Magners League Review

Provincial

14th May 2007

The Time to Play is over, the time to review is here. Who scored the most points? The most tries? It is all here in our Magners League Review.

The Time to Play is over, the time to review is here. Who scored the most points? The most tries? It is all here in our Magners League Review.

The Ospreys have been crowned 2006-07 Magners League Champions after a 26-16 win over the Border Reivers on Saturday evening. However they were pushed all the way by the Scottish side, who were playing their last ever game. Sonny Parker scored two tries as the Ospreys piped Cardiff Blues to the title by a solitary point creating a Welsh 1-2 in the Magners League final table.

The Blues had kept themselves in the running for the trophy thanks to a 27-11 bonus point win over Leinster on Friday night - which had ended Leinster's own title aspirations, but they did end the season as the top Irish finisher for the first time.

Elsewhere on Friday night Llanelli Scarlets and Ulster both ended their campaigns with wins; the Scarlets beating Connacht 19-10 and Ulster overcoming Edinburgh 16-10, whilst on Saturday Munster continued their fine end to the season, securing sixth place in the table thanks to a 38-20 victory over Glasgow Warriors, the highest placed Scottish team.

PREVIOUS LEAGUE CHAMPIONS

2001-02 Leinster beat Munster 24-20 in the final at Lansdowne Road on 15 December 2001
2002-03 Munster beat Neath 37-17 in the final at Millennium Stadium on 1 February 2003
2003-04 Llanelli Scarlets topped the table with 76 points from 22 matches
2004-05 Ospreys headed the table with 76 points from 20 matches
2005-06 Ulster topped the table with 75 points from 20 matches (including 8 points from bye weeks)
2006-07 Ospreys headed the table with 64 points from 20 matches

Top Points Scorers

Nobody could quite match Felipe Contempomi's 2005/06 tally of 287 points. Glasgow's Dan Parks topped the scoring list with Contepomi in second place.

Player Team Apps Tries Cons Pens DG Total

Dan Parks

Glasgow Warriors

16+3

4

27

38

3

197

Felipe Contepomi

Leinster

16+2

4

34

33

0

187

Ben Blair

Cardiff Blues

16

5

24

29

0

160

David Humphreys

Ulster

15+1

1

25

31

0

148

Ceri Sweeney

Newport Gwent Dragons

14

2

14

31

2

137

James Hook

Ospreys

12+3

2

18

26

1

127

Stephen Jones

Llanelli Scarlets

10

2

23

20

0

116

Chris Paterson

Edinburgh

11

2

14

25

0

113

Mark McHugh

Connacht

17+2

1

10

25

2

106

Ceiron Thomas

Llanelli Scarlets

13+5

4

12

17

0

95

Ronan O'Gara

Munster

9+2

0

15

20

0

90

Paul Warwick

Connacht

16+2

4

11

14

2

90

Calum MacRae

Border Reivers

14

0

5

23

0

79

Jeremy Manning

Munster

10+4

0

7

18

2

74

Shaun Connor

Ospreys

8+4

1

8

10

3

60

Duncan Hodge

Edinburgh

8+9

1

8

11

2

60

Colin Gregor

Glasgow Warriors

6+9

1

4

11

1

49

Paul Steinmetz

Ulster

16+1

5

3

6

0

49

Nick Robinson

Cardiff Blues

16+2

2

7

6

2

48

Aled Thomas

Newport Gwent Dragons

8+3

1

10

5

1

43

Barry Davies

Llanelli Scarlets

9+5

7

1

0

0

37

Paddy Wallace

Ulster

16+2

1

5

6

1

36

Top Try Scorers

The record haul stands at 12 tries in a season - Jamie Robinson of Cardiff in 2003/04 and Kevin Morgan of the Dragons in 2004/05.

Despite Leinster's star studded backline it is back row Jamie Heaslip who leads the way, tied on seven tries with Ulster's Andrew Trimble and Barry Davies and Darren Danile of the Scarlets.

Player	Team	Apps	Tries
Barry Davies	Llanelli Scarlets	9+5	7
Darren Daniel	Llanelli Scarlets	14+1	7
Jamie Heaslip	Leinster	20	7
Andrew Trimble	Ulster	13	7
Denis Hickie	Leinster	16	6
Dafydd James	Llanelli Scarlets	12+1	6
Shane Williams	Ospreys	13	6
Tom Shanklin	Cardiff Blues	9+4	6
Aled Brew	Newport Gwent Dragons	15+2	5
Adam Black	Newport Gwent Dragons	18+1	5
Ben Blair	Cardiff Blues	16	5
Lee Byrne	Ospreys	12+3	5
Bryn Cunningham	Ulster	15+1	5
Gavin Evans	Llanelli Scarlets	13+4	5
Shane Horgan	Leinster	11	5
Regan King	Llanelli Scarlets	16+2	5
Xavier Rush	Cardiff Blues	18	5
Paul Steinmetz	Ulster	16+1	5

Red Cards

Only one red card was handed out this season - to Martyn Williams.

Yellow Cards

Leinster, unffortunately, top the table in this one with a total seventeen (17) yellows. Leinster top scorer was also their top offender as Felipe Contempomi picked up three yellows in the league.

Munster on fifteen (15) yellows were the second highest in the league, and Connacht on fourteen (14) just behind them. Ulster were the best of the provinces and the best in the league with only six yellow cards to their name.

Leinster: Felipe Contepomi(3), Brian Blaney(2), Ronan McCormack(3), Jamie Heaslip(2), Stan Wright(2), Keith Gleeson, Will Green, Denis Hickie, Malcolm O'Kelly, Fosi Pa'alamo.

Munster: Donnacha Ryan(2), Marcus Horan(2), Tony Buckley, Brian Carney, Andy Kyriacou, Denis Leamy, Donncha O'Callaghan, Mick O'Driscoll, Ronan O'Gara, John O'Sullivan, Federico Pucciariello, Tim Ryan, Frankie Sheahan.

Connacht: Matt Lacey(3), David Gannon(2), Mark McHugh(2), John Muldoon(2), Colm Rigney, Brett Sturgess, Michael Swift, Danny Riordan, Ted Robinson.

Ulster: Justin Harrison(2), Ryan Caldwell, Kieran Campbell, Matt McCullough, Andrew Trimble.