Irish Rugby makes unwanted history after disastrous weekend
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Not good.
Irish Rugby has suffered an unwanted first in 17 years after all four provinces opened the new United Rugby Championship season with defeat.
Munster’s 26-20 loss to Glasgow Warriors at Thomond Park on Saturday evening completed a clean sweep of opening-round defeats for the Irish sides for the first time since the 2009/10 season.
It capped a difficult opening weekend which saw Munster, Leinster, Ulster and Connacht all come up short, with three of those defeats arriving on home soil.
Connacht were the first to fall, losing 29-15 to the Stormers in Galway on Friday night as Stuart Lancaster’s side were overpowered in the second half by the visitors.
Things didn’t improve in Belfast later that evening.
Ulster found themselves 34-5 behind against Edinburgh before producing a remarkable second-half fightback, but Richie Murphy’s side ultimately ran out of time in a 34-29 defeat.
Leinster then suffered the narrowest loss of the weekend in South Africa on Saturday.
Leo Cullen named a youthful side to face the Lions at Ellis Park, with Fintan Gunne scoring a first-half hat-trick as the visitors threatened to begin their campaign with an impressive away victory.
The Lions eventually edged a dramatic contest 27-26, leaving Leinster empty-handed in Johannesburg.
That left Munster with the opportunity to salvage something from the weekend for the Irish provinces.
Clayton McMillan’s side looked well placed to do exactly that after taking a 17-7 lead into half-time against Glasgow at Thomond Park. However, the Warriors took control after the break and scored the final two tries of the game to complete a 26-20 bonus-point victory.
The result meant all four Irish provinces had started the season with a defeat for the first time in 17 years.
There were at least bonus points to soften the damage, with Ulster collecting two from their comeback against Edinburgh and Munster picking up one against Glasgow.
But after a weekend in which three Irish provinces enjoyed home advantage, an opening-round record of four games and four defeats represents a difficult start to the new URC campaign.
