All seems even less hunky dory underneath the surface after that weekend. For the first time since March 2015 all four Irish sides lost on the same weekend, on top of which the Ireland women’s team suffered their most sobering reality check of the campaign. That said, for those in Clontarf, Nenagh, Trinity, Dungannon, Skerries and Thomond it was the best weekend of the season.
The last time all four Irish provinces lost on the same weekend was in the old Pro 12, when the quartet each suffered defeats to Welsh opposition. As then Leinster lost away to the Scarlets, while Munster, beaten in Cardiff on Friday night, lost to the Ospreys a decade ago.
Connacht had a fall off in performance after their brave effort in defeat to the Stormers when losing to the Lions last Saturday, while Ulster were worn down by the Sharks’ superior physicality and depth on Saturday night.
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Leinster, of course, could afford just a second defeat of the season, especially as Glasgow were outmuscled at home by the Stormers on Friday night, so maintaining the eight-point gap at the top the table ahead of next Saturday’s Champions Cup showdown against a dangerous Northampton.
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Victory at home to Zebre a week later would ensure top seeding in the BKT URC playoffs ahead of their final game at home to Glasgow; additionally helpful if they have reached a fourth successive Champions Cup final a week later.
By contrast Munster, Ulster and Connacht have all fallen outside the top eight, and there is a distinct likelihood that Ireland will only have two sides in next season’s Champions Cup for the first time ever, with the possibility that this may even be one side. That would be quite a fall.
Munster and Ulster meet at Thomond Park next Friday week in what is now a dog-eat-dog scrap for playoff and Champions Cup qualification between two provinces who have been ever-presents in the 30 years of the latter competition.
While Munster now sit ninth behind Benetton, with both on 41 points, by dint of winning less matches they have their destiny in their own hands as they also host the Italian outfit at Musgrave Park in the final round six nights later.
By contrast an Ulster squad even more lacking in depth sit in 12th on 38 points, and so their need is the more acute in Thomond Park ahead of a trek to Edinburgh, who are 10th, on the ensuing Friday.
Connacht’s chances of the top eight are more remote as they sit 14th on 35 points and must finish with wins at home to Edinburgh and away to Zebre if they are to have any chance of a top-eight place. Significantly, the Welsh quartet finish their campaigns with two games in South Africa.
The fear always lurked that for all the huge improvement in the Ireland women’s team in the last 12 months some of it had to be attributed to the return of Olympian Sevens players who were unavailable in last season’s Six Nations, and that while they have become a good team they are not yet a good squad.
In the absence of the hugely influential Sam Monaghan, Erin King and Aoife Wafer, that lack of depth was further exposed when losing Edel McMahon and Dorothy Wall in the first half of last Saturday’s loss to Scotland in Edinburgh.
It’s still been a campaign of progress, with more competitive displays at home to England and France, as well as the high point of the win in Parma. But Saturday’s defeat is a setback psychologically, and certainly gives the first World Cup warm-up match against Scotland in Cork on August 2nd more significance.
Either way while a World Cup semi-final is still a viable target, beating New Zealand again in the pool stages or overcoming France in the quarter-final looks a tall order, particularly after the stirring late comeback by Les Bleus in losing 43-42 in Saturday’s Grand Slam decider against England.
Amid all this club rugby was seen at its best on the final weekend of the AIL as UL Bohs and Clontarf secured All-Ireland titles again at the Aviva Stadium. À la the Joey Carbery final when Clontarf beat Cork Constitution in 2016, last Sunday wasn’t quite the Hugh Cooney final, but it wasn’t far off it either.
As a Clontarf centre who came through Blackrock, Cooney is not the first to plot such a journey, and while not wanting to saddle him unduly with comparisons to The Great One, with his leg power, explosiveness, pace and low centre of gravity the 21-year-old has similar attributes.
Cooney and Hugh Gavin look like being the first of the new crop of young centres coming through to be capped this summer in Tbilisi or Georgia.
Meanwhile Nenagh Ormond became the first Tipperary club to be promoted to Division 1A and Trinity preserved their 1B status with dramatic two-score comebacks at home to wilting UCC and Cashel sides.
Dungannon won promotion to 1B by winning in Navan, Skerries stayed in 2B by beating Midleton at home, and Thomond reclaimed their AIL status by winning in Omagh in the only game that wasn’t a one-score affair.
The league has found a niche. Ten-team divisions and playoffs ensure jeopardy and a dearth of dead rubbers until the very end. But having the finals a week after the semi-finals, which are just a fortnight after the three-game rush to the season’s final standings, is just too demanding a load for the mostly amateur and semi-pro players.
The best final of recent times was two years ago, when Terenure beat Clontarf 50-24, which was a fortnight after the semi-finals. That’s the way it should be. The AIL finals could have been held next Sunday, on the May bank holiday weekend, which would also help rather than hinder clubs outside Dublin such as Cork Constitution in bringing members and fans to Dublin. It would also afford the IRFU, sponsors and finalists two weeks to promote the finals.
The May bank holiday weekend should be enshrined in the club calendar as All-Ireland club rugby weekend. If occasionally this clashed with Leinster matches or the finals were lost to either TG4 or from the Aviva to somewhere else nor would that be the end of the world.
