Jack Conan’s top-notch performance in Leinster’s impressive 47-14 defeat of the Bulls likely brought him a sense of personal triumph, on top of the pride he must have felt from playing a key part in the team’s victory. What will certainly have gratified Leo Cullen and the other coaches is Conan seizing his chance as the starting number eight, showcasing his impressive carrying skills with a standout try and demonstrating excellent work rate and successful contact work.
31-year-old Conan smoothly took over from Max Deegan, who had performed excellently the previous week in the victory at Zebre. This exemplifies a perfect situation for the coaching group; players rising to the challenge and stepping up to replace their colleagues. This had also been clearly demonstrated by Josh van der Flier, who replaced Scott Penny after the latter’s excellent performance in Italy.
In the past two weeks, Rob Russell has also risen to the occasion. Despite some rough edges in his tackling, Russell has added to the team an array of impressive tries, an ability to outmanoeuvre defenders and efficient offloads. Liam Turner, Michael Milne, Jordan Larmour, and Jamie Osborne have also contributed effectively to the team’s success, creating a tough choice for the coaches during team selection.
This weekend, the four provinces will be playing in Europe, with Leinster and Munster participating in the Champions Cup and Connacht and Ulster in the Challenge Cup.
Leo Cullen’s team will face the Leicester Tigers at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday night (8 p.m). The Tigers, coming from a less than impressive 19-13 victory over the Newcastle Falcons, will be stepping into the game with something to prove. Meanwhile, Munster will travel to Franklin’s Gardens on Sunday to go up against Northampton Saints, a team that defeated them earlier in the pool stage. Northampton Saints gained momentum by defeating the in-form Saracens 40-31, with the earlier man of the match against the Irish province in Limerick, Fin Smith, once again proving decisive.
In the forthcoming Sunday’s matches, both Ulster and Connacht are slated for play. Recently returned from South Africa after suffering tight losses to the Sharks and the Stormers in the URC, Richie Murphy’s team is now preparing to face Montpellier at the GGL Stadium (12.30pm, IST). On the same day, Connacht will be playing against Pau at Stade de Hameau (5.30pm). The French team had recently delivered an impressive performance in Toulouse, despite a close defeat with a score of 31-29.
In related news, the home team’s usual scrumhalf, Antoine Dupont, had an unusual start as an outhalf but ended the match playing his conventional role, with Romain Ntamack successfully recuperating from his knee injury.
A noteworthy moment in Leinster’s URC victory against the Bulls saw referee Craig Evans forced to leave with a sprain only 40 seconds left on the clock. His replacement was Chris Busby.
Munster’s win over Cardiff, though narrow at 20-15, left head coach Graham Rowntree relieved. He admitted that although they were off their game, ultimately they found a way to triumph.
Also on the rugby scene, Bath is likely to file an official complaint with the English RFU and Premiership Rugby. This comes after a refereeing mistake resulted in a 40-36 loss to Harlequins. The visitors staged an impressive comeback, earning two losing bonus points, but were met with an apparent penalty mishap.
Reports suggest that Harlequins’ Irné Herbst received a yellow card 63.62 minutes into the match but came back 71.52 minutes in, leaving approximately three minutes of penalty time unfulfilled. He was promptly involved in the game, making a tackle and clearing out a ruck within six seconds of returning.
Johann van Graan, the coach for Bath, raised concerns with the referee following a recent game, expressing his dissatisfaction with the handling of a yellow card situation. As per his statements in the press, he feels the player was let off with a seven-minute penalty instead of the standard 10-minute one. He was unaware of any discrepancies during the game, but later alerted the team manager and fourth official.
This is not the first incident in recent weeks where match officials have been accused of errors. Austin Healy, a commentator for TNT, voiced his observation that Stephen Lewies, Harlequins’ captain, seemed to perform a knee slide into Saracens’ captain, Owen Farrell.
During the live telecast, the television match official (TMO) Stuart Terheege was caught expressing his reluctance to bring this to light, as it appeared as if Austin Healy had prompted it due to the timing.
The Rugby Football Union (RFU) of England admitted that such an incident was unfortunate and conceded that Terheege was regretful over allowing himself to be influenced by the correspondence with the broadcast team, thus failing to share his decision with the match officials on the field.