EXPECT AN EPIC FIGHT FOR TITLE
Glasgow are far from the only ones gunning for Connacht as a new Pro12 campaign begins
IF GLASGOW Warriors needed any incentive to climb back to the top of the Guinness Pro12, then one would imagine that the announcement popular head coach Gregor Townsend will leave in May, and the squad’s penchant for a good party, has just provided it. Townsend has studied motivational techniques so deeply that some of his former team-mates have wondered whether the revelation that he will take over as Scotland coach after this season was timed exactly to come out ahead of the new season kicking off.
Last season was always going to be a tough one for him off the back of a historic first Pro12 title.
The young coach sought the advice of many last summer on how to overcome the challenge of repeating success, but what he could do nothing about was the iceberg that landed in the middle of his path that was the Rugby World Cup.
It affected all, of course, but Glasgow discovered the pain Leinster, Munster and Cardiff endure when around 20 of their best players are taken away for international duty. The shrewd coach Pat Lam spotted his chance and took advantage of others’ weaknesses to pilot Connacht all the way to the title. It was a magnificent feat but it will not happen again this season.
Lam has spoken of the Connacht strength being ‘the team’, but he knows his challenge has steepened with the loss of Robbie Henshaw, AJ MacGinty, Aly Muldowney and back-up tighthead Rodney Ah You.
And the other Irish provinces are gunning for them now big-time. So are Glasgow and everyone who recognises that the Galway Sportsground is no longer just a horrible place to go on a wet and windy Saturday night but is now an arena where high quality, dangerous rugby is also played.
Glasgow will miss Leone Nakarawa and Duncan Weir — particularly with injury keeping Finn Russell out of the opening weeks — but even with a squad reduction after World Cup year largesse, the Warriors still boast potentially the biggest playing budget in the league at around £6million.
Edinburgh could also be saying goodbye to their coach, Alan Solomons, at the end of the season and similarly will be a tougher proposition without the World Cup depriving them of their star talents.
The Welsh clubs are limited to a £4.5m salary cap while the Irish are still around £5m-£6m but have been warned that money is running out there, too. Connacht’s success was warmly welcomed by the neutral last season, breaking the hegemony of the familiar provinces, but it was a gloomy picture elsewhere in Irish rugby.
For the first time, there was no Irish presence in the knockout stages in Europe. The national side moved up from fifth in the RBS 6 Nations, but only to third. And the losses of Brian O’Driscoll, Paul O’Connell and Stephen Ferris in recent times has been harder felt than each of their provinces imagined.
Ulster look the strongest on paper, but don’t they always? Ireland’s great under-achievers have splashed much of their, and famous fan Rory McIlroy’s, cash on South Africans but have yet to bring home silverware. Former Aussie Rugby League star, and Ireland and South Africa assistant coach, Les Kiss has now had his first pre-season as director of rugby and, with Neil Doak his head coach, there is a hope for new stability at Ravenhill.
They kick-off, however, with a frontrow problem as props Wiehahn Herbst and Ricky Lutton are injured and Connacht reserve Ah You could be their first choice for a few weeks.
Leinster no longer have the fearsome strength that made them European champions, but they can still field 15 internationals, have an exciting centre duo in Henshaw and Garry Ringrose, who will help recover their finishing ability, and will likely overcome Ulster and challenge Glasgow for the title again due to their ingrained ability to win tight games.
Munster have undergone a radical overhaul in the past year with their legendary player-turned-coach Anthony Foley being shifted into a forwards role and Springbok Rassie Erasmus taking charge as director of rugby, with South African defence coach Jacques Nienaber alongside, and ex-Stormers lock Jean Kleyn and ’Boks stand-off Jaco Taute filling voids never convincingly filled since O’Connell and Ronan O’Gara days.
The Welsh teams are still working their way out of a financial malaise that has reduced budgets to a £4.5m salary cap, underlined by the small handful of summer signings.
Arguably the most shrewd bit of business may have been done by Cardiff’s Danny Wilson, who swooped for centre Willis Halaholo when he was a fringe player in Wellington but who is now ‘Super Rugby champion Willis Halaholo’ after he finished the season in the vanguard of the Hurricanes’ historic success.
The Scarlets are the Ulster of Wales — the best-placed of the four teams on paper. They have the potential to field a stunning back line after Jonathan Davies’ return from Clermont Auvergne and the signing of Johnny McNicholl from the Crusaders. If everyone is fit, they could line up with a Wales international 9-10-12-13 of Gareth Davies, Rhys Patchell, Scott Williams and Jonathan Davies, with DTH van der Merwe on one wing, McNicoll on the other and Wales full-back Liam Williams behind them.
They have bulked up the front row with Springbok prop Werner Kruger — necessary with Rob Evans out
injured at the start. Flanker James Davies returns from starring in the Olympic Games Sevens and if they can unearth a big ball-carrying No 8 to sit between him and John Barclay, they should be a potent force.
Cardiff look to be settling after five years of ever-changing coaches and game-plans, with Wilson’s side showing real promise in the latter half of last season. They remain a long way from challenging for European titles, but Townsend has mentioned them as ones to be wary of, with Kiwi Nick Williams strengthening their ballcarrying options, Matthew Morgan snapped up and Halaholo’s partnership with Samoan centre Ray Lee-Lo threatening to be explosive.
If star signings lift hopes, injuries to key men are the greatest destroyer of optimism. The Ospreys will miss Dan Lydiate and James King due to end-of-season injury blows, and teenage talent Owen Watkin after a serious knee injury in training, which ends his season before it started.
Lock Bradley Davies is a name fans are pleased to see arriving to partner Alun Wyn Jones but, after last season’s defensive woes, their biggest summer signing may be the other Brad Davies, the defence coach from Wasps.
It is hard to see the Dragons breathing new fire on this league as they remain a club in flux, seeking a new owner and struggling to spend even close to their salary limit. With Toby Faletau away to Bath, coach Lyn Jones departed and Kingsley Jones stepping up, this will be another season of transition brightened by the emergence of more Under-20s talent in the shape of No 8 Harrison Keddie and centre Tyler Morgan.
As ever, injuries to key men will be pivotal, but the league is shaping up to be as competitive as ever with as many as 10 clubs genuinely competing for the top six, and potentially eight in the mix for the play-offs.
With Glasgow away to Connacht this weekend, fast starts will be crucial.