Connacht kept up their 100% record with a sensational victory in their derby against Leinster. Kieran Marmion’s outstanding try proved to be the vital score. Munster got their first home win of the season against a poor Zebre team. Ulster also had an easy win away from home against Cardiff Blues.
Irish Provinces Review after Week 3 of Guinness Pro 12
Connacht & Leinster
The good times keep rolling for Connacht after their one point win against Leinster on Friday night at the Sportsground. Pat Lam’s side are now sitting second in the table, one point behind Glasgow.
Kieran Marmion’s s effort is an early contender for try of the season and it helped his side to a deserved victory. Marmion, along with Nathan White and Dave McSharry were outstanding for the home side.
More tough games are on the way for Connacht and next up is a daunting away trip to Glasgow Warriors. Connacht will be confident of getting a result at Scotstoun, but they will need to be at their very best to even get a losing bonus point against an in form Glasgow.
This loss will be a tough one to take for Leinster. They bossed the game for large periods but could not manage to score in the second half. Even more of a worry for Matt O’Connor, is the ease with which Connacht demolished a very experienced Leinster scrum.
Leinster’s next match is at home to Cardiff Blues on Friday night and Matt O’Connor will be looking for a rapid response from his team. He should get just that, and expect a bonus point victory for Leinster.
Ulster:
Tries from Dan Tuohy and Ian Humphreys helped Ulster to an easier than expected win against Cardiff Blues. Paddy Jackson also made his first appearance of the season and Ulster fans will be delighted to see him back.
The major positive Ulster will take from this game was the marked improvement in defence, against Zebre last week they were lazy at times and the Italian outfit got a couple of soft tries. There was absolutely no sign of this against Cardiff, and this will encourage the Ulster coaches looking forward to the rest of the season.
It is very strange to see Ulster and Zebre facing off for the second time in three weeks and the Pro 12 fixtures committee should be questioned for allowing this to happen.
One sour note for Ulster will be the news that second row Dan Tuohy broke his arm during the game. He now faces another operation on the same arm he broke against Wales in the Six Nations. Touhy has had an excellent start to the season and is expected to be out for at least 12 weeks.
Munster:
Munster got their first home victory of the season against a very poor Zebre side. Three tries from Simon Zebo and once each for Andrew Smith and Dave Kilcoyne gave Anthony Foley’s side a 31-7 win.
Munster’s backline was impressive on Friday with Andrew Smith and JJ Hanrahan especially in superb form. Hanrahan didn’t put a foot wrong after replacing debutant Johnny Holland and will be hoping to start against the Ospreys this weekend.
The Ospreys game will show where Munster are at this early stage of the season. They still have plenty of players to return but the shape of the team was better than the previous two games and Conor Murray had a lot to do with that. Murray is an outstanding player and Munster need him at his best this season.
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