Magners League: Round 13 Review

Ulster returned to winning ways in the Magners League at the weekend, while six-try Leinster continue to put pressure on the champions.

…Round 14 Fixtures: Friday, Jan 26: Dragons v Borders, Rodney Parade, 7.30pm…Edinburgh v Connacht, Murrayfield, 7.30pm…Glasgow v Cardiff, Hughenden, 7.30pm…Leinster v Llanelli, Donnybrook, 7.40pm; Saturday, Jan 27: Ospreys v Ulster, Liberty Stadium, 5.30pm…Munster: Free Weekend…

Ulster returned to winning ways in the Magners League at the weekend, six-try Leinster continued to put pressure on the champions whilst Munster lost ground when they went down to the Dragons.

Ulster battled hard for a three-try victory over Glasgow on Saturday. The Warriors were tough opponents for Mark McCall’s men and were still in contention going into the final quarter. But tries from Neil Best and Tommy Bowe, adding to a first half effort from Rory Best, saw the league leaders return to form and retain their top spot in the table.

Meanwhile, the most anticipated fixture of the round was played at Donnybrook where second-placed Leinster hosted the third in the table Ospreys. The in-form Welsh region managed to score three tries in Dublin, but they were not enough to prevent Leinster from closing the margin on Ulster at the summit to two points – Michael Cheika’s side ran in six tries of their own with a brace each from Rob Kearney and Brian O’Driscoll.

At the Arms Park, the Blues’ back row ere in top form as Cardiff put five tries past bottom side Borders to maintain their 100% home record. Flanker Rhys Shellard led the way with two tries with number eight Xavier Rush and blindside Ben White also scoring.

Friday night was ‘home night’ in the Magners League. At Rodney Parade, the Newport Gwent Dragons extended their unbeaten home record to six matches against Munster. Ceri Sweeney’s 14 points were at the heart of a second half comeback from the Dragons. The defeat continued the European champions’ poor league form in Wales, with the high points being centre Lifeimi Mafi’s two first half tries.

At Murrayfield the boot dominated the contest between Edinburgh and the Llanelli Scarlets. Though the Welsh outfit scored the only try through Darren Daniel, Chris Paterson and Duncan Hodge kicked 24 points between them to maintain the visitors’ losing record at the home of Scottish rugby.


MAGNERS LEAGUE TABLE

Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	TB	LB	Pts
Ulster	12	8	1	3	279	170	4	1	39
Leinster	12	7	1	4	283	221	5	2	37
Cardiff Blues	11	7	0	4	232	177	2	3	33
Edinburgh	11	6	1	4	199	178	0	3	29
Ospreys	11	6	0	5	236	237	2	3	29
Llanelli Scarlets	10	6	0	4	232	234	4	0	28
Munster	12	6	0	6	187	198	0	2	26
Newport Gwent Dragons	10	5	0	5	169	184	0	4	24
Glasgow Warriors	12	5	0	7	240	272	1	2	23
Connacht	12	3	1	8	195	249	1	4	19
Border Reivers	11	1	0	10	124	256	0	3	7

TOP TRY SCORERS

Name	Team	Tries
Darren Daniel	Llanelli Scarlets	7
Denis Hickie	Leinster	6
Tommy Bowe	Ulster	4
Bryn Cunningham	Ulster	4
Gavin Evans	Llanelli Scarlets	4
Matt Mostyn	Connacht	4
Brian O’Driscoll	Leinster	4
Paul Steinmetz	Ulster	4
Xavier Rush	Cardiff Blues	3
Simon Danielli	Border Reivers	3
Ben White	Cardiff Blues	3
Aled Brew	Newport Gwent Dragons	3
Ben Blair	Cardiff Blues	3
Lee Byrne	Ospreys	3
Chris Czekaj	Cardiff Blues	3
Thom Evans	Glasgow Warriors	3
Jamie Heaslip	Leinster	3
Dafydd James	Llanelli Scarlets	3
Regan King	Llanelli Scarlets	3
Neil Best	Ulster	3
Nathan Brew	Newport Gwent Dragons	3
Dan Parks	Glasgow Warriors	3

TOP POINTS SCORERS

Name	Team	T	C	PG	DG	Pts
David Humphreys	Ulster	1	17	25	0	114
Dan Parks	Glasgow Warriors	3	14	21	2	112
Chris Paterson	Edinburgh	2	12	24	0	106
Ben Blair	Cardiff Blues	3	14	18	0	97
Felipe Contepomi	Leinster	2	17	17	0	95
Mark McHugh	Connacht	1	8	22	2	93
Ceri Sweeney	Newport Gwent Dragons	1	7	22	2	91
Calum MacRae	Border Reivers	0	4	20	0	68
Stephen Jones	Llanelli Scarlets	0	11	14	0	64
James Hook	Ospreys	0	9	15	0	63
Jeremy Manning	Munster	0	3	17	2	63
Ronan O’Gara	Munster	0	5	14	0	52
Colin Gregor	Glasgow Warriors	1	1	10	1	40

BEST KICKERS

Name	Team	Good	Att	Kick%
Colin Gregor	Glasgow Warriors	11	12	91.67
James Hook	Ospreys	24	29	82.76
Jeremy Manning	Munster	20	25	80
Ronan O’Gara	Munster	19	24	79.17
Chris Paterson	Edinburgh	36	46	78.26
Dan Parks	Glasgow Warriors	35	45	77.78
Mark McHugh	Connacht	30	39	76.92
David Humphreys	Ulster	42	55	76.36
Felipe Contepomi	Leinster	34	45	75.56
Ben Blair	Cardiff Blues	32	43	74.42
Ceri Sweeney	Newport Gwent Dragons	29	39	74.36
Stephen Jones	Llanelli Scarlets	25	35	71.43
Paul Warwick	Connacht	7	10	70
Ceiron Thomas	Llanelli Scarlets	13	19	68.42
Calum MacRae	Border Reivers	24	36	66.67
Paddy Wallace	Ulster	7	12	58.33
Qual: 10 place kicks at goal.

RESULTS ROUND 13

Friday, January 5, 2007 at Rodney Parade:
Newport Gwent Dragons (6) 19: Ceri Sweeney(C/D/3P) Jamie Ringer(T)
Munster (12) 12: Jeremy Manning(C) Lifeimi Mafi(2T)
Attendance: 5352

Friday 5 January 5, 2007 at Murrayfield:
Edinburgh (9) 24: Duncan Hodge(D/2P) Chris Paterson(5P)
Llanelli Scarlets (9) 14: Darren Daniel(T) Stephen Jones(3P)
Attendance: 2137

Saturday, January 6, 2007 at Arms Park:
Cardiff Blues (10) 36: Ben White(T) Ben Blair(4C/P) Jamie Robinson(T) Xavier Rush(T) Rhys Shellard(2T)
Border Reivers (8) 15: Garry Law(T) Calum MacRae(C/P) Simon Danielli(T)
Attendance: 5169

Saturday, January 6, 2007 at Hughenden:
Glasgow Warriors (0) 8: Andy Newman(T) Dan Parks(P)
Ulster (7) 19: Neil Best(T) Rory Best(T) Tommy Bowe(T) Paddy Wallace(2C)
Attendance: 2799

Saturday, January 6, 2007 at Donnybrook:
Leinster (17) 45: Felipe Contepomi(5C/P) Denis Hickie(T) Brian O’Driscoll(2T) Rob Kearney(2T) Keith Gleeson(T) Jonathan Sexton(C)
Ospreys (8) 22: Brent Cockbain(T) Richie Pugh(T) Shaun Connor(2C/P) Stefan Terblanche(T)
Attendance: 6000