Munster picked up their second win in this year’s Heineken Cup this afternoon when they beat Neath-Swansea Ospreys by just 2 points. The match was an extremely tight affair with just one try, by Peter Stringer.
Leinster got their second win of this season’s Heineken Cup and are placed nicely at the top of Pool 2 going into the first break of the competition. The neutral might claim that Leinster had the rub of the green in their win tonight, but there’s now doubting that Leinster in particular in the backs look the part of a side that could go the whole way in the Heineken Cup.
Ulster failed to get their first win over away to an English side in the Heineken Cup today when Gloucester beat them decisively at Kingsholm to make Ulster’s path into the quarter finals a very difficult task.
Connacht beat Narbonne in Galway today and more importantly beat them by a large enough margin to go through to the next round of the Parker Pen Challenge Cup.
Alan Gaffney has announced what has to be considered a strong squad for Munster’s match against The Ospreys on Sunday. Donncha O’Callaghan returns from a long layoff from injury while Shaun Payne returns to the team having picked up a knock a couple of weeks ago.
Connacht have made three changes to the side that started against Narbonne last week for Saturday’s second leg of the European Challenge Cup at the Sportsground.
Neil Doak, Roger Wilson and Rod Moore have all been recalled to the Ulster first 15 for the trip to Gloucester this weekend.
International duo Eric Miller and Girvan Dempsey have displaced Gary Brown and Aidan McCullen on the Leinster side to meet Bath in Pool 2 of the Heineken Cup at Lansdowne Road on Saturday evening.
The 30-man Ireland rugby squad for the forthcoming Autumn Tests against Argentina, U.S.A and South Africa has been named.
The Irish sides got off to a sucessful start in the first round of the Heineken Cup, with Leinster, Munster and Ulster all winning their initial matches. Leinster and Munster may have been expecting easier matches and both sides were looking for the bonus point, but in the end both sides will have been satisfied with the win.