Magners League: Three things to watch

After a largely positive opening to the Magners League for the Irish provinces, JOE picks out three things to look out for this weekend.

By Conor Heneghan

O’Driscoll and Sexton won’t be playing every week

Fans of the home provinces, particularly those of Leinster and Munster, should treasure the sight of seeing Irish internationals perform for their respective provinces in the Magners League this season.

After a highly regarded but tired looking Ireland side delivered a series of flat and uninspiring performances at the World Cup three years ago, the IRFU are determined that the same mistakes won’t happen ahead of the tournament in New Zealand next year.

With that in mind, the player management scheme has been implemented over the last couple of seasons and with the tournament now only a year away, it is bound to be stepped up so that our finest players are in peak shape heading down under next autumn.

Brian O’Driscoll and Jonny Sexton start for Leinster this weekend, but Gordon D’Arcy has been rested, while although Ronan O’Gara, Tomás O’Leary and Donncha O’Callaghan are in the Munster squad for the trip to Edinburgh, all three will start from the bench. Stephen Ferris, meanwhile, has been left at home while his Ulster teammates travel to Italy to take on Aironi.

The Magners League lies below internationals (autumn and six nations) and the Heineken Cup on the list of priorities for Ireland’s top players this season and as a result, certain fixtures in the Magners League will be cherry-picked to send out the big boys.

The introduction of two Italian sides to the Magners League this season means four extra fixtures in the competition, 22 in total, and the provinces will be lucky if their prized assets are available for much more than half of those games this season.

Ulster have a tough ask against Aironi

Although there were mixed fortunes for the Italian sides in the opening weekend, both did enough to show that they will be far from whipping boys for the rest of the campaign. As an established Heineken Cup side, Treviso’s victory over the Scarlets was hardly a major shock but the baptism of fire many were predicting for Aironi didn’t materialise at Musgrave Park.

Munster certainly didn’t have it all their own way last weekend and the Italian side will be buoyed both by their performance and the fact that they will be playing their first competitive encounter in the competition at the Stadio Zaffanella. On last week’s evidence, Ulster will need to pay particular attention to out-half Ludovic Mercier, while full-back Julien Laharrague looked dangerous throughout.

Johann Muller impressed on his competitive debut last weekend

Although Stephen Ferris is rested, Brian McLaughlin can still call on the services of Paddy Wallace, Chris Henry and Tom Court, while new signings Johann Muller (above) and Pedrie Wannenburg will be looking to build on their impressive debuts against the Ospreys. Ulster were magnificent against last year’s champions last Friday and should have enough to come through in Italy, but will be advised not to take their competition lightly.

Connacht need to step it up on the road

Eric Elwood got his Connacht managerial reign off to a dream start last weekend with a 23-point victory over the Newport Gwent Dragons at the Sportsground, racking up 40 points, four tries and a bonus point in the process.

As satisfying as the victory was, however, home form has never really been an issue for the Westerners; rather it has been their performances on the road that has seen them finish bottom of the pile in the competition for the last three seasons.

Connacht haven’t won an away game in the Magners League since April 2008, when they defeated last week’s opposition in Newport. In fact, the trip to Parc y Scarlets this weekend is bound to bring up bad memories for many in Eric Elwood’s party, as Connacht suffered a 48-point humbling at the hands of Llanelli last year, although the game did take place only a week before their heartbreaking Amlin Challenge Cup semi-final against Toulon at the Sportsground.

It might be a big ask for Connacht to take the spoils on Saturday, especially against a Scarlets side reeling from a defeat to new boys Benetton Treviso last time out, but after a hugely encouraging performance against the Dragons, it would be a shame to emerge from their next two games, away to Llanelli and subsequently away to Glasgow, with nothing to show for it.