THE BKT United Rugby Championship is back, and what a great start for the Scottish clubs via Edinburgh's narrow win over Ulster in Belfast. Ravenhill has never been an easy ground to go to and with both clubs minus some big names for this season opener, I must admit, I wasn't all that confident about Edinburgh's chances.
However, the capital crew built up enough of a lead in the first hour to withstand the usual big finish from the Ulstermen and, while it was maybe a wee bit frenetic at the end, they got the job done and a five point win first time out has to be savoured.
My late and much-missed big pal: Big Gordon Strachan, (so called to differentiate between him and Football's Wee Gordon Strachan), always spoke for the need for a good team to have a strong Pivot Five – the back row and half-backs. Edinburgh certainly had that in spades, with all five playing crucial roles in the victory.
James Grayson looked like the quality ten Edinburgh has been searching for, combining well with young Hector Patterson inside him, however, it was the Edinburgh back row of Liam McConnell, Freddie Douglas and Skipper Magnus Bradbury who led the charge as Edinburgh surged into a 34-5 lead.
The expected Ulster fightback, when it came in the second half, tested Edinburgh's defensive resilience; they creaked, but they didn't crack and were perhaps pushing for another try at the end, before good sense intervened and they got the ball off the park to clinch the win.
Given the club's lengthy injury list, which does include a lot of first picks, this was a good win from a difficult match. OK, you might say: “Edinburgh won ugly” but that is a big step forward from too many recent results which have been more a case of Edinburgh “losing ugly”.
MUNSTER v GLASGOW is traditionally a tousey affair; these two clubs clearly don't like each other. However, for whatever reason – I'm in the fact O'Mahony has now retired department – Saturday's clash in Limerick didn't quite fit the normal pattern, to the point where both Simon Zebo and Ryan Wilson, on commentary duty for Premier Sport, were disappointed that it took fully half an hour before the handbags were swinging.
In looking ahead to the game, I was a wee bit afraid that maybe, by mainly fielding his fringe youngsters in their pre-season games, Franco Smith had perhaps left the regulars he did field on Saturday a wee bit under-cooked. I still think, to a degree they were, but, they still, in typical Glasgow fashion, found a way to win without fully hitting their straps.
Warriors left it late, but, in the end, their bench, particularly via the arrival of a completely new front row, wrestled command back from the fired-up Munster side to clinch a bonus point win.
Now it isn't news that we Scots have a low regard for South African referees and Morne Ferrera, the man in the middle here, was a trypically poor example of the genre, allowing Munster to indulge in far too much of the shithousery which POM and Company have made their normal pattern over so many years.
The under-cooking I mentioned earlier was clear in some poor Glasgow handling and decision-making, but, as they built-up a head of steam in the final quarter, we saw some typical Warriors work which carried them past Munster to victory.
WHEN I saw The Offside Line's preview of the weekend's Arnold Clark Premiership matches, I had two thoughts. The first was, what twat wrote this, surely the game of the weekend was Heriot's v Ayr at Goldenacre? That was the one to lead on. Then, reading their preview, and seeing how weak the Ayr selection was, I immediately thought: “They're in bother here.”
So, straight away and this will probably shock Neil Meikle to his bones: well done The Nails, you can only beat what is put in front of you and they did well to beat even a weakened Ayr team. I ought also to recognise, they too were missing one or two key men, so doubly well done.
Heriots' win has burst the bubble of Ayr invincibility, it will encourage les autres and the likes of Currie, Watsonians and Melrose will now be saying: “If those bar stewards from Goldenacre can beat them, so too can we.”
Against this, Gruntz Anderson and his back-room crew will be determined to make this a one-of, the Ayr squad are in for a tough time until they are back on top. It will add additional spice to an already keenly-fought campaign.
What worries me, from a Millbrae perspective, is this: several long-term off-field drivers of the club's rise have stepped back of late. The guys who have come in now have to show that they are capable of maintaining standards. If not, there could be troubles ahead.
BATH'S SANTI CARRERAS scored what is already a Try of the Season contender in his club's win over Harlequins in The Prem on Friday night. If you missed it live, it's on You Tube, get it watched.
After he ran virtually the length of the park and touched down, the Argentinian rather milked the moment in front of the 'Quins fans, and received a petulant little shove from a disgruntled Harlequins' player who had chased back in vain.
Now, you see this quite a lot in the game, a player touches down and is immediately shoved by an opponent – yet, we seldom see these childish actions punished. That's another thing World Rugby should be clamping down on, if, after scoring, a player is late tackled or shoved by an opponent, then the referees should restart play with a penalty to the scoring side – with the majority of today's professional place kickers well able to knock a penalty over from half-way, thereby scoring a ten-point try, I think the petulant shoving would soon vanish from the game.
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