Leinster Rugby vs Dragons
URC Round 14
RDS Arena, Dublin
Saturday, 18th February 2023, 19:35

TV: Live: Premier Sports/RTE

Three weeks can be a long time in rugby!

Back when we were looking forward to Leinster's game against Cardiff, there was actually a bit of a feelgood vibe around Welsh rugby. Their messiah Warren Gatland was back and their normally lousy regional teams had an upturn in form. Sure things were a mess off the field with some horrendous workplace misconduct allegations against the WRU blazers and the contract situation with the players. But if Gatty could work his magic and distract the public with some wins then, who knows, maybe the "good old boys" on the committee could get away with their chronic incompetence yet again?

Two heavy defeats to Ireland and Scotland later, Welsh rugby finds itself in its most desperate state in history. Even Gatland is struggling to get a tune out of a squad of aging legends, a few promising youngsters and a whole heap of mediocrities. Worse, the WRU's hardline approach to contracts ("Take the pay-cut or leave!") has led to a strike threat by the Welsh players which threatens the England - Wales fixture next weekend. Most of the Welsh players don't know if they'll even have a job come July and in a World Cup year, that's pretty remarkable. You can't really blame the Welsh players for their pitiful performances in the opening two rounds of the Six Nations with this hanging over them. Welsh rugby has been poorly run for years at boardroom level and it's all finally coming home to roost. It's going to get a lot uglier before it gets better.

Of course the poor morale has extended to the regions as well. Three weeks ago, Leinster named a very callow side against a Cadiff side full of internationals. Cardiff should have been favourites or at least they should have made it a close match. But Cardiff put in a limp effort in a 38-14 hammering with two late Cardiff tries putting a slightly more favourable gloss on the scoreline. You have to wonder if the Dragons will produce anything better tomorrow evening. The Dragons certainly had an interesting start to the season when their Director of Rugby Dean Ryan slated the players after they meekly went down 44-6 to Edinburgh in the opening game. Then rumours abounded that Ryan had been sacked and he wasn't present when Dragons beat Munster in their next game, undoubtedly their highlight of their season. A statement about Ryan's departure was surely to follow and it did...four months later! In January, the Dragons issued a terse statement that Ryan was finally gone, but this farce highlighted the level of dysfunction in Welsh rugby governance.

Since then the Dragons have struggled in the league as usual, currently lying second from bottom in the table. At least they qualified for the knock-out stages of the Challenge Cup where they will face Glasgow away. Their coach Dai Flanagan has made five changes to the team that lost at home to Glasgow three weeks ago. Ross Moriarty and Ben Fry come into the pack and Angus O'Brien, Steff Hughes and Will Reed come into the backline.

In stark contrast to the Welsh, Irish rugby is on top of the world at the moment, literally! A comfortable opening win in Cardiff was followed by a fantastic victory over France, their first since 2019. Ireland took on the French big men and wore them out with a combination of physicality, pace and skill. France didn't play badly and superstars like Dupont and Penaud were awesome, but Ireland still outscored them four tries to one. Even more remarkable was that the talk in the pubs around the ground afterwards was about the four or five other great try chances Ireland missed. They really should have put fifty points at least on the board. But it's probably not a bad thing to have work-ons to keep the team focused as nothing is won yet. Unfortunately the last two weeks has seen a lengthening injury list and the superb Tadhg Beirne has unfortunately been added to it this week. However it also means the players on the fringes of the squad will be hungry to remind Andy Farrell of their abilities on this rest weekend for the tournament in case a chance to play presents itself.

Five players, Jordan Larmour, Jimmy O'Brien, Jamie Osborne, Joe McCarthy and Michael Milne were released from the Ireland squad to play this weekend and they all come into the match-day squad except for McCarthy. O'Brien and Larmour come into the back three alongside Dave Kearney and Osbourne is back at inside centre with Liam Turner (who was impressive again versus Cardiff) retained at outside centre. Harry Byrne and Luke McGrath are again the halfback pairing. Milne is named again in an unchanged starting pack. The bench selection is more interesting with Jason Jenkins fit enough to be named there. Loosehead prop Jack Boyle is also finally fit to make his senior debut off the bench after a superb campaign for the Ireland under-20s last season.

It's hard to see anything but a very comfortable win for Leinster tomorrow evening.

by Jim O'Connor, © 2023-02-18