Irish 10s steal the limelight on an encouraging URC weekend

After round one saw all four Irish provinces lose to kick off the URC season, this weekend brought a more encouraging set of results spearheaded by impressive outhalf displays. Gordon D’Arcy joins Nathan Johns to review all the action as Connacht and Munster secured victory, Ulster took a draw away in Glasgow and Leinster wrapped up their South African tour with a losing bonus point.

On Friday night, Ciarán Frawley scored two tries in his first Connacht game since moving west from Leinster, the second a vital late contribution as the western province withstood a creaking scrum to beat Benetton away in Italy. Frawley offered an exciting window into what life might be like at Connacht with Frawley linking with Mack Hansen and Sam Gilbert, while Sean Jansen impressed off the base of the scrum.

Munster had their own impressive outhalf, youngster Charlie O’Shea also scoring two tries as the province continues to look to fill the gap left by Jack Crowley’s injury. Using O’Shea’s willingness to be brave in attack, the pod analyses a wider shift in Irish rugby to trust players willing to take risks and impact games in a positive way.

In this vein, Todd Lawlor at Leinster comes in for more praise despite Leinster’s loss, as does Ethan McIlroy at Ulster after their draw in Scotland.

However, we also look at some weakness up front with many a provincial scrum struggling over the weekend, particularly against South African opposition.

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