In his weekly column in the Irish Independent, Tony Ward reviews performances of the four provinces over the festive season.
"Leinster travelled to what was once 'Fortress Ravenhill' and bullied the Ulstermen into submission. And here the finger of blame points firmly in the direction of the expensive, much-lauded Springbok imports.
"That feeling of Ulster folk being sold short in the immediate aftermath of that game was added to with Brian McLaughlin's admission as regards his selection for Limerick, that he had told the players prior to Christmas that he would be fielding what would be effectively two separate teams. You would have expected the heavily loaded line-up that faced Leinster to come out firing with all cylinders on their home patch.
"Instead, in the absence of the talismanic Stephen Ferris, it was Sean O'Brien who ruled the Ravenhill roost. The Tullow man simply must run out in Rome for the opening Six Nations joust, with the back-row position his to lose after that. On the simple premise of form, he's a shoo-in. Nor can there be any counter-argument as regards balance, with a Ferris/ O'Brien/Jamie Heaslip trio picking itself, leaving either David Wallace or Denis Leamy as cover for all three positions on the bench."
RSS feed
