URC round 13 Unlucky for some

Most likely unlucky for Ulster the way they played last weekend as their tumultious season continues with the firing of the CEO this week.

Friday 29th March 2024

Dragons RFC v Zebre Parma
Rodney Parade, Newport – KO 19.35 IRE & UK / 20.35 ITA / 21.35 SA
Live on: BBC Wales, SuperSport, Viaplay, Premier Sports, Flo Rugby & URC.tv

Leinster v Vodacom Bulls
RDS Arena, Dublin – KO 19.35 IRE & UK / 20.35 ITA / 21.35 SA
Live on: TG4, SuperSport, Viaplay, Premier Sports, Flo Rugby & URC.tv


Saturday 30th March 2024

Benetton v Connacht
Stadio Monigo, Treviso – KO 13.00 IRE & UK / 14.00 ITA / 15.00 SA
Live on: Sky Italia, TG4, SuperSport, Viaplay, Premier Sports, Flo Rugby & URC.tv

Hollywoodbets Sharks v Edinburgh Rugby
Hollywoodbets Kings Park, Durban – KO 13.00 IRE & UK / 14.00 ITA / 15.00 SA
Live on: SuperSport, Viaplay, Premier Sports, Flo Rugby & URC.tv

Ospreys v Emirates Lions
Swansea.com Stadium, Swansea – KO 15.05 IRE & UK / 16.05 ITA / 17.05 SA
Live on: S4C, SuperSport, Viaplay, Premier Sports, Flo Rugby & URC.tv

DHL Stormers v Ulster
DHL Stadium, Cape Town – KO 17.15 IRE & UK / 18.15 ITA / 19.15 SA
Live on: SuperSport, Viaplay, Premier Sports, Flo Rugby & URC.tv

Munster v Cardiff Rugby
Thomond Park, Limerick – KO 19.35 IRE & UK / 20.35 ITA / 21.35 SA
Live on: RTÉ, S4C, Viaplay, SuperSport, Premier Sports, Flo Rugby & URC.tv

Scarlets v Glasgow Warriors
Parc Y Scarlets, Llanelli – KO 19.35 IRE & UK / 20.35 ITA / 21.35 SA
Live on: Viaplay, SuperSport, Premier Sports, Flo Rugby & URC.tv

Be interesting what people think on the eventual winner this season.

Bulls look pretty good. They will be hard to stop this year I think.

I dont think Stormers or Munster will win it so we probably have a new winner of this year.

Bulls look good, Leinster always brilliant and a few teams that once they are in the play offs become really dangerous such as Munster, going to be a really interesting finish to season. Very hard to call who wins it

Be interesting to see what type of team Glasgow send down to PYS given it's back to Europe next week.

Oakdene wrote:Be interesting to see what type of team Glasgow send down to PYS given it's back to Europe next week.

Guessing they will come down fairly strong so the first team has a proper run out before Europe. Plus they will be chasing to secure top 4 home qtr final.

Think most sides will go fairly strong this weekend. Maybe the Bulls might rest a few as they are away and the travel might be an issue.

I'd expect Leinster and others to rest players for the SA trips in R14 & R15 so between the European rounds. But I dont think that will be the case this weekend.

Oakdene wrote:Be interesting to see what type of team Glasgow send down to PYS given it's back to Europe next week.

The General is the polar opposite of Cowboy Dave in terms of squad rotation. Cowboy Dave had his first choice 23, which he played every week possible until injury or forced rest periods licked in. The General plans his season in blocks and probably makes more changes than even The Tombola would. However, I think the team he puts out this weekend will be pretty much the one that takes on Harlequins next week.
If we win at PYS then it's Zebre twice and Sharks in Glasgow and he can rest players against Zebre. If we lose on Saturday then a home play of spot looks unlikely.

Bulls have come to play. Leinster under pressure scrum time. The penalty they did get there was the wrong call. Healy totally lost his bind and footing (also went in at a angle and didn't scrum straight). As a neutral Leinster are very lucky not to have had another yellow card.

