THE WINNERS AND LOSERS FROM WEEKEND RUGBY ACTION
ANEWLY-EXPANDED competition, new teams, new players, a new pitch and a new coach... but some familiar old stories when the Guinness PRO14 kicked off on the weekend.
Yet it wasn’t all doom and gloom for Welsh rugby as the four regions weighed in with their usual 50% return rate of wins.
Because in the Principality Premiership and the Aviva Premiership across the border there were a number of notable Welsh performances.
We look at Welsh rugby’s winners and losers on the weekend...
WINNERS
DWAYNE PEEL It’s been a tricky few months for the former Wales and Lions scrum-half after leaving Bristol this summer and joining head coach Les Kiss as assistant boss of Ulster.
Peel is one of three new boys on the backroom team and is the one nursing the biggest headache as the back-line he has responsibility for was shorn of two linchpins. Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding look likely to miss the entire season as they go through the court process over allegations of rape.
There was also the matter of the Ulstermen being the first side to lock horns with South African opposition in the expanded Guinness PRO14 this season when the Cheetahs visited the Kingspan Stadium on Friday night.
Though things initially didn’t go to plan, Ulster found their feet with five of the Peel-coached back division getting in on the try-scoring act in a 42-19 victory.
The game was not always as comfortable as the winning margin would suggest, with Ulster scoring four of their tries when yellow cards had the visitors defending with 14 men.
LEIGH HALFPENNY It’s been more of a summer of discontent rather than one of elation for the prodigious goal-kicker.
Firstly came the stunning news a one-year contract extension with Toulon was taken off the table by controversial owner Morad Boudjellal.
Then the Wales full-back found his path to the No.15 jersey with Warren Gatland’s British and Irish Lions Test line-up blocked by Liam Williams.
On his return home came endless speculation about future employers as the likes of Wasps and Bath ruled themselves out of the running before the Gorseinon product penned a National Dual Contract with the Scarlets.
Halfpenny could easily have bided his time to make his debut but was catapulted straight in for the PRO14 clash with the Kings... probably no better time to make a debut that against a club finding its feet in a new competition.
It wasn’t a spectacular first outing by any means.
But there was a try and four out of five kicks at goal before he made way to a warm ovation just before the hour mark. CARDIFF RFC The Blue & Blacks haven’t exactly ripped up many saplings in the Principality Premiership since winning the title in 2009.
Their best finish since was fourth in 2015 but under new coach, former Bedwas supremo Steve Law, a sleeping giant just might be stirring on the banks of the River Taff.
Last week they opened up with victory at city rivals Newport and on the weekend showed defending champions Merthyr money doesn’t always talk as they silenced the Ironmen by hammering out a 24-17 victory.
“This was a hugely pleasing result for us. Everyone seemed to be favouring Merthyr because of the quality of player they have in their squad but there are times when you just have to play and believe in yourselves. Our boys did just that and it was a great team effort,” said Law.
“The players and coaches have put in a massive amount of work during the summer and we are now reaping the rewards. But we need to keep our feet on the ground – this is just the start of a long campaign.”
JONATHAN HUMPHREYS It’s been a change of coaching environment for another former Welsh star this summer as ex-Cardiff hooker ‘Humph’ swaps the coaching reins with Scotland to join Dave Rennie at Glasgow Warriors.
Former Chiefs coach Rennie is probably familiar with all winds and weathers having visited rugby’s most southerly outpost in Dunedin, but a trip to Galway’s Sportsground is an entirely different matter.
And an Atlantic weather front didn’t disappoint as Glasgow’s opening match in the PRO14 was played out as rain and a ferocious wind battered the west of Ireland.
It usually adds up to a Connacht victory, but Humphreys’ forwards ground out an 18-12 victory that might well be forgotten in the mists of time... but not is Glasgow make the PRO14 play-offs by the skin of their teeth.
RHYS PRIESTLAND & LUKE CHARTERIS Sunday’s Welford Road clash between Leicester Tigers and Bath was supposed to be all about England outside-half George Ford facing his former employers from the west country first match up since his move to the East Midlands in the summer.
But his Bath understudy Priestland and fellow Welsh international Charteris hadn’t read the script as Bath won their first Premiership game at the Tigers since 2003.
Priestland upstaged Ford with a brilliant catch and pass in one fluid movement to help fashion the first of Bridgend-born Max Clark’s two tries.
He kicked three conversions and two penalties to help build the lead and even played at scrum-half when Kahn Fotuali’i was off the field.
Charteris was in the Premiership team of the weekend in one national newspaper for a grafting 14 tackles and a matchsaving steal on the Tigers’ last-second lineout that sealed the victory.
DOMINIC DAY He may have been the less-trumpeted Welsh international arrival at Saracens this summer... but Day was first into action for the European champions as Liam Williams rested from his Lions exertions.
