ospreys will prob see them slide down table, but look an improved team from last year, which was their best every finish, and look like they could repeat it, but prob not better it.

Ospreys;
The one consolation Leinster fans had, was if they had a slow start the current champions got off to a slower one. Loses to Terviso, Ulster and Glasgow have been followed up by good wins against Scarlets and Munster. Look to have got the season back on track now after poor start, and hitting form at the right time. Even with poor start they have only have shipped 5 tries, second lowest in the league so defense isn't an issue unlike Leinster. Ospreys fans expected a slow start (just not as bad), after losing some key players from last year and taking a bit of time for players to gel, look to have done this now and are back to being a dangerous outfit, next games against Zebre and Connacht and expected to continue their climb up the table.

Dragons;
Lost to Leinster, Blues and Munster won against Zebre and Edinburgh. Plan this season was to turn Rodney Parade back into a very tough place to visit, 2/3 so far at home. No shame losing to Leinster and Munster away from home, so overall not a bad start for the Dragons. Losing Dan Lydiate for the season could make their job harder as they have one of the weaker squads in the league. Was always going to be a tough year for Dragons, but they look like they have accepted the challenge and are meeting it head on so far. If wanting H-cup next year its Cardiff blues they will be targetting, so in that regards will be disappointed by the home loss to them, 5 points now behind. May not make H-cup but look to be able to fulfill primary concern of making RP a tough place to go.

Benetton Treviso;
Look to have moved up a level this year, home win over Ospreys, followed by loses to Leinster, Munster and Blues then win over Scarlets. Have made Stadio di Monigo a very very hard place to visit. Beat Ospreys and Scarlets there and only lost to Leinster by a point by a last minute drop goal, gives an indication of how hard a place it now is. Road form may be an issue and their aim this year is to keep Stadio di Monigo a fortress and improve on the road. Looking to be going well as playing Leinster, Munster, Blues, Scarlets and Ospreys is a very difficult opening 5 games for any team and 9 points is a good return. Don't think anyone, will go to Stadio di Monigo looking for a BP win anymore as just to get a win will be a real challange, not sure yet how well they could do, but sitting second last is a bit misleading I feel, and if had a different first 5 games it would prob be around midtable.

Zebre;
We didn't expect much, and thats what we got, Losses to Dragons, Connacht, Edinburgh and Glasgow. However that said, they were much improved against Glasgow (away from home) and could be considered unluckly not to win, picked up a LBP. Also in fairness they have only had one home game so far. If we expected Ospreys to take a little time to gel, with some new players, we have to give Zebre more time as a new team. Think we are beginging to see signs that as the season goes on they will get stronger and stronger, but even at this early stage the wooden spoon looks inevitable, but a good season wil be determined by how many wins they pick up, and are showing signs that they may be able to upset a few teams.

What about your conclusions, do you agree?

OW were expected to do fa in the Jeff but are well on the way to securing a stay of execution.
It's the attendances which should be if more concern. In Italy and Scotland in particular they are dreadful.

Yontorp this isn't a Prem v Pro 12 thread, there are plenty of other threads, for you to start WUMMING on, so leave one be as a Pro 12 thread and how the teams are doing.

This is nothing to do with the Premiership. Please comment on that elsewhere.

Anyways, Treviso have impressed. They played Leinster, Munster, Ospreys, Cardiff and Scarlets managing 9 points which is not bad at all.

With nearly all the harder matches out of the way they will hope to pick up a lot of point when they face Glasgow, Connacht, Dragons etc.

I think Edinburgh will be far more competitive in the league this season but I don't think we are yet strong enough to mount a play-offs challence. I think top half with a HC QF would be a big step forwards.

Glasgow are not as strong as last season. Not impressed with Townsend so far and I think they will also finish midtable, possibly a place above Edinburgh. Strong squad, but inept selections and now the injury to DTH will cause Glasgow problems. He is the star player at Scotstoun.

The 2 teams that have impressed me this year are Treviso & Ulster.
Ulster have got some big ball carriers & look a solid all round outfit.
Treviso as the OP states have upped their game this season & look formidable at home.

Difficult to compare teams until HEC kicks in & we see a few more players.

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:The 2 teams that have impressed me this year are Treviso & Ulster.
Ulster have got some big ball carriers & look a solid all round outfit.
Treviso as the OP states have upped their game this season & look formidable at home.

Difficult to compare teams until HEC kicks in & we see a few more players.

Yea I agree with this.

Leinster and Ospreys must be the biggest disappointments so far without a doubt.

Decent assessment of the Dragons, Kingshu - thanks for not being as dismissive of us as some are. Gutting to lose to the Blues the other week, especially as we gifted them their try. Still early days though, a lot of rugby to be played!

No need to panic in Leinster just yet. But they have conceded way to many tries. And your right that they need to put the slow start behind them and get consistently going now. Munster next. And a 100% record in Lansdowne to defend. Then the HC.

