GUINNESS PRO12: Round 6 Preview
The largest crowd of the season so far packed into the Aviva Stadium last Saturday to watch Munster claim their first GUINNESS PRO12 victory over Leinster at the venue. The game also marked Denis Hurley’s 100th league appearance – he was joined on that mark by the Dragons’ Jason Tovey on Sunday.
Rhys Priestland’s 13 points for the Scarlets took him over the 800 PRO12 point mark, while Ian Keatley is now just 14 points shy of 1,000 league points and will become only the third player to reach that milestone in the competition.
As the PRO12 enters its last round before the break for European rugby, there are just two teams left across Europe with a 100% winning record – PRO12 leaders Glasgow Warriors and the second-placed Ospreys.
The Warriors are in action against Ulster in Belfast on Saturday evening. With their hosts just five points behind them in the table, this is sure to be one of the games of the round.
The other unbeaten side, the Ospreys, face a team who have lost more games than they have won in Cardiff Blues on Sunday, but with Welsh pride at stake, even with the Ospreys’ historical home advantage, it is too tricky to call the outcome.
Thanks to their win in Dublin, Munster moved up into the play-off zone for the first time this season, and they will want to consolidate their fourth place with a victory over the Scarlets, while the team they deposed, Connacht, will be hoping to reverse their result of last season when they lost to Benetton Treviso in Italy.
Current champions Leinster are also in action in Italy when they face Zebre in Parma. Their hosts have already overturned one Irish province, Ulster, at the Stadio XXV Aprile this season, and Leinster’s indifferent form so far will make them wary of this trip.
The remaining game of the round is a Scottish-Welsh clash with the Newport Gwent Dragons travelling to BT Murrayfield to face Edinburgh. Both teams will be looking to double the number of wins they have gained so far in this campaign.
GUINNESS PRO12 – ROUND 6 FIXTURES:
Friday, October 10 –
MUNSTER (4th) v Scarlets (6th), Thomond Park, 7.35pm (live TG4/BBC 2 Wales)
Benetton Treviso (12th) v CONNACHT (5th), Stadio di Monigo, 8pm local time/7pm Irish time (live Nuvolari TV)
Saturday, October 11 –
Edinburgh (10th) v Newport Gwent Dragons (8th), BT Murrayfield, 2.40pm (live Sky Sports 1 HD)
Zebre (11th) v LEINSTER (7th), Stadio XXV Aprile, 4pm local time/3pm Irish time (live Nuvolari TV)
ULSTER (3rd) v Glasgow Warriors (1st), Kingspan Stadium, 5.05pm (live Sky Sports 4 HD)
Sunday, October 12 –
Ospreys (2nd) v Cardiff Blues (9th), Liberty Stadium, 4pm (live S4C/Nuvolari TV)