Good game though and nice to see a team going to Dublin with ambitions to win this. Going to be a tight second half I think.

Interesting to say the commentators mentioned that Leinster fans knew this would be a proper game.

I honestly think if Bulls do beat Leinster it might put a different spin on Leinster SA trip. I'm not sure they will be able to take a second string team if they are aiming for top spot in the league.

Big call from Leinster not taking the kick. Another one to the corner. If they dont score this it could bite them.

good try in the end - swings back to Leinster. Bit of soft defence from bulls though.

Can’t believe you’re a Dragons fan, Welshmushroom, yet you’re not watching the Dragons game!

To be honest I'll watch it on catchup - I wouldnt have usually if I had gone to the game but given i didnt I just thought this would be the better game to watch.

Bench for Leinster really has made a difference in this game. Much better quality there making a big difference in this game.

Guessing that gives Leinster the chance to rest big names from the SA tour.

Welshmushroom wrote:To be honest I'll watch it on catchup - I wouldnt have usually if I had gone to the game but given i didnt I just thought this would be the better game to watch.

It’s predictably low quality in fairness. Exciting only for the edge of the seat/hiding behind the sofa nature of any dragons game! Dare I say we are winning though!

To be honest I wouldnt have minded but Dai's not filled me with much hope of late. Even on the re-signing front I felt he had a chance to be really smart in the market. But his player loyalty at times i think is clouding his vision.

He seems a good coach but not a astute head in the transfer market. He doesnt even have the excuse Dragons have had previously were we had a lot less money than the other regions. Given were all spending the same you would have to say he isnt doing great.

A win for the Dragons #isitadream???

An absolute hammering for the Bulls

Fair play Dragons. Lot of pressure on them and they did win. I’ll have to catch up tomorrow, as I was too busy smashing up Gibraltar’s Barbarians team

Welshmushroom wrote:To be honest I wouldnt have minded but Dai's not filled me with much hope of late.  Even on the re-signing front I felt he had a chance to be really smart in the market.  But his player loyalty at times i think is clouding his vision.  

He seems a good coach but not an astute head in the transfer market.  He doesnt even have the excuse Dragons have had previously were we had a lot less money than the other regions.  Given were all spending the same you would have to say he isnt doing great.

Sometimes I think you’re wrong about spends, but I do agree on Dai not being great here. Signing some people from Scarlets was so unnecessary. Ignoring our obvious problem positions still of 3/4/10 isn’t great. Lydiate is a luxury. Things like that.

TAFKA The Oracle wrote:A win for the Dragons #isitadream???

It was but watching the game back we didnt look like we played much rugby. Aside from the turnover/intercept tries we didn't look that good. Our forwards at this level just are not good enough.

Zebre had so many unforced errors in this game. Probably the most I have seen them make this season. I'll take the win but it wasnt anything to write home about.

Ospreys were solid today. Nothing to fancy but they keep their chances for a top 8 spot alive with a win over the Lions.

Ulster played much better again today than last week but it is another loss. They will have to buck that trend if they have any chance of making top 8.

Got to feel for Connacht as well. Treviso just got over last play of the game.

Just watching the Munster game and I have to say McKenzie and Mann are playing really well. Its a close game at half time.

I cant believe Munster dont get picked up on offside more. This match almost every third defence wave is clearly not behind the backfoot. I expect the odd one to be not caught but this is getting silly now.

And that's coming from a neutral. I'm not invested in either team.

But some refs clearly are better in this league than others. Thought some of the refs from the earlier games were actually really good today. Not this one though....

Games come to life here.....ill be honest though that clear out should have been a red all day long. The fact he didnt land on his head and made shoulder contact first shouldnt matter. Someone can get seriously injured doing that stuff.

Very lucky to get a yellow in my book.

Both teams score so Munster back in front. Interestingly the ref pings Cardiff for a few offisides. I'll be honest there is some irony in that.

