There were mixed results for the four provinces in their pre-season games over the weekend with one win, a draw and two losses.
Munster got the action underway with their home friendly against Bristol in Musgrave Park on Friday night. Second half tries from Dave Kilcoyne, Duncan Williams and Sean Scanlon sealed the win for Munster having trailed by 3 – 9 at half time.
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Saturday saw Leinster on the road to Franklin’s Gardens where a near full strength Northampton ran in seven tries to inflict a bif defeat on the Heineken Cup Champions.
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Ulster were also in action on Saturday afternoon and their youthful side mixed it well with a strong Leicester selection and earned a late draw with a try from Chris Cocharane and a conversion from Ireland U-20 Paddy Jackson to make it 14 all.
Connacht came up against a strong Harlequins team at The Stoop over the weekend and Conor O’Shea’s men set out their stall as defending Aviva Premiership champions with a 45 – 11 win.
Connacht coach Eric Elwood felt that he learned a lot about the young players on show without giving Harlequins too much information for when the sides meet later in the season in the Heineken Cup: “They will not have learned much about us, but we learned more about our younger players and what they are capable of playing against a team at the top of its game. However we also needed to come through with a clean bill of health, and so far it is okay – a few knocks and bruises. ”
Munster play host to London Irish next weekend and are sure to give a ‘warm’ welcome to Ireland scrum half Tomas O’Leary if he lines out with his new club.
Leinster are on the road again as they travel to Sale Sharks on Friday night while Ulster will finalise their pre-season with the same night with a game against Newcastle Falcons.
Connacht are not in action next weekend but they kick off their RaboDirect Pro12 season in The Sportsground against Cardiff Blues on September 1st.
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