URC Round 2

First topic message reminder :

First round down and the teams mostly settled in it's time to get into round 2.

All times UK and Ireland.

Games all on Premier Sports, SuperSport and URC TV

Friday 23rd September 2022

Zebre v Cell C Sharks- Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi- 17:30- Mediaset- 37-42
Glasgow Warriors v Cardiff Rugby- Scotstoun Stadium- 19:35- 52-24
Leinster v Benetton- RDS Arena- 19:35- TG4- 42-10

Saturday 24th September 2022

Scarlets v Ulster- Parc Y Scarlets- 13:00- 39-55
Vodacom Bulls v Edinburgh- Loftus Versfield- 13:30- 33-31
DHL Stormers v Connacht- Danie Craven Stadium- 13:30- RTE- 38-15
Ospreys v Emirates Lions- Swansea.com Stadium- 19:35- S4C- 27-28

Sunday 25th September 2022

Dragons v Munster- Rodney Parade- BBC Wales, RTE- 23-17

I'll be honest after 2 rounds I doubt anyone predicted the bottom 2 sides to be Irish sides.

Munster look in trouble to me. At least they have been away losses so not as bad. Scarlets are also in real trouble. 1 Loss 1 Draw at home is very poor from them. Both those sides chances of the top 8 could all be over after round 7 given how well some sides are playing in the league.

Edinburgh really look to have kicked on. They probably should have beaten the Bulls on the weekend. Reckon they will be pushing for top 4 by the end of it if they can keep their form going.

Welsh sides really need to sort out their front 5's. We are seriously underpowered looking at the other league sides. Granted were not on our own with Munster and Connacht suffering the same issues.

I think it's only Cardiff that need to sort out their front 5. Scarlets have players to come back. Dragons have improved a lot in that area. Ospreys were always good in the front 5. What they all lack is good defence, some of that boils down to conditioning. Cardiff and Scarlets especially, they look very slow at re-organising their defence and getting back into the line. The opposition will see that and either run at the holes or attack around the ruck, Ulster were superb at this on the weekend. When we're physical in defence we stop them on the gainline, Welsh teams need to do it for the full 80.

Roberts, Nott, Lonsdale, JJ and AOB have been superb signings so far. We're only two games in so perhaps a little early to be writing all this, but there wouldn't be many tougher challenges than that Munster pack (shy of  the excellent Gavin Coombes). AOB looks like a full-back with the complete skill set. I'm not sure what he did in his time away but it's worked. He'll be in Wales talks no doubt.

Dragons scrum was pretty good yesterday. Slightly less convincing when Coleman came on, but solid enough. Certainly nothing like it used to be ha.

I do think the Dragons are in a good place in the forwards. The issue we have is when we get hit by injuries.

With regards to the other 3 I don't see it myself. Ospreys do have the best pack but it has some glaring issues. Key one is the props on the bench. Botha isn't big enough for this league. There is a reason why all the top teams in this league have 19-20 stone props lining up at tighthead and in some cases they do the same at loosehead. Another issue the Ospreys have is what happens after this season as it's unclear how many of their star forwards will be continuing. I'd imagine they will lose a few at least.

Scarlets only really have Wyn Jones who probably add anything to them. Their other props just can't compete at this level. Cardiff have the same problem as well but they have even more issues in the tight 5.

I just hope they don't start targeting Dragons players again like we have seen previously.

RiscaGame wrote:Dragons scrum was pretty good yesterday. Slightly less convincing when Coleman came on, but solid enough. Certainly nothing like it used to be ha.

I'm happy where we are in the forwards. We just need to keep them fit.

Our problem has been in the backline and hopefully this win gives us some much needed confidence moving forward. In terms of building blocks I would consider 6-7 wins this season reasonable progress from last year. Ofc I am hoping for more than that though.

Yeah our forwards looked strong and well-drilled, complete contrast to last week against Edinburgh. A good starting pack with good replacements for a change. I'm not going to get excited just yet. The Sharks are in town next, even without their internationals they are very strong. We've only scored one try so far... so plenty to work on.

Well the SA teams at least had a better start to the URC this season, lets hope it cements in the next couple of weeks.

I think what has been clear this season that standards have gone up. No sides will get any easy rides this year.

Part of the reason the Welsh sides do so poorly is because they are still not getting their heads round this change. Any Welsh side that really wants to get into the top 8 needs to make sure they are staying in games throughout the season and picking up those valuable bonus points.

SA sides are certainly raising the bar, they've been quite strong even without fielding their best teams. Ulster and Edinburgh have improved a lot. Munster may have regressed, not sure about Glasgow yet.

mikey_dragon wrote:

We seem to have a problem in Wales where coaches go out and tell players the truth, said coaches are pushed out. Amateur hour. Not that I'm defending Dean Ryan, or Flanagan for that matter. Dragons were just blown away last weekend but at least Ryan told them the truth!

However, had Buttress listened to what the players had been telling him for months, this farcical situation with Ryan would not now be happening.

It took that performance for Buttress to finally understand how wrong he was just a few months ago.

mikey_dragon wrote:You can argue that WRU supposed ownership isn't working out either. Heck, they were meant to part-owners after Ebbw Vale jumped ship decades ago, not sure what happened there.

They screwed Newport RFC out of losing their home.

mikey_dragon wrote:Bigger than Racing… surely not?

The latest DNACG report is for 20/21 and Racing weren't even the biggest spenders in France. That was Montpellier.

Racing aren't even the biggest spenders in Paris.

€12.8m spent on player wages by Montpellier in that season.