And another munster offside not called...this is getting silly now...

I'd be a little peeved if I was the Cardiff Coach....Munster have defo had the better end of the calls today.

Good game all the same...

Welshmushroom wrote:

TAFKA The Oracle wrote:A win for the Dragons #isitadream???

It was but watching the game back we didnt look like we played much rugby.  Aside from the turnover/intercept tries we didn't look that good.  Our forwards at this level just are not good enough.  

Zebre had so many unforced errors in this game.  Probably the most I have seen them make this season.  I'll take the win but it wasnt anything to write home about.

Yes I said that above in a different post. Scroll up

Agreed it’s a great game between Munster and Cardiff. I’ve been impressed by Cardiff this season. Just hope they get something out of this game as they’ve contributed to a fairly even match up.

Ill be honest Cardiff got to be happy with the youngsters on show tonight. Winnett if he can carry on the way he is will be a very good full back. McKenzie also looked great tonight. Some others as well. The cardiff scrum half who came on was dire though.

But a lot of that Munster side I can't see being around in a couple of seasons so at some stage they will need to rebuild as well. Its probably the case for quite a few irish sides. At some stage I can see them having real issues at prop.

An LBP for Cardiff. Deserved I feel. Made it uncomfortable for Munster. A good ding dong back and forth in that 2nd half. An enjoyable game

Welshmushroom wrote:Ill be honest Cardiff got to be happy with the youngsters on show tonight.  Winnett if he can carry on the way he is will be a very good full back.  McKenzie also looked great tonight.  Some others as well.  The cardiff scrum half who came on was dire though.

But a lot of that Munster side I can't see being around in a couple of seasons so at some stage they will need to rebuild as well.   Its probably the case for quite a few irish sides.  At some stage I can see them having real issues at prop.

Cardiff have some lovely running moves. Lots of dummy runners and passing out the back. Sherratt has got them playing really well. The forwards all seem to be good ball players too.

Scarlets got pumped by the looks of things.....at home as well.

Glad i watched Cardiff instead of Scarlets. Was a good game between them and munster tonight.

TAFKA The Oracle wrote:

Welshmushroom wrote:Ill be honest Cardiff got to be happy with the youngsters on show tonight.  Winnett if he can carry on the way he is will be a very good full back.  McKenzie also looked great tonight.  Some others as well.  The cardiff scrum half who came on was dire though.

But a lot of that Munster side I can't see being around in a couple of seasons so at some stage they will need to rebuild as well.   Its probably the case for quite a few irish sides.  At some stage I can see them having real issues at prop.

Cardiff have some lovely running moves. Lots of dummy runners and passing out the back. Sherratt has got them playing really well. The forwards all seem to be good ball players too.

Think they need to do some passing work with their props though Agree on everything else you said there though.

RiscaGame wrote:

Welshmushroom wrote:To be honest I wouldnt have minded but Dai's not filled me with much hope of late.  Even on the re-signing front I felt he had a chance to be really smart in the market.  But his player loyalty at times i think is clouding his vision.  

He seems a good coach but not an astute head in the transfer market.  He doesnt even have the excuse Dragons have had previously were we had a lot less money than the other regions.  Given were all spending the same you would have to say he isnt doing great.

Sometimes I think you’re wrong about spends, but I do agree on Dai not being great here. Signing some people from Scarlets was so unnecessary. Ignoring our obvious problem positions still of 3/4/10 isn’t great. Lydiate is a luxury. Things like that.

Agree with both of you. Dai also signs players with pathetic injury records, the Argie LH pulled something in the warm-up. So in theory, that gives us another problem position in LH. Reed still isn’t a good enough player, neither is Cai Evans tbh but we can try giving Rio a few runs at fullback with both Rossers on the wings.

We could also do with a big centre, as all the other teams bar us have good carrying options there. Sio and Clarke are on our books and seem to not be rated by Dai at all. Steff Hughes gets skinned too easily, Owen is a very good player but doesn’t seem to be big or fast enough. Just my worth of course, some supporters are too loyal to our players to agree with any of this.

