URC 24/25 Round 3

Round 3 this weekend

Friday 4th October 2024

Scarlets v Connacht
Parc Y Scarlets, Llanelli – KO 19.35 IRE & UK / 20.35 ITA & SA
Live on: BBC Wales, TG4, Premier Sports, SuperSport, Flo Rugby & URC.tv

Cardiff Rugby v Glasgow Warriors
Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff – KO 19.35 IRE & UK / 20.35 ITA & SA
Live on: Premier Sports, SuperSport, Flo Rugby & URC.tv




Saturday 5th October 2024

Emirates Lions v Edinburgh Rugby
Emirates Airline Park, Johannesburg – KO 12.45 IRE & UK / 13.45 ITA & SA
Live on: SuperSport, Premier Sports, Flo Rugby & URC.tv

Vodacom Bulls v Ulster
Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria – KO 15.00 IRE & UK / 16.00 ITA & SA
Live on: SuperSport, Premier Sports, Flo Rugby & URC.tv

Benetton v Leinster
Stadio Monigo, Treviso – KO 17.15 IRE & UK / 18.15 ITA & SA
Live on: Sky Italia, RTÉ, Premier Sports, SuperSport, Flo Rugby & URC.tv

Dragons RFC v Hollywoodbets Sharks
Rodney Parade, Newport – KO 17.15 IRE & UK / 18.15 ITA & SA
Live on: S4C, SuperSport, Premier Sports, Flo Rugby & URC.tv

Munster v Ospreys
Virgin Media Park, Cork – KO 19.35 IRE & UK / 20.35 ITA & SA
Live on: RTÉ, S4C, Premier Sports, SuperSport, Flo Rugby & URC.tv

Zebre Parma v DHL Stormers
Stadio Lanfranchi, Parma – KO 19.35 IRE & UK / 20.35 ITA & SA
Live on: Sky Italia, SuperSport, Premier Sports, Flo Rugby & URC.tv

Some big fixtures this weekend. Cardiff vs Glasgow should be a real test and should show us if Cardiff are actually good or not.

Scarlets have a big weekend. They really need to beat Connacht or their season could really end badly. Block 1 looks like their best set of fixtures and Block 2 & 3 look challenging. Without some wins on the board by the end of R6 and top 8 might be all but out of reach.

Munster vs Ospreys as well not given last weeks results. Munster need to bounce back. Ospreys have a bit of confidence as well. This one could be a cracker.

Zebre vs Stormers is now a hell of a lot more interesting as well. Stormers need to start posting some wins but I can't wait to see if Zebre can back up last weeks performance. Should show us if last weeks win was because Munster were really poor or if in fact Zebre are getting better.

Cardiff has managed two fairly close bonus point wins against Zebre (which looks better in hindsight) and Scarlets. Glasgow is a clear couple of steps above those two sides and the quality of Glasgow's tight five (starting and off the bench) should put Cardiff on the backfoot. I expect Glasgow to win but Cardiff has an impressive backline and would not be surprised if it is close.

Edinburgh are continuing the what-if's of the last 15 years. Two close but ultimately poor defeats to weakened Leinster and Bulls sides. This could go any which way against the Lions and I suspect it will be a kick in the teeth loss for Edinburgh one way or another.

Outside of the Scottish teams, Benetton vs Leinster is the one that I am interested in. Benetton have struggled to start the season after being a relevation last year. The loss to Glasgow can be put down to discipline but a draw to Scarlets at home was not good enough for a team aiming for the top half. A loss with no bonus points would be a painful start to come back from.

The Welsh sides look like they're up for as scrap this season which pleases me no end (apart from against Ulster please). We need all the sides to have a bit of dog in them, we all every club confident of beating the annual top of the table usual suspects. It's going to be a cracking season.
URC = the best league

For drama the URC is going from strength to strength. The days of having easy rounds have gone. Probably the best thing they did was to reduce the games. It's helped no end to really make every round critical.

Reckon to make the top 8 will probably need 10 wins so you probably need all 9 home games with an away win. Top 4 probably will need to win at least 13.

