By Jonathan Bowen
The Munster women’s rugby team retained its Irish Interpro title over the weekend with a big 50-24 win in the final game of the season against Connacht at the Galway Sportsgrounds. In a dominant performance, the Munster team obviously did the hard worked needed in the training paddock and in the video room during the week as you could see the lift in performance from the game against Leinster the week before.
Deirbhile Nic a Bháird was named player of match but to me the player of the match and arguably Munster’s player of the series must be Dorothy Wall. Her tireless work rate and the number of carries and line breaks she made during the tournament contributed a lot towards the team defending the title. She certainly is a star of the future for Irish rugby.
Now that the Interpro series is over for another year, all eyes turn to the new Celtic Challenge Tournament where Ireland will be submitting a combined XV provincial team to play a Wales Development and a Scottish Combined side, The Thistles, in a home and away series. The tournament kicked off over the weekend with the WRU Development side defeating The Thistles 29-27.
The Combined Provinces XV will be playing its first game this weekend against the WRU development side at the Cardiff Arms Park on Sunday. The IRFU named the squad to compete in the competition earlier this week and with eight players from Munster’s successful Interpro team being named in the squad it will be interesting to see how this new competition is embraced by the rugby community and fans alike.
The men’s Munster rugby team’s revival continued over the weekend with a tough 20-16 loss in their final European Champions game to Toulouse in France. It was a game Munster came so close to winning and if a few questionable referee calls had gone the other way which included a very questionable tackle by Ritchie Arnold on Joey Carbery, Munster could have collected a valuable win in France. The disappointment of the result will hurt even more as it was John Ryan’s last game for Munster before he heads to New Zealand to take up his new role with the Super Rugby club the Chiefs. John put in a huge amount of work during the game, the highlight being when the Munster scrum started to dominate the usually unbreakable Toulouse scrum. The loss meant Munster will need to travel to Durban in South Africa to face the Sharks in their Round of 16 game.
Leinster continued their dominance of the European Champions Cup with a 36-10 win against Racing at home in Dublin. There is a belief growing with Leinster fans that it is now or never for this squad’s hopes of collecting a fifth European Cup star. With the European Champions Cup final being held at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Leinster will fancy their chances going one better than they did last year.
Apologies to Ulster supporters, in my article last week I mentioned that after losing to La Rochelle Ulster could not qualify for a place in the Round of 16. My mathematical calculations were incorrect. After a great 22-11 win over Sale at home to break their recent losing streak, Ulster’s win has earned them a spot in the knockout phase of the competition where they will face Leinster at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
Connacht’s recent run of good form in the European Challenge Cup came to an end with a 35-21 defeat to the Newcastle Falcons. The result will come as a disappointment to Connacht fans who were optimistic their team would earn a home game in the knockout phase. Connacht will now travel to Italy where they will face Benetton for a place in the quarterfinals.
In Munster player news, it was amazing to see RG Synman back on the training paddock last week with Munster. RG has suffered horrendous fortunes since joining Munster back in 2020. He has suffered two knee injuries that required knee reconstructions which has basically seen him in rehab most of his tenure with Munster. Here’s hoping that his long road to recovery see him back playing for Munster sooner than later and he can deliver the performances that saw him lift the Rugby World Cup for South Africa back in 2019.
The Rugby Sevens tour stopped last weekend in Hamilton, New Zealand. The standout performances of the tournament were the USA Women’s sides collecting a silver medal followed closely behind by the USA Men’s side who collected the bronze medal. After the disappointment of the USA Eagles not qualifying for the Men’s Rugby World Cup in France later this year, it was great to see that the grassroots work being done in the college and club systems across America is starting to bear fruit. Ilona Maher was back in the USA Women’s 7s team and what a difference she makes to it. If only she was available to play for the USA Women’s XV side at the World Cup last year in New Zealand. Ilona very well could have been the difference in the USA losing or beating Canada in that quarterfinal match.
The Irish Men’s and Women’s teams did themselves proud in touranment with the men’s team finishing in sixth place and the women’s team finishing in fourth. The IRFU and Irish rugby supporters should be so proud of its sevens team. They are preforming amazingly on the tour considering both teams were not even represented in the competition a few years ago. The progress being made in developing rugby players through their exposure on the 7s circuit is massive with players such as Robert Baloucoune and Tadgh Beirne coming through the Irish 7s program and going onto play test match rugby for Ireland.
In the final of the Men’s 7s competition Argentina defeated New Zealand and, in the Women’s, final New Zealand defeated the USA. Much will be taken from the performances of both the USA sides as they head to Sydney for the next leg of the HSBC Rugby 7s tour with expectations high that the USA just might be able to take out a tournament win.
The English RFU’s decision last week to limit how a tackle can be completed in Rugby Union has met with both praise and support from parties like World Rugby and disgust from some traditional rugby fans. The new way the RFU is proposing a tackle needs to be completed is that no tackle should be completed above a player’s waist. The decision to trial this new tackling technique will be introduced into the RFU club rugby competitions to see how players adapt to the change. The IRFU seems ready to support the RFU proposal in changing the tackle rule by also introducing the change to its club competitions next year.
There has been no comment from World Rugby or any other rugby body about whether this new tackling rule will be introduced into the professional game, however, with major lawsuits being filled against the various rugby unions and World Rugby something does need to be done about the concussion related issues impacting players in later life.
Several players who played Rugby Union both at the professional and amateur level are now facing major health issues in later life, such as CTE, MS, early onset of dementia and several other head related injuries. I agree that something needs to change within the game to make it safer for players, however whether this new form of tackling will be adapted and enforced throughout the various levels of the game, we will need to wait and see.
I’ll be in Sydney this weekend for the HSBC world Sevens series this weekend so look out for next week’s edition of the Irish Examiner USA for all the stories and post-match interviews from the games.
If you want to keep up to date with all the latest rugby news you can find me on Instagram @jb052006 or and at twitter@Jonatha25906847.