Round up of RaboDirect Pro12 Round 1

Benetton Treviso 12 Ospreys 6

Italian storms battered the Stadio Monigo and destroyed the Osprey’s hopes of a winning start to their campaign to retain the Championship. The Ospreys fielded a strong team with an experienced spine but there was a lack of precision about them, as if they were unable to absorb the physicality their opponents brought to the game. Indeed this defeat had a sense of déjà vu about it, once again the Ospreys found a way to secure defeat out of the jaws of victory. Sure, the disappointing dismissal of Ian Evans had an influence on the game. But, the Ospreys butchered three golden opportunities to score a try, and missed three kicks at goal. Add to that Treviso played for twenty minutes of the match down to fourteen men themselves and the Ospreys have only themselves to blame.

Of greater concern than the loss Tandy and his staff must have been disappointed by the lack of potency of the scrum and the distressing number of turnovers spilled by the team. Biggar did his best to galvanise the players around him, Beck threatened but could not quite break free and Dirksen had few opportunities. All in all a disappointing trip to Northern Italy for the champions and a big boost to Treviso, who mastered the conditions and the Ospreys pack.

Newport Gwent Dragons 37 Zebre 6

This was just the positive start the Dragons could have wished for as the newcomers to the Rabo, Zebre, were put to the sword in a swashbuckling first half display. Dan Evans made the type of debut a player dream of, scoring two tries and playing with ease and accuracy. Tom Prydie also played well showing himself to be a great threat in open play and kicking his goals. By halftime with four tries scored and playing with real confidence the job was done. What was disappointing the Dragons with the Zebre at their mercy could only score three more points in the second half. There will be greater challenges ahead but Dragons can be very happy with their first game. For the Zebre it looks like it will be a long hard season.

Ulster 18 Glasgow Warriors 10

Glasgow brought their tough uncompromising game to Ravenhill and stood up to the Ulster onslaught very well displaying real courage and tenacity. For long periods of the game there was very little to choose between the sides as Glasgow coped well with smothering the Ulster attacks. But, Ulster knows how to win close games and when an opportunity presents itself they generally take it. So when Glasgow went down to fourteen men they struck twice, quickly built a 15 to 3 lead and it was too far for Glasgow to come back. Particularly potent for the Ulstermen were their wingers Gilroy and Allen the try scorers. Both sides will take something from the game and will move onto next week with some confidence.

Edinburgh 18 Munster 23

Visser, last season’s top try scorer in the Rabo showed with a superb hat-trick of tries that he going to be just as deadly this season but despite his efforts Edinburgh still lost an exciting game. Munster scored two well worked tries themselves by Keatley and O’Dea and kept a characteristically tight hold on the game. As a declaration of intent by the Red Machine this was a very positive start.

Scarlets 45 Leinster 20

A superb and well deserved victory for the Scarlets borne out a desire to play fast attacking rugby that left a young and depleted Leinster side well beaten. Seven tries tells its own story. For the Scarlets George North was at times completely unplayable, scored two tries and cut the Leinster defence on several other occasions. The new second row pairing of Earle and Kelly provided real impetus up front and Aled Thomas controlled the game’s tempo very well.

Connacht 9 Cardiff Blues 13

This is the type of victory that can set the tone for a season and facing similar conditions to the Ospreys the Blues played them much more astutely and deservedly took their reward.

Cardiff used the wind and rain well in the first half to turnaround 13 points to the good. Their try was scored by the excellent teenage scrum half Jones and Sweeney kicked the goals. But, in the second half Connacht failed to follow Cardiff’s example and wasted several chances through a combination of poor handling and lack of accuracy. In particular Cardiff displayed an excellent reading of the Connacht line-out and pinched several crucial throws.

A solid 4 points for Cardiff and they can look forward to next week’s game against Edinburgh with some optimism.

Talking points

Discipline was supposed to be the watchword of so many of the teams, do not give away silly penalties, yellow cards to be strenuously avoided and work with the referee not upset him. From the first round of matches it is easy to conclude that several players only pay lip service to this. Ian Evans being ignominiously sent off was crucial to his team and was made worse by Tandy and AWJ pre-game assertions that they were determined to be more disciplined. Referees across the piece have been given the remit for zero tolerance and to keep the game flowing. What teams want is consistency and the Ospreys and Glasgow now realise that errors of judgement could be very costly indeed. On the other hand consistency was not so easy to spot in Galway, where the penalty count was 13 to 4 in the second half in Connacht’s favour, yet Cardiff did not lose a man.

The new rules at the scrum seemed to lead to more controlled confrontation, sped up the process and there were significantly less collapses. On the other hand all matches were marred by the referees once again ignoring the “Not straight” rule. This leads to frustration from the crowd and to a lesser extent from the players that have been forced to phlegmatically accept that there is not an even contest for the ball.

Performance of the Weekend   

There are several contenders for this accolade;

• Munster’s victory at Murrayfield, away wins are always crucial
• Cardiff’s defensive heroics, in the appalling weather of Galway
• Scarlet’s comprehensive drubbing of Leinster
• Treviso’s unexpected win over the champions

The team who performed well above expectations though to record a famous win and winner of the performance of the week is: Cardiff Blues.

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As regards my own predictions I managed to get 4/6 correct. Not as good as I would have liked but the Ospreys let me down and the Blues played with far more determination than last season.