Welshmushroom wrote:Games come to life here.....ill be honest though that clear out should have been a red all day long.  The fact he didnt land on his head and made shoulder contact first shouldnt matter.  Someone can get seriously injured doing that stuff.

Very lucky to get a yellow in my book.

Both teams score so Munster back in front.  Interestingly the ref pings Cardiff for a few offisides.  I'll be honest there is some irony in that.

We seen similar in a previous World Cup and both Italians received Red for it. This was a good game, Cardiff arguably should have won but again, they created many chances they couldn’t finish. Munster don’t look like a top 4 team so they must be smiling. You can see Cardiff have potential, thought Mann and Seb Davies were mostly anonymous though. When Cardiff have players back and they actually put their flankers from second row to back row, I don’t see how Mann makes the team, too average.

Welshmushroom wrote:Scarlets got pumped by the looks of things.....at home as well.  

Glad i watched Cardiff instead of Scarlets.  Was a good game between them and munster tonight.

I tried watching both, but the Scarlets game appeared to be unwatchable. I know Glasgow are good but that score is something else. What are they doing about it? They’re moving about the board members into different roles, so now they can be crap at another job. They’re also giving Peel another 3 years, for me he had to go, he’s mostly responsible for making the Scarlets absolutely abysmal. Scarlets haven’t been short of good players in the time Peel has been there, that goes to show how important it is to bring in good coaches. New head coach, defence coach and scrum coach desperately required but not incoming.

To be fair to Peel he didn't put that squad together. They need a total rebuild and without going to overseas players there are no viable Welsh options ready for the jump up to this level.

They are bringing a DOR above him but that seems a bit counter intuitive. If you wanted him to only coach that is what he should have been hired as. Now you are bringing in another guy on another big wage and it won't actually improve the playing squad.

One of my biggest gripes in Welsh rugby has been that we bring in these guys to run the rugby & signings before they actually have gained experience. In order for players to be developed you need proven Managers with track records. It happens all the time. Flanagan, Peel and the countless guys before them.

At least Ospreys had the sense to bring a seasoned vet in with Tobi Booth. His experience is showing. You can see it with his signings and how he has built his squad. He's maybe not the greatest coach but he knows how to put a team together and how improve players.

I'd love to have someone like Baxter at the Dragons. I reckon he has to be probably the best coach in Ireland & UK in terms of building teams, developing players and getting results.

mikey_dragon wrote:

Welshmushroom wrote:Games come to life here.....ill be honest though that clear out should have been a red all day long.  The fact he didnt land on his head and made shoulder contact first shouldnt matter.  Someone can get seriously injured doing that stuff.

Very lucky to get a yellow in my book.

Both teams score so Munster back in front.  Interestingly the ref pings Cardiff for a few offisides.  I'll be honest there is some irony in that.

We seen similar in a previous World Cup and both Italians received Red for it. This was a good game, Cardiff arguably should have won but again, they created many chances they couldn’t finish. Munster don’t look like a top 4 team so they must be smiling. You can see Cardiff have potential, thought Mann and Seb Davies were mostly anonymous though. When Cardiff have players back and they actually put their flankers from second row to back row, I don’t see how Mann makes the team, too average.

I thought Mann looked quite good. Cardiff back row were miles better on the night than Munster. Agree with Seb though.

Munster in my eyes can probably only eek another season or two out of some of those players so at some point they will drop off purely as they will need to develop some players.

Welshmushroom wrote:To be fair to Peel he didn't put that squad together.  They need a total rebuild and without going to overseas players there are no viable Welsh options ready for the jump up to this level.

They are bringing a DOR above him but that seems a bit counter intuitive.  If you wanted him to only coach that is what he should have been hired as.  Now you are bringing in another guy on another big wage and it won't actually improve the playing squad.

