Tuesday 15 January 2019 13:28, UK
Stuart Barnes looks back at the latest round of club games after another action-packed weekend of Heineken Champions Cup clashes...
1. It's not rock and roll but it was impossible not to notice the sheer number of phases both Munster on Friday night and Leinster Saturday lunchtime were able to go through. I am not sure it is the most exciting style of rugby I have ever seen (in fact I am sure, it's definitely not) but it is impressive and hard to stop.
Playing into the headwind, poor Toulouse couldn't get their hands on the ball to test the home defence. It might have only been 10-6 at half-time but the hard-carrying organisation of the current champions had already done for the former champions. Expect plenty more of the same when Ireland unveil their game plan at the Aviva on February 2.
2. Dark mid-winter days; that's the sort of oppressive feel I reckon you'd get if you were a Gloucester or Toulouse forward in Round 5. All well and good but even the most organised oppressors need a little variation up their sleeves.
Plans don't always work to perfection. Cue the arrival of one Joey Carbery at Munster. His vision and skill combined to finish off a bruised Gloucester team. A man with maverick tendencies, he's beginning to look the real deal as a 10 capable of control as well as jaw-dropping cameos.
3. One final word on the subject of Munster. Peter O' Mahony walked off with what appeared to be a rib injury. He winced for a microsecond.
In stark contrast, yours truly damaged his ribs before Christmas (no, I was sober) and I'm still dreading coughs and sneezes. I wish I was as hard as Munster's main man but, alas, I was but a fly-half.
4. On that subject, credit to the RFU for their work with injuries and their determination not to sweep it under the carpet.
It is a worry, of course, the damage being done and much thinking - it goes without saying - is required but it is also a concern that so few other governing bodies are coming up with their own data, for what is becoming the challenge of these times for rugby union.
More data and less hysteria and we'll find our way through the current concerns.
5. My favourite game of the weekend was Ulster's somewhat fortuitous win against Racing. There were a few dubious calls against the French visitors, none more so than the referee not calling advantage over when Jacob Stockdale slipped with the ball at his mercy, in goal. Mr Carley obviously believes advantage continues until the try is scored.
Throw in a dubious pass and it could have been very different in this one-point margin thriller. On the plus side, Stockdale was excellent, as was the brilliant Leone Nakarawa again.
But poor old Finn. Russell had one of those days to which he is prone. Goal-kicking was dire, charged down twice, penalties kicked in goal...but we still love you for the guts to keep going.
6. Now, I was toying with making Edinburgh my No 1 talking point but that would have intimated that the result, a win in Toulon, was some sort of never to be forgotten shock.
What it was, was a comprehensive victory with a superb second half from Edinburgh for whom Mata and Watson were simply superb in the back row. It sounds miserly but I do hope the failure not to garner a bonus-point doesn't come back to bite them with everything up for grabs against Montpellier next week.
If the Ulster game was my pick of the matches, Edinburgh's second half was my choice of team efforts. Scotland are looking good for two sides in the last eight.
7. Oh and the contrast. It seems so long ago that we hailed Newcastle for their win against Toulon followed up by their win at home to the mighty money men of Montpellier.
But Europe can be a diversion and the Falcons, bottom of the Premiership, had other more pressing business to which Dean Richards decided to attend.
The result was a weakened team and a walloping in Edinburgh, another loss to Richard Cockerill's team at home and now what looks like a relegation threatening loss of momentum.
8. Hats off to Bath and Wasps; the poor relations in their pool, both teams put maximum effort into winning a game that technically didn't matter a jot.
Try telling that to a healthy crowd. Bath responded and nicked a win when they have been losing these narrow games of late.
9. In the Challenge Cup I noted that Alex Dombrandt scored a sixth try in his last five games. That is not a reason to pick a youngster for an international squad but what he has been doing on the carry and linking up with others certainly is a reason to consider looking at someone - especially if he fits into your ball-carrying style.
Don't hold your breath right now but Harlequins have an exceptional and rare talent. Eddie isn't going to shift from Brad Shields and his unseen virtues in any hurry. He's the boss, fair enough.
10. The news that Sam Underhill is out for three months is terrible news for England. He could have been heading to Japan as one of the most feared and destructive opensides in the world. Now he has to stamp his mark again.
Already I am reading that Tom Curry was ahead of him before the Sale man's injury. But Underhill's injury opened the door to him and - while Curry is very promising - Underhill was proving himself in the spot Jones most needed to fill.