To be fair though that might all change if the bottom sides from last year actually do start to win a few more games.

Welshmushroom wrote:For drama the URC is going from strength to strength.  The days of having easy rounds have gone.  Probably the best thing they did was to reduce the games.  It's helped no end to really make every round critical.  

Reckon to make the top 8 will probably need 10 wins so you probably need all 9 home games with an away win.  Top 4 probably will need to win at least 13.  

To be fair though that might all change if the bottom sides from last year actually do start to win a few more games.

Exactly, the Leinsters of this world can no longer go into games with a 2nd string squad and still be confident of a win. Even they are going to have to reset for the stronger opposition. The Saffers have steadied their respective ships and are all going to take everything you have to get point from playing them. The playoff spots aren't anywhere nearly as predictable as they have been thus far. It all bodes well and I can understand why the English wanted to join in. Thankfully the Italians and Saffers are much more valuable to the URC than the English.

Welshmushroom wrote:For drama the URC is going from strength to strength.  The days of having easy rounds have gone.  Probably the best thing they did was to reduce the games.  It's helped no end to really make every round critical.  

Reckon to make the top 8 will probably need 10 wins so you probably need all 9 home games with an away win.  Top 4 probably will need to win at least 13.  

To be fair though that might all change if the bottom sides from last year actually do start to win a few more games.

The only concern so far is we got really, really poor attendances last week and will probably continue the same this round. The league still has loads of work to do on that regard despite the improvements since URC 1.

Attendances could be better. I do think the teams in it though have different challenges in that regard.

South Africa teams have the old Edinburgh problem which is the stadiums are to big for the standard league games. On the plus side though they do tend to fill them in the knock outs.

I think the Welsh Regions have a pricing issue personally. I dont think the ticket prices given the lack of success those teams are offering is the right way to go. They need to artificially create demand and a good way to do this is finding better price points. Once they are packing out smaller stadiums they can work on increasing their capacities by a couple of '000 every year until growth stops again. There probably are a lot of teams in the league that could do this too.

It is still a issue for the URC though as you said and one of the things that must be a work on.

I do wish team lineups would be released before 12 on Fridays. Would it kill them to release team sheets on Thursday lunchtime? It's not like they cant make any last minute replacements even if late injuries occur. I know the Friday fixtures release team sheets today but why can't all the team sheets be released today. I would change that. Personally I would have teams be announced on Wednesdays . Gives more time for a bit of pre match analysis and Podcasts etc. Dont think a change like this would kill the clubs.

Leinster aren’t taking any risks with Benetton, it doesn’t look good for them given their form.

If Cardiff could tackle, they would be a properly dangerous team. Sheedy will be having nightmares about big Glasgow carriers coming down his channel.

A very entertaining game though!

Great game to watch, but some of their defending was embarrassing. You can’t blame the defence coach for that when they miss 1on1s, and when other attempts are tackling air. Aled Davies and Sheedy were particularly bad so it’s no wonder they were hooked at half time. Cardiff’s’ new forwards coach looks to have made a difference though.

Quite enjoyed the Scarlets v Connacht game. Connacht good for their lead. Looked ominous for Scarlets early on when they went 0-7 behind, then Connacht had a try disallowed, then Connacht scored to make it 14-0. An absolute howler by Ioan Nicholas leading to the one Connacht try. Embarrassing. But Scarlets came back well and their 2nd try was a thing of beauty. Could have gone either way in the end. But Scarlets now 0 wins from 3. Gonna be a tough season if they can’t get a bit of luck going their way.

BigGee wrote:If Cardiff could tackle, they would be a properly dangerous team. Sheedy will be having nightmares about big Glasgow carriers coming down his channel.

A very entertaining game though!

Just think; Big Shona Vailanu, Henco Venter, Lord Stafford Of McDowall and Ragnar The Pretty all sat this one out. Imagine they has been running at Sheedy

I watched the last 20 or so of Scarlets. Was pretty disappointing. I always felt Connacht were going to win it, even when Scarlets took the lead.

Leon Brown ruled out for Dragons, with illness. Coleman starts and Yendle comes on to the bench. If you like watching scrums in reverse, I’d recommend watching Coleman.

