A host of Ireland players staked their claim for a place in Andy Farrell’s Guinness Six Nations squad in a hard-fought interprovincial clash at Thomond Park on Saturday.
Leinster were made to work very hard for a 13-10 victory over Munster, but in the end Jordan Larmour’s try allowed the visitors to come away with the win.
Larmour is just one of the players on show who will be keen to be involved in the Championship, having not featured in the autumn because of a shoulder injury.
He looked sharp at Thomond Park though, scoring Leinster’s only try, while Garry Ringrose came through his first game back unscathed.
Despite being on the losing side, Tadhg Beirne was named man of the match in the Guinness PRO14 clash, and Farrell will have been impressed by his work at the breakdown in denying Leinster close to the line on a couple of occasions. He also helped himself to a try as Munster opened up an early ten-point lead.
Elsewhere in the Guinness PRO14, George North finished off a fine score for the Ospreys who came from behind to win 26-20 in Connacht, with Justin Tipuric also prominent. However it was a player left out of Wayne Pivac’s Wales squad, Rhys Webb, who reminded his national coach of his capabilities with two tries in the comeback.
Webb was not the only player omitted by Wales to impress, with James Botham named man of the match for his performance for Cardiff Blues against the Scarlets on Friday night, racking up 25 tackles in a 13-10 success.
Finally, Jaco van der Walt helped himself to 16 points for Edinburgh in a 26-10 victory in Parma to celebrate his inclusion in Gregor Townsend’s Scotland squad this week.
Over in France, it was the hookers who were grabbing the headlines, with two tries apiece for Pierre Bourgarit and Julien Marchand, who will do battle with Camille Chat for a starting role in Fabien Galthié’s France team.
Bourgarit grabbed a double in a 40-3 win for La Rochelle against Bayonne on Friday night, while Marchand crossed twice as Toulouse beat Agen 59-0.
The pick of the games came in Paris where Matthieu Jalibert was in outstanding form in orchestrating a 33-32 victory for Bordeaux-Bègles away to Racing 92. The fly-half has been in fine form as he looks to fill in for the injured Romain Ntamack early in the campaign.
The game did see Virimi Vakatawa limp off early for Racing 92, and he will not be at France’s training camp in Nice this week, with his place taken by Pierre-Louis Barassi, who helped Lyon to victory at Montpellier.
Finally Damian Penaud, who featured just once for Les Bleus last year because of injury, continued his fine try-scoring run with a try in Clermont’s 59-19 win over Castres.