One of my biggest gripes in Welsh rugby has been that we bring in these guys to run the rugby & signings before they actually have gained experience.  In order for players to be developed you need proven Managers with track records.  It happens all the time.  Flanagan, Peel and the countless guys before them.

At least Ospreys had the sense to bring a seasoned vet in with Tobi Booth.  His experience is showing.  You can see it with his signings and how he has built his squad.  He's maybe not the greatest coach but he knows how to put a team together and how improve players.

I'd love to have someone like Baxter at the Dragons.  I reckon he has to be probably the best coach in Ireland & UK in terms of building teams, developing players and getting results.  

I doubt Peel can put a squad together. The post match interviews are just him repeating the same thing over and over again. It’s as bad as his coaching, where he is leading the same thing over and over again yet expecting a different result. You can see the players don’t want to be there as well. I believe Scarlets are doing somewhat of a rebuild with the SH front 5 signings, plus they got good young centres and a certain Ioan Lloyd. Their Welsh players continue to regress badly, Mathias for example. A good coach could help turn it around. A former player is also the scrum coach, he needed the sack at the beginning of the season.

Agree on Baxter, seems like a fantastic coach. Regions don’t do well on signing coaches, they never have done. Got to face facts, there’s barely any good Welsh coaches around. You can’t go far wrong with a Kiwi or Saffa coach, plenty of them around.

I reckon Scarlets new DOR could be Dan McFarland, he must be mates with someone in Llanelli .

Just done a quick probabilities check on who will make the top 8.

I reckon Bulls, Leinster, Munster, Glasgow, Stormers are near certainties
I reckon Cardiff, Sharks, Dragons, Scarlets, Zebre are out of it

Of the other six, in contention for 3 places (could be 2 if a URC team win the Challenge Cup and don't finish in the top 7)
I reckon Ospreys and Connacht have the hardest run ins and will probably fail

Of the others I think what will be key is what squads Leinster, Munster and Glasgow send to South Africa.
They all play away to the Lions - if one or two of the opponents are weak I reckon the Lions will make it, if they go fully loaded I think Lions will miss out.
It the Lions do well it will probably come down to the only two games between teams in this group
Ulster at home to Benetton
Benetton at home to Edinburgh

geoff999rugby wrote:Just done a quick probabilities check on who will make the top 8.

I reckon Bulls, Leinster, Munster, Glasgow, Stormers are near certainties
I reckon Cardiff, Sharks, Dragons, Scarlets, Zebre are out of it

Id say those are all fairly certain at this point.

Of the 3 left there are some things to note - I think Munster and Leinster will take weaker squads to SA in the next 2 rounds. Prior to the Ospreys game, Lions looked really good. At home I expect them to do a job. They have 4 out of 5 games at home so I think that puts them in the pole position for one of those spots.

Treviso are probably the only team that might still make it with 2 wins given they have a 2-3 point advantage on the other teams 35/34 points. They have Dragons at home next followed by Ulster away. As you point out they probably need to win that Edinburgh game at home in the last round though. I expect them to get 5 points against the dragons and if they did win in Ravenhill that would end Ulsters chances I reckon. Ulster I think will need to win that game.

Think the third spot will be a dog fight. Ulster will need to win all 3 of Cardiff, Treviso & Scarlets. I'd say Scarlets game is in the bag but the other 2 could cause a problem for them. Connacht have Zebre & Dragons next up so I reckon that is 2 wins for sure. But a third win from Munster, Stormers & Leinster is hard to see. Edinburgh do have Scarlets and Zebre at home so those will likely be big wins. They also for me look like they have the better fixtures out of the other 2. Cardiff (A) Munster (H) and Treviso (A).
I'd say based on the above the third side will probably be Edinburgh but they really haven't been great the last few weeks so no doubt will put their fans through the mill.

Ospreys I think have a really bad 3 games away so I reckon that's them done for a top 8 spot.

But if I'm right and Connacht and Ulster don't make the top 8, it might be the first time we have seen a season were only 2 Irish sides make the top 8. I'll be honest I didn't see that coming.....