Who’s hot and who’s not: ‘Delicious demonstration’ cooked up by Glasgow on weekend featuring worrying ‘lack of bite’ from Saracens and Munster
It was a weekend to remember for George Horne and Glasgow, left, but a forgettable one for Saracens and Theo Dan
It’s time for our Monday wrap of who has their name in lights and who is making the headlines for all the wrong reasons after the weekend.
THEY’RE ON FIRE!
Glasgow: Disappointingly pipped at the post last time out in Connacht, there was pressure on Franco Smith’s Warriors when they hosted United Rugby Championship title rivals Leinster on