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21st Oct 2013

Heineken Cup Review: Copeland powers Cardiff, Ulster reign in France and Munster get the job done

Irish eyes are definitely smiling after a clean sweep, while Cardiff pulled the shock of the round against champs Toulon.

JOE

Irish eyes are definitely smiling after a clean sweep, while Cardiff pulled the shock of the round against champs Toulon.

After the first two rounds of the Heineken Cup, the Pools are usually taking shape. If a team has lost its first two matches, they can almost certainly be written off as no team has ever made the knock-out phase after that start. Teams with two wins, like Leinster, Toulouse and Ulster, look nailed on for the quarters already and the rest are just a defeat away from being in real trouble. It’s perfectly poised, so before we pause for the November internationals, here’s what we learned last weekend.

Cardiff might be better than we thought

After getting hammered at Exeter last week, we were all set to write off Cardiff’s Heineken Cup hopes. Conceding 36 points in 40 first-half minutes was as good a sign as any that a team might not be up for it.

We can only assume that the players, and the staff, were so embarrassed by that display that they were determined to restore their reputation against reigning champions Toulon. And boy did they do that.

It took a late Gareth Davies try to do it but the star of the show was Wexford’s Robin Copeland. The former Leinster academy player was the unanimous man of the match and he was a powerhouse at No 8. Like James Hart and Marty Moore, another week brings another young Irish player to the fore, which has to be good news for Joe Schmidt.

The win also leaves Pool 2 wide open after two games, with a point separating top from bottom. It’s going to be some battle to get out of there now.

Ulster magnifique in Montpellier

Once upon a time Ulster’s inability to play well away from home, particularly in France, was the hurdle that often brought them down. They seemed to have rectified that last year, with three away wins in the Pool, but doubts still lingered after their quarter-final KO away to Saracens.

On Saturday, they faced a daunting trip to Montpellier, unbeaten at home on the Top 14, and they spanked them in one of the best away performances ever by an Irish province in the competition.

They led from the time Tommy Bowe scored a try on 11 minutes and they were never caught, forcing a huge number of penalties and turnovers from Montpellier. Ruan Pienaar was immense, Paddy Jackson made a class try-saving tackle (below) and they even denied the French side a losing bonus.

The win leaves Ulster sitting pretty at the top of Pool 5, and in pole position to claim a home quarter-final, something they would very much like this season..

No miracle, but job done by Munster

It wasn’t quite the cracker that the meeting a decade ago had been (how could it be?) but Munster’s win over Gloucester was an important step back onto the right road for Rob Penney’s side.

We’ve seen the win described as unconvincing but surely the result was all that mattered to the men in red. Defeat and it was game over for this year so at least the show is still on the road. It was a weaker Gloucester side than expected, and they hung around until the final quarter, but eventually Munster finished them off.

The set-pieces functioned much better than the week before and Ian Keatley had a good game at 10. As they used to say ‘A lot done, more to do’, but the pain of the Edinburgh loss is at least in the rear-view mirror.

Don’t forget to get involved with the Heineken Star Predictor ‘Get in The Game’ where you can put your rugby knowledge to the test by predicting the outcome of this weekend’s games. The top prize is a pair of VIP tickets to the 2014 Heineken Cup Final in Cardiff and there are other prizes to be won throughout the season.Click here to start predicting.