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Magners League: Round 13 Review

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