Monday 8 January 2018 21:44, UK
Stuart Barnes reflects on the big moments from the domestic leagues with one eye on this weekend's European collisions in Round 5 of the Champions Cup...
1. There was only one name on everyone's lips in Dublin on Saturday night and that was Jordan Larmour. It was the first time I've seen the 20-year-old in the flesh.
Like many people I watched the Munster match over Christmas and marvelled at THAT try.
Well, he lived up to expectations again on Saturday. His ability to step off both feet is something special. There's a bit of Jason Robinson in the way he explodes off left or right with a hint of Christian Cullen when he gets that balanced stepping going when he hits top gear.
Larmour has a work rate, a certainty beneath the high ball and can make a try-saving tackle as he showed when left with a one-on-one with Tommy Bowe.
His problem is dislodging Rob Kearney, the incumbent at Leinster and Ireland. The veteran is playing well and come a test match or Champions Cup semi-final there is plenty to be said for experience, yet Larmour looks exceptional.
He could add an extra dimension to Ireland's game in the World Cup in Japan. Joe Schmidt wasn't scared to pick Joey Carbery on the bench for the All Blacks four days after he turned 21 so he shouldn't resist the temptation to see just how quickly Ireland's new sensation can find his side-stepping feet at international level.
2. Not so long ago all the talk was about Ulster winger Jacob Stockdale. But in the RDS against Leinster, he missed three tackles and all of them resulted in the concession of tries. Will this defensive drop-off cost him caps?
The first miss was a one-on-one with Larmour. Few players would have touched Larmour in Saturday's 38-7 win. But he'll be disappointed with his positioning for Fergus McFadden's excellent second-half try, while Andrew Porter bounced out of Stockdale's attempted tackle en-route to creating the score of the match.
Porter is some sight at full tilt but the missed tackle goes down as a blot. Schmidt is a details man. He won't have missed these errors.
3.Yet it wasn't Stockdale who was the main problem within the Ulster set-up. Defence is aimed to stop opposing teams at the gain line and Ulster couldn't win the battle at the breakdown or curtail the attacking tempo of the home team.
Such nights are horrible for back three players. Were Ulster poor? Maybe. But I prefer to eulogise over the quality of the Leinster effort. They are a different team to last season when they finished second in the PRO12 and made the Champions Cup semi-final.
The bookmakers have them favourites to conquer Europe. I can see why.
4. Saracens walloped Wasps. Had it not been for the period they played with 13 men, Wasps might not have even temporarily checked their momentum. The manner of the win was impressive, collectively and individually.
The big man, Billy Vunipola, made a fine comeback. He made a bulldozing impact from start to substitution in Saracens 38-15 win over Wasps, while Maro Itoje was as ever, all over the park. This is good news for Saracens and England.
The current European champions are set for a quarter-final away tie if they beat Ospreys in Swansea. In the last few four years only two away quarter-finals have been won; both times by Saracens so don't write them off just yet.
5. Not so good news for Munster at the weekend was Racing's demolition of a weakened Clermont team in the Top 14. At their best the Racing's off-loading game is majestic.
The French side, now up to third in the Top 14, are a forgotten team in the European picture but they might jog a few memories this weekend because a Munster win in Paris will take a mighty effort indeed.
6 Top of the Top 14 are Montpellier. They are back in with a shout in Europe after seeing-off the top PRO14 side, Glasgow, home and away.
This weekend, Exeter welcome Montpellier to Sandy Park. The Chiefs lost 28-20 at Newcastle on Sunday but ahead of a game they have to win in Europe and a healthy Premiership cushion, this was no great surprise.
Rather, I was thinking, any team that could build a 17-3 lead against Leinster at Lansdowne Road has to be a hell of a team. Montpellier have the capacity to beat most teams on their day but I don't think Round 5 will be that day.
7. La Rochelle are currently placed second in the Top 14. Are they wobbling? Because a 38-38 draw at bottom-placed and bereft Oyonnax is a sloppy effort and they didn't set the world alight in Coventry in Round 4 of the Champions Cup.
Is this a deliberate mid-season dial-down or a sign of bigger problems? Ulster will be hoping it is the latter. The Ulstermen themselves endured a worrying and not very festive Christmas and New Year period.
It was only when Munster had a man red-carded in their recent PRO14 test that Ulster went on to dominate. The famous Ravenhill roar will be needed to galvanise them on Saturday. La Rochelle have a good record on the road but are twice the team at home.
8. Harlequins, who will face La Rochelle in France in Round 6 of the Champions Cup, will be without Joe Marler. There is also a chance he will miss the opening rounds of the Six Nations following his side's 30-29 defeat to Sale.
Marler plays on the edge but too often his game wanders into areas where he finds himself in trouble and while Eddie Jones likes that bit of edge, a player needs to be able to control it.
9. There's an entire book to be written about the breakdown and its policing. Players do fly off their feet and Joe Marler wasn't doing anything particularly unusual in that regard. When a player gets himself low slung, limpet like, over the ball, it is hard to move him.
The laws do not allow for players to go off their feet but referees do! Whether it is Exeter cleverly sealing off possession, or a Marler-type doing his bit to disrupt the potential turnover, the answer is to banish all hands on the floor and revert to rucking but that I fear, is a daydream of mine.
10. Zander Fagerson's absence because of injury is a blow to Scotland ahead of the Six Nations, especially with WP Nel already out.
Tight-head is one of THE crucial positions on the field. The man that anchors the scrum and allows the game to revolve around him.
Carry all you like but if you cannot scrum, the likelihood of anything but a late impact role is unlikely. It is why Dan Cole remains an England regular and why Tadhg Furlong is up there with Johnny Sexton in terms of importance to both province and country.
He went off for another HIA on Saturday. Here is hoping this world-class prop is fit and raring to go either against Glasgow this Sunday or in Montpellier in Round 6. Before that final pool weekend, enjoy Round 5.
