The Front Row Union are pleased to “sign” Ireland Women’s Forwards Coach Peter Bracken for a series of articles on the key games between now and the end of the season. This week the 2007 Heineken Cup Winner reviews the Thomond experience and looks forward to next week’s Connacht v Ulster match!
I’m delighted to be asked to write some articles for the Front Row Union. As part of the Management Team for the Irish Ladies Six Nations campaign I would like to thank the FRU for all their support and publicity they give to Women’s Rugby in Ireland. The Ladies success this year will hopefully encourage more young women to join a rugby club and enjoy the comradery you can’t get in any other sport.
I was at the Munster v Leinster game on Saturday evening. The Irish Women’s Team we’re invited to attend as guests of the Munster branch. I’d like to thank Munster rugby for a lovely evening. It was my first time in Thomond Park since its redevelopment and although it was absolutely fantastic, I did have a strange feeling. I was in Thomond Park and it felt “posh”!
The home of Munster Rugby is not supposed to be flashy; it’s supposed to be intimidating. It felt like every other state of the art modern stadium which it certainly is but maybe I’m being an old foggy but it was missing the rawness of the old place. I know I was in the hospitality section but I ventured around as much as I could but couldn’t find the old character. I was only talking to an Ulster supporter friend of mine recently who was complaining of the same type of loss within the new Ravenhill development!
Anyway, Leinster won an enjoyable, tough, physical game. Funnily enough, the guy who was sitting beside me asked if Brian O’Driscoll was playing, 60 minutes into the match. I then realised that yes, Brian hadn’t done a whole lot in the game so far, but, true to his genius, he stepped it up in the last 20 minutes and scored the winning try.
The Women’s Grand Slam winning squad have been invited to the Sportsground on Friday night. I’ll be there on a “freebie” again. As anyone who knows me knows I have never turned down free grub and never intend to. It will also give me a chance to see one of Eric Elwood’s last games in charge of Connacht. Hopefully Johnny O’Connor will be fit to play in Connacht’s last home game before he retires.
I believe Ulster have a great chance of winning the RaboDirect this season and this will be a stern test as Connacht are fighting for their best placed finish in the league ever.
I was disappointed with Ulster’s performance against Saracens. As a scrum coach, you normally expect when you are that dominant at scrum time you will win the game. That physical dominance usually transfers to every other area on the field but unfortunately, as we know, it did not in the European quarter final.
Saracens are an excellent scrummaging outfit so well done to Ulster in that area. They also backed it up at the weekend against the Dragons. Again, Ulster had more in them but this time they won ugly. I think they will start to click again and have a good finish to the season.
I predict that Ulster and Leinster have enough in them to grab home semi-finals with Glasgow and the Scarlets their opposition. The Scarlet’s will be in a tough battle with the Osprey’s for that fourth position but I reckon they will prevail.
I almost never wish anything bad to happen to anybody, but I cannot wait to see Chris Ashton feck up while trying to score a try.
The bigger the game it happens in the better. Maybe in a Heineken Cup Final, and Saracens lose by 4 points, or a try celebration failure for England v New Zealand which costs them the game. Maybe then we might see the end of his flop.
Unfortunately, I suspect his character is one that even if the make a mess at that grand scale he probably wouldn’t stop doing it. I don’t even know why it annoys me so much because I normally don’t mind a good try celebration. It’s just his one. Maybe it’s just him I don’t like or maybe it’s the fact that he’s English.
I reckon there are a few Ulster supporters that that would back me up on this one.
Corrections, comments or questions?