And the three-times capped lock manage to gate-crash arguably one of the greatest second-row pairings in world rugby as he packed down with George Kruis in the boiler house while the considerable frame of fellow England and Lions star Maro Itoje filled the blindside flanker jersey.
Day was part of a stunning first half Sarries show at Twickenham that saw the English giants home and hosed by the break with an emphatic 41-3 half-time scoreline.
They eased off a little in the second period in a final 55-24 victory.
BARGOED RFC The ring-fenced Principality Premiership was set up to give the likes of Bargoed time to find their feet before falling through the trapdoor back to the Championship before they knew what had hit them.
But after acclimatising to life in the top flight last term the Blues, it seems, are beginning to find their feet and pulled off the best win so far of their Premiership lives when winning 34-23 at Cross Keys on the weekend.
Former Dragons No.8 Ieuan Jones was a key performer against his former employers scoring Bargoed’s opening try. Jones, who also had spells with Cardiff Blues and the Ospreys, said: “The top teams in the Premiership have to play for the full 80 minutes and that’s what we are aiming to do.
“That’s what Bargoed have to learn after coming up from the Championship and I’m so pleased we got the win.”
LOSERS
JAMIE ROBERTS The Wales and Lions centre was part of the Aviva Premiership’s shock result of the weekend as Harlequins lost to new boys London Irish at Twickenham.
The doctor had a mixed day to say the least, losing the ball in a thunderous midfield tackle that saw Irish break away and score a stunning opening try through veteran wing Topsy Ojo.
He did deliver a neat short pass to fellow centre Joe Marchant, but Irish cashed in on two yellow cards from Quins to seal the perfect start to life back in the top flight of the English game.
Harlequins Director of Rugby John Kingston said: “The discipline cost us and all the time you’re pushing water up a hill, really.”
CARDIFF BLUES They’re getting help from Welsh guru Shaun Edwards on their defence... maybe
Gareth Edwards can get a grip on their attack because on Friday night against Edinburgh they were as toothless as a 90-year-old with gum disease.
Time and again, they went through successive phases deep in enemy territory - and got nowhere.
All too often they ended up going across the field rather than forward, with attacks ultimately petering out due to a spilled ball or an isolated player being penalised.
In contrast, Richard Cockerill’s Edinburgh capitalised on their limited opportunities, claiming tries in either half through Blair Kinghorn and Chris Dean to seal the spoils.
“It was a frustrating night,” admitted Blues coach Wilson. “There was a 10-15 minute patch in the second half when we couldn’t do anything right. There were a comedy of errors that happened for that little period.”
GUINNESS PRO14 When two rival competitions kick off on the same weekend it’s hard not to draw comparisons... and in the head-to-head between the Guinness PRO14 and the Aviva Premiership the English top flight claimed a unanimous verdict.
The Aviva could not have picked a better start for their TV viewers at a throbbing 15,547 full house Kingsholm on Friday night as Gloucester beat defending champions Exeter Chiefs through a last-gasp try from new Bristol recruit Jason Woodward.
At the same time we had the Blues producing an underwhelming 20-10 defeat in front of a 6,145 Arms Park crowd.
The tone was set for the weekend as the Aviva Premiership then basked in a record 50 tries scored with some mesmeric matches played out in wins for Wasps, Saracens and Bath.
The Scarlets and Ulster did pile up the points to help balance the scales but they came against the South African new boys Kings and Cheetahs.
GEORGE CLANCY There seems to be an audible sigh of frustration when the Irishman is announced as referee.
Because what you’re guaranteed from Clancy is more whistle than a Page Three girl on a building site.
A friend of mine, for some bizarre reason, had a stop-watch in hand on his sofa on Friday night and told me the first half of the Cardiff Blues’ loss to Edinburgh ran on for 53 minutes and the second period for 47. It meant a 100-minute match... something we all ranted about in Wales’ Six Nations defeat in France earlier this year.
Clancy irked Blues fans even more when awarding a controversial try to Edinburgh full-back Blair Kinghorn when replays on the big screen suggested the scoring pass from Sam Hidalgo-Clyne was forward. And as for the new law amendments dictating the scrum-half should feed the ball straight down the tunnel of a set-piece... you can forget about that one!
MERTHYR RFC Having raided the bank vaults at The Wern to beef up their Premiership-winning squad with the arrival of Pete ‘The Meat’ Edwards, Ospreys back-rower Joe Bearman, Aberavon wing Stef Andrews and Bedwas outside-half Richard Powell, it seemed a mere formality the Ironmen would be lifting the silverware again come the end of this season.
But having stuttered to a 31-29 home win over Cross Keys on the opening weekend of the season, the wheels may well and truly off on the journey down the A470 at Cardiff Arms Park on the weekend.
Maybe the Premiership title is not as cut and dried as many thought it might be.
Merthyr captain and second row forward Craig Locke said: “This was the second poor performance in seven days for us and that is not good enough. We must learn quickly from our mistakes.”