Impressed with Lewis-Hughes again. I thought he was meh when Pivac picked him, and he struggled with injuries for a while with Cardiff, but certainly looking better now.

Dragons playing well.....3 tries already. Backrow are all having great games...

lovely sharks try though keeps them in it....that Julios looks a very dangerous player

Well Coleman has been pretty solid and scored, so fair play.

We have scored some nice tries. Both tries doing pretty well from their 22 visits. Sharks probably more so, despite trailing.

Rhodri has had a good half too.

Some of our running lines have looked really good. Confidence seems to be undented after last week. If they can keep playing like this then we will give plenty of teams a good game at home...

I still think Jones at loosehead isnt great...... But given we have 2 really good ball carrying backrows to come back as well so that area should get stronger as well given it will give us a good bench option as well.

Our opening 6 rounds will be really important for us as the other 2 blocks will be much harder for us fixture wise. If we could get 4 -5 wins that would be amazing given last year

Wilson hasn’t been great twice defensively. Seeing as Westwood had some stick, it’s only fair to give him some too.

Hope Gus is okay.

tight game now - come on dragons keep going

If Lewis-Hughes isnt man of the match im not sure who is....

Well I cant be to upset with that - it is gutting but they defended with everything they had......

They could have done better at some points but if we play with that heart we will do better than we did last year...

We kept giving them opportunities. It’s like last season where we were just trying to defend a lead, rather than trying to win. The attempts at goal when we should have been going for the corner sum that up. The forwards can’t be too happy with Owen either.

We missed a lot of conversions and pens - had we got those this game would have been over so that probably was a big part of Sharks coming back into this.

Lloyd isnt great off the tee at the minute.....

I think O'Brien going off made a big difference too as he was giving us a lot of distance on the clearances....Reed coming on there didnt help us.

You're not wrong with your comments but I can live with it as they will learn from those sort of things. I'm way more positive with today than I was with any game we lost last year.

Watkins showing again why he should be nowhere near the wales squad....horrible error that has but Munster up 5 in the opening minute.

Looks like a 15-20 point wind in Munster - if Ospreys can keep them under 15 this 40 they will have a chance i think

Welshmushroom wrote:Watkins showing again why he should be nowhere near the wales squad....horrible error that has but Munster up 5 in the opening minute.

He’s got a cult following for some bizarre reason. He looks pub level going forward, never seen a pro centre that limited. When people big up his ‘amazing defence’ they use a tap tackle on Hogg from 4 years ago. If you dine out on a mere tap tackle for that long then you know it’s bad.

Not too gutted by Dragons result, given we were a bit fortuitous to beat Ospreys.

But the kicks are a few bad misses. Great character to not lose our heads when we lost the lead. I think Dai played his bench as well as he could, given he didn’t play Joe Davies and didn’t sub Coghlan. Didn’t help losing Gus. Westwood coming on for Wilson was fair. The only one you could maybe question is Woodman on for Lydiate, as I felt we would be a bit underpowered then.

But we did play some nice stuff for once in the backline and we didn’t blow any chances from ball in hand, compared to last week.

Thought the atmosphere came across well tonight too.

Yeah I actually think it wouldnt take massive amount of additions to make us competitive. I will say im glad some of the youngsters are getting chances.

Woodman needs a season or 2 in the gym and gain some strength. Right now he doesnt look like he can bench press a packet of crisps....

Not much. A decent ten who could kick goals. I can’t fault the tight five really, but you could see the power game more from our opposition.

We look good ball in hand, with Gus and the new ten switching. I would let Gus kick goals when they’re playing too.

We’re certainly a step up on last season. Woodman is overhyped by our lot, he doesn’t do enough carrying or breakdown work and it’s got to the point where an old Lydiate is better. I think Lewis-Hughes and Basham on that form are heading for an international recall. Regardless of whether or not they get picked, perhaps neither is saying much as Gatland hasn’t got a clue. They’re certainly far better than Mann and Botham. Perhaps Reffell can have a break whilst we explore other options.