It was around this time in the previous two seasons that we really started to go on a roll. Hopefully it'll be the same this year. But on form I'm worried about the Munster match. It'll be tough. A tight win and we're on our way. A defeat and we're falling behind where we should be in the league and going into Europe in poor form.

Doing this has helped getting a better feel for teams, as most people would look at Terviso and see them 2nd fom bottom and dismiss them as still being a poor Italian team, but looking into it 9 points from Leinster, Munster, Blues, Scarlets and Ospreys is actually pretty good. Some other teams threw up surprises as well, like how good Ospreys defensive has been even though they started slowly.

Treviso have been very impressive at home this season. You have to remember it was only a 40+ meter drop goal from sexton that gave us a 1 point win against them. Its now a very tough place to go and win.

quite scary the amount of points that edinburgh and leinster have conceeded!

Ulster can rightfully walk around with puffed out chests for a great start to the season. As the season goes on thought I think Ulster will start to run out of puff (just my opinion)

I think this will be the closest celtic/magners/rabo there has ever been though with only 1 or 2 points seperating playoff teams and mid table teams.

Edinburgh and Glasgow both look Poopie. Its crap being a scots rugby fan

Once again the good thing that could help us Dragons is that we are unlikely to be hit hard by call ups.

We really do need to sort our front row out and make sure any team that comes to Dave have to really warn any victory they get, which hopefully wont be many

This is a pretty neat summation Kingshu and I agree. Ulster look by far the best team so far. Scarlets looked good v Glasgow away but seem to have gone off the boil a bit - they will recover. Leinster will awake too - too many good players not to. Ospreys were awful v Glasgow who did not have to play well to beat them in Swansea. Munster will be there at the end as always. Between Ulster, Scarlets, Munster and Leinster as Glasgow will fall away - not least due to the ineptitude of Townsend and the burgeoning catalogue of injuries to key players.

red_stag wrote:

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:The 2 teams that have impressed me this year are Treviso & Ulster.
Ulster have got some big ball carriers & look a solid all round outfit.
Treviso as the OP states have upped their game this season & look formidable at home.

Difficult to compare teams until HEC kicks in & we see a few more players.

Yea I agree with this.

Leinster and Ospreys must be the biggest disappointments so far without a doubt.

Maybe in the opening weeks I was disappointed with the Ospreys but I have been very impressed of the last two weeks.

Good summary there Kingshu!

The league has been very entertaining so far. Its too early to make any predictions but some patterns are emerging. The top of the table will be alot tighter this season. Previously the top teams could expect to beat the weaker teams playing away from home but the smaller teams are getting harder to beat with the exception of Zebre but they might improve.

After what was, as we are now very used to wit the Ospreys, an awful start to the new season two good performances, very very good. Particularly the one vs Munster last Saturday.

Now in previous year poor performances led to negative ones but ones where we won playing poor rugby. THis year the poor start led to performances more in the manner of the way we finnish seasons rather than our first half of the season.

I think this is a good thing. Set Piece is working, the control from halfback is working and we are looking solid in defence.

I wont say it will be a good year for us just yet, I want to see much more evidence of consistent performance at the current level and better.

And sorry I forgot to mention well don Kingshu on a very good article.

Is there any chance Hersh's comments can be deleted Biltong.

Sometimes he is good to read, as he does get people arguing, but there are plenty of other threads for that, and at this rate it will desend into another Pro 12 V Prem, and there are plenty enough of those already. Or it will be another thread defending selection policy, and theres the "Did leinster throw games thread" already for that

working on it Kingshu, just had to do something in the office quickly.

Cheers biltong, any chance mind asking for it to be deleted can go as well, so I don't look like a tell tale,

Sir sir, hersh in annoying me, sort of thing.

Kingshu wrote:Is there any chance Hersh's comments can be deleted Biltong.

Could that apply to all his comments rather than just those on this thread?

Freedom of speech! Don’t make me laugh.

Shocking behaviour Biltong.

I'll tow the line if you want, the Rabo has been superb with all the teams taking it seriously and not saving players for the HC like they usually do by pretending that they are injured.

Hersh, you really want to continue this?

I have to say I was disappointed with Treviso that they only had two wins and none that were big shall we say. Seeing now who they have played it puts it into context and I am happy.

I love how there is only one winn between 4th and 11th so one win/loss will move you up or down abit.

Go to see more away wins aswell this year esp by non tradional teams of winning away like leinster Munster and Os

Zebre haven't been the 50+ pts per game I was expecting either.

HERSH wrote:
Freedom of speech! Don’t make me laugh.

Shocking behaviour Biltong.

I'll tow the line if you want, the Rabo has been superb with all the teams taking it seriously and not saving players for the HC like they usually do by pretending that they are injured.

Last week Toulon rested most of their team against Toulouse and got hammered. Did you mention this anywhere?

perfectly decent thread where the flow has been completely ruined by Hersh!

Carslberg don't do wind up merchants...........

profitius wrote:

HERSH wrote:
Freedom of speech! Don’t make me laugh.

Shocking behaviour Biltong.

I'll tow the line if you want, the Rabo has been superb with all the teams taking it seriously and not saving players for the HC like they usually do by pretending that they are injured.

Last week Toulon rested most of their team against Toulouse and got hammered. Did you mention this anywhere?

If there was more French fans on here I would.

"were"

Don't disrupt the flow funnyscot

HERSH wrote:

profitius wrote:

HERSH wrote:
Freedom of speech! Don’t make me laugh.

Shocking behaviour Biltong.

I'll tow the line if you want, the Rabo has been superb with all the teams taking it seriously and not saving players for the HC like they usually do by pretending that they are injured.

Last week Toulon rested most of their team against Toulouse and got hammered. Did you mention this anywhere?

If there was more French fans on here I would.

Why, because you like winding people up?

606v2
The forum for all serious sport fans; from football to cricket, rugby to golf, boxing to tennis, motorsport to darts, athletics and the Olympics; debate the big sporting and non-sporting issues here.

This is taken from the top of the page, I stand by my views, which were removed unjustly.

Please try and debate people.

profitius wrote:

HERSH wrote:

profitius wrote:

HERSH wrote:
Freedom of speech! Don’t make me laugh.

Shocking behaviour Biltong.

I'll tow the line if you want, the Rabo has been superb with all the teams taking it seriously and not saving players for the HC like they usually do by pretending that they are injured.

Last week Toulon rested most of their team against Toulouse and got hammered. Did you mention this anywhere?

If there was more French fans on here I would.

Why, because you like winding people up?

Bingo. He's like a child that wants your attention. If it's negative attention he doesn't care as long as it's attention. Be great if he was a woman, she would be totally shameless in the scratcher.

"serious sport fans"

I rest my case

tigertattie wrote:"serious sport fans"

I rest my case

Your point being?

In case some of you missed it here is my view on the Rabo so far this season.

I don’t believe all the teams are currently taking the league seriously, and have held players back so that they are fit for other competitions, this IMO is damaging the reputation of the Rabo and is one of the reasons there is no big money TV deals wanting the rights to the league.

If you disagree then debate it rather than Shouting wum
and telling tales, some of you are acting like kids, grow up and please try and a have a view on the subject or just ignore it and continue agreeing with the previous posters views.

HERSH wrote:In case some of you missed it here is my view on the Rabo so far this season.

No one could possibly have missed it, Hersh.

WUM

Hershy Bar - there are two available options here, two only:

1. You don't realise that you are being a douche and are ruining a perfectly good thread whose parameters have been well defined by the OP.

2. You are perfectly well aware of this but you don't care what anyone thinks about you.

If the former, I think most of the posts above have put you right.

If the latter, then unfortunately you risk everything you type (regardless of its actual merit as analysis) on these boards being ignored or automatically assigned the status of WUM.

As I said, couldn't pick which one is correct. It's a shame, because I think that you're always worth a read.

I'm done, this will be my last post on this topic.

Can't wait to see the Leinster team sheet for the Munster game I expect several 1st team players will be back to get a little game time before the start of the HC.

Hersh - its called squad rotation and all teams even english ones do it all the time.

HERSH wrote:I'm done, this will be my last post on this topic.

Can't wait to see the Leinster team sheet for the Munster game I expect several 1st team players will be back to get a little game time before the start of the HC.

Awwww. Post again...Go on....We promise we won't laugh....And we'll give you loads of lovely attention too.....Promise. (crosses fingers and falls quietly on soft piece of ground)

well to be fair, since Hersh came to this thread, th enumber of comments on it has doubled.

He's like Jedward, everybody ridicules him, but he does bring in a crowd.

HERSH wrote:I'm done, this will be my last post on this topic.

Can't wait to see the Leinster team sheet for the Munster game I expect several 1st team players will be back to get a little game time before the start of the HC.

Well... yeah. What on earth do you expect?

And to answer Hersh's question, about weakened teams being put out, same answer as I have put on the did Leinster throw the game against Scarlets (now changed to Connacht)

you blame Leinster for not putting out the strongest team they can, but they have IRFU rest periods and Injuries, just the same as Ulster and Munster, have to deal with.

So if Leinster are are making the League look bad by putting out weaker teams, so are Ulster (top of the table unbeaten) and Munster.

Bad Ulster, putting out weaker teams and making the league look bad.

Now thats delt with, back on topic please.

Jesus mods can you please stop this happening....?

This was a great thread... I come back a few hours later to see what new posts are on and its been ruined by HERSH's trolling...!

We have a right to an opinion, posters do not have a right to solely post things to annoy one demographic of this ethnically diverse board.

Couldn't be any angrier right now

Its every thread on the Rabo or about a Rabo match that he's doing this now. Got to say I really hope Hersh's time on this forum is nearing its end.

maestegmafia wrote:Couldn't be any angrier right now

That can't be true.