GLASGOW’S DEFEAT OF Munster brought the end to a mixed season of rugby for the Irish provinces.
Defending league champions Leinster looked stale in the Pro12 but nearly went all the way in Europe, while things were the opposite for both Munster and Ulster.
Few would have predicted Connacht’s story back in August, Pat Lam’s side roaring into action before hitting the wall in the spring.
We’ve cast our eye over the season that was, and handed out these grades.
Leinster – C+
A kick of a ball away from a place in the Champions Cup final, but it was their league form that constantly held them back.
In the end, Matt O’Connor’s two year spell as Leinster head coach came to an end after a Pro12 defence the fizzled out with a couple of games to go.
It was the style of play that irked the fans that were calling for O’Connor’s head, with an under-utilised backline not getting the service it needed.
The signings were underwhelming. Kane Douglas saw plenty of gametime but never stamped his authority on the pitch, while Ben Te’o's transition to rugby union was hampered by an arm injury. Jimmy Gopperth looked stale after an excellent debut season, with the return of Johnny Sexton seeing him depart to Wasps
There are plenty of positives for O’Connor’s replacement to work with though. Tadhg Furlong, Darragh Fanning, Jack Conan and Dominic Ryan all came into their own in the Leinster squad, while Luke Fitzgerald’s return to both fitness and form, coupled with Michael Bent’s best season since he arrived on our shores two and a half years ago were major plus points. On top of that, the new coach can look forward to the return of Sexton.
A busy treatment room and an Irish squad packed with Leinster players meant continuity in selection was an issue for O’Connor, but the latter is a problem any new coach will have to deal with immediately.
Overall for Leinster it became a season to forget, but one thing that can’t be forgotten is how close they came to a Champions Cup final.
Ulster – B-
A season that was heading towards disaster by Christmas was pulled together in the final months of the season.
There was an element of transition heading into the campaign. Mark Anscombe and David Humphreys both left, with Neil Doak steering the ship and Les Kiss due to arrive as Director of Rugby after the World Cup.
While a Champions Cup group of Toulon, Leicester and Scarlets looked a daunting prospect, it was the nature of that elimination that hit Ulster hardest.
The Round 4 defeat to the Scarlets all but ended their chances of qualification and the humiliation away to Toulon five weeks later, coupled with Paddy Jackson’s elbow injury, was tough to take.
However Iain Henderson’s return, and the performance the following week against Leicester put some pride back in the jersey, and just one defeat between then and the final day of the season away to Glasgow took them to a league semi-final.
The campaign was ultimately ended with back-to-back defeats away to eventual champions Glasgow, but a place in the playoffs salvaged something from a season that could easily have gone off the rails.
The positives were plentiful. Paddy Jackson came back from injury and hit the ground running. Dropped from the Irish squad in November, he’s now the form 10 in the country.
Chris Henry has been as consistent as ever since returning from a career threatening injury, while Craig Gilroy’s 11 tries saw him finish as the joint top try-scorer in the league.
Stuart McCloskey has emerged as an outside candidate for a World Cup spot, while Stuart Olding would have been well in the mix had it not been for a cruciate ligament injury.
Munster – B
Similar to Ulster, a disappointing European season was salvaged by good form in the league, and it was fine margins that left their campaign a grade above Ulster’s.
Similarly to Ulster, the path to the last eight in Europe was daunting. Munster, Clermont and Saracens had all made it to at least the semi-finals of the Heineken Cup in the previous two seasons; at least one of the trio would be facing elimination from the group stage come January.
In the end, it proved to be Munster. The seven-point defeat at Thomond Park was the one that proved most decisive in the end, a game in which they never got going but still lost marginally.
Three defeats in a row before Christmas put Anthony Fokey under a lot of pressure in his first season in charge, but the destruction of Leinster on St Stephen’s Day stopped the rot in style.
One defeat in 11 games brought them to the final of the Pro12, but the season ended on a sour note with Saturday’s defeat to Glasgow in Belfast.
The positives for Foley will be the emergence of leaders in his squad, with Felix Jones and Conor Murray stepping up to captain the side on occasion, while Duncan Casey’s consistency at hooker helped them avoid what had the potential to be a real crisis in that position.
CJ Stander has flourished this season while Keith Earls looked fresh and fast after an injury-hit season.
Ian Keatley’s end-of-season form will be a worry though, and with JJ Hanrahan departing for Northampton in the summer, Munster’s depth at out-half will certainly be tested.
Francis Saili’s arrival may solve some of the creativity issues in the centre of the pitch, but unless the service at 10 improves, his talents could be wasted.
Connacht – B+
They were on for an A, but fatigue caught up on them.
The season turned in Cardiff in at the beginning of March, with just one win from the final seven matches leaving them agonisingly short of a place in the Champions Cup for next season.
The seventh-place finish did give them a shot through the playoffs, but a clearly jaded side were dramatically beaten in a 40-32 semi-final thriller against Gloucester.
However, when they look back at the season that was, they’ll see a highest-ever finish in the league, a record points haul of 50 (breezing past the 39 they picked up four years ago), and a full 15 points more than their total last season.
In a squad filled with young Irish players, it was the quantity, rather than quality of them that cost Connacht as the season wore on.
Bundee Aki was beginning to flourish before his injury in January, while Denis Buckley’s consistency at loosehead prop was the anchor for one of the best scrums in the league.
Mils Muliaina’s signing was a noteworthy disaster, and Mick Kearney’s departure to Leinster will be a killer blow next season.
The next phase for Pat Lam’s side will be crucial. A backwards step next season will crumble the foundations laid over the last nine months.
