Ireland are back on top of the world and rugby scarcely missed a beat on its return to this part of the planet.
In completing a historic treble over the southern hemisphere heavyweights, Argentina’s thrilling 29-28 win which ended South African’s unbeaten Rugby Championship run in Santiago del Estero on Saturday ensured Ireland moved above the Springboks atop the world rankings.
By contrast, the BKT URC is still in its infancy after the first round and the quartet of South African franchises do not enter the fray until next weekend. Even so, a flurry of tries and bonus points heralded the start of the campaign as Munster matched Leinster’s 33-31 win in Edinburgh on Friday night by also sharing 10 tries in a thrilling 35-33 Thomond Park derby win over Connacht on Saturday.
Launching the season with an interpro was once commonplace but the notion of a fluctuating, five-tries-apiece rollercoaster in which the lead changed hands seven times would have been the stuff of dreams.
“It’s where the game has got to,” said Munster head coach Graham Rowntree “You’ve got to be challenging, you’ve got to be skilful, you’ve got to be quick, you’ve got to hit the ground running. Both teams did that today.
“We weren’t perfect, but I was really impressed by them,” added Rowntree of Connacht. “I just said that to Pete [Wilkins]; impressed by their physicality in the carry and the ruck. They’ll have a good season.”
Despite the obvious strain, Rowntree welcomed having seven Munster players in the 33-man Emerging Ireland squad which will depart next Friday for three matches in Bloemfontein.
“They’re not going to come back worse players, we saw that two years ago. It will be good for them to work with those coaches in different environments. The whole season with injuries you’re testing your depth and it’s happening a bit earlier now. It can only be good for our club.”
Munster are away to Zebre Parma next Saturday and Rowntree expects the majority of his seven-strong contingent on Ireland’s summer tour to South Africa to return against the Ospreys in Cork next Saturday week.
“But it depends on how skinny we are in certain positions. It’s on an individual basis, you saw Friday with Leinster’s selection, it’s an individual basis and that’s good sense. We’ll see what Monday brings”
This win did not come without a cost, though, as one of Munster’s three debutants, Billy Burns, was helped off with a shoulder injury in the 54th minute.
“I’ve learnt not to be overly concerned until I get the results back from the scan,” said Rowntree. “We’ll find out Monday.”
Shayne Bolton, one of seven Connacht players in the Emerging Ireland squad, departed in the 34th minute due to a knee laceration, but he is expected to travel.
Wilkins is more hopeful of Finlay Bealham returning after his summer exertions for next Saturday’s first home game of the season against the Sharks than Bundee Aki, who is likely to feature a week later.
“I’m at peace with it,” said Wilkins of the Emerging Ireland tour. “I think the tour itself is a really good thing for Irish rugby. We saw from the growth of the players who went on that trip two years ago.
“For me it’s not disruptive because we have had really open lines of communication with the Irish management, whether it is David Humphreys, Andy Farrell, and Simon Easterby more recently.
Ulster director of rugby Richie Murphy also hailed his team’s character after a gritty 20-19 home win over the champions Glasgow on Saturday night courtesy of a try four minutes into injury time by replacement scrumhalf Dave Shanahan.
“It comes down to character and the mentality, not giving up,” said Murphy, who will also take his squad to South Africa this week for games against the Lions and the Bulls without five players on the Emerging Ireland tour.
“We want to be a team that will throw everything we’ve got at the opposition and if the opposition are too good for us, we’ll that’s fine. We’ll accept that.”
For his part, in the wake of their win in Edinburgh, Leo Cullen conceded: “We’ll have to get a hell of a lot better.”
The biggest blight on their night was a disconsolate Tommy O’Brien suffering another hamstring injury in the act of scoring Leinster’s first try. The winger is one of a dozen Leinster players picked for the tour but pending the outcome of a scan Cullen admitted: “It doesn’t look great for him”.
Leinster begin their extended tenancy at the Aviva Stadium next Friday against the Dragons, where 17,000-plus tickets of the 20,000 capacity have been sold, and Cullen is hopeful of having some of his summer tourists back in the mix as he juggles his resources.
Presuming he has another full week’s training without hiccups, RG Snyman is likely to make his debut in Leinster blue next Friday.
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