Interpros show little has changed

Time was when the last of the summer honeymooners might still be given special dispensation around now and most players would be gently easing their way into the thoughts of, say, a club league campaign and maybe half a dozen competitive matches before Christmas to peak for. All has changed, changed utterly.

Instead, one of the meatiest mouthfuls of the season is scarcely 12 days away (the announcement of Ireland's 30-man World Cup squad) and already two rounds of the interprovincials have established a two-tiered championship, leaving one of the pointless provinces with a beleaguered team and coach whose honeymoon period is over.

Connacht's dismal start to the campaign has undermined any attractions in Ireland's opening World Cup preparatory match against the westerners in the Sportsground this Saturday. No doubt it seemed a good idea at the time, but it sure as hell doesn't now.

It's difficult to see how Glenn Ross or anyone else can turn Connacht around by next Saturday. If Ireland approach this fixture as professionally as Munster did, what are they to do, run up a ton?

Now, not alone are Connacht likely to get another hiding, in a way Ireland are on a hiding to nothing as well, especially if they seek to use the fixture to experiment and focus on specific areas, and don't emulate the last two visitors to the Sportsground.

"Take it easy on us Gatty," is likely to be the plaintive demand to their former Messiah. And he probably will. For starters, the squad is, of necessity, a mite too large to focus on one game just yet, and will have spent the first couple of days this week concentrating on fitness testing.

By the time Ireland do turn their attention to matters Connacht, they are liable to field several of the eight overseas-based players who have yet to play a game this season.

Essentially, the game is a chance to re-establish the basics. Even in the context of the "match", Warren Gatland has already stated that games such as these afford the opportunity to experiment and concentrate on specific areas for spells. Yet ultimately, if Ireland don't heap further embarrassment on Connacht, they'll be attracting it on themselves.

During the holiday season in Connemara, the local All Blacks played host to Connacht for the dedication of their impressive £50,000 investment in a clubhouse, practice pitch and car park at what is the most picturesque rugby ground in the country.

A theory doing the rounds then was that Connacht's identity and spirit has been dampened by the presence of too many non-home-grown players in the dressing-room. It is a moot point: winning or losing affects the morale of a team more than the variety of accents in the dressing-room. In any case, Connacht look like a team that could do with three weeks off.

Leinster, too, find themselves already climbing up a hill backwards to qualify for next season's European Cup, but they must also host Argentina next Tuesday.

Leinster at least have the resources to experiment, and they look in need of the opportunity. Even in his five-minute cameo, Derek Hegarty seemed to provide a snappier service, while elsewhere the age-old Leinster problem areas of open-side, out-half and leadership remain, to which can be added a more balanced midfield.

Aside from Hegarty, Emmet Farrell provides an option at out-half until Mike Ruddock unearths a Southern Hemisphere signing, as does Peter McKenna in midfield, although this could force Brian O'Driscoll to inside centre.

The one shining light in Leinster's opening defeats has undoubtedly been O'Driscoll - the classiest player of the interpros so far. Single-handedly, he elevated the game and energised the crowd with his two late runs.

Although his second intervention ended with an attempted kick ahead rebounding off his knee and over the in-goal area, the crowd's reaction said a multitude. After the moans of disappointment subsided and silence descended over Donnybrook, O'Driscoll began trotting back toward his team-mates for the ensuing drop-out and virtually everybody joined in the applause for him. Different class.

Meanwhile, the unbeaten pair of Munster and Ulster can afford to take stock after what Declan Kidney has described as phase one of the interpros, before resuming against each other in three weeks at an Ulster venue still to be determined.

"With all due humility, it's the mark of a good side to not play well and win a game like that," said Harry Williams after Friday's game. It may not have been a classic, but it held the crowd's attention, the size of which was a compliment to the 19 internationals present.

The Ulster coach genially accepted that it was the type of game they probably would have lost a year ago. Ulster are still on a roll: this was their 10th straight win since last October in competitive fixtures, whereas Leinster's young, remodelled team needs a win to gain some momentum.

Nothing about the opening two rounds of the interpros has been surprising. Like Ulster, Munster have carried on where they left off, and have now lost only two of their last 12 competitive games.

By contrast, Connacht and Leinster each finished last season losing four games, and have extended those runs to six. Indeed, in their last six games, Connacht have conceded an horrendous 249 points.

Munster and Ulster have also strengthened their squads again and approached this campaign with only one of their allotted 24 full-time contracts to fill and knew exactly what they'd liked to do with them. Connacht and Leinster each have three to fill, and a number of question marks about specific positions remain.

The net result is that Connacht are already resigned to the Conference again next season, while Leinster aren't a whole lot better off. Of course, they've still to face Connacht twice and will be fancied to beat them twice, although one can imagine Connacht targeting their sixth successive home win over Leinster in a big way.

Even then, Leinster will still probably have to beat Munster and Ulster to break into the top two, unless one or other of the leaders does the double over the other. Thus, Leinster's likeliest route into next season's European Cup is through one of the Irish teams reaching the semi-finals of this season's Cup.

Munster were right to reject Ulster's proposal to reverse their fixtures, as it would have given Williams's team three successive home games in the second half of the campaign. With that return home fixture to come, a hunch says Munster will get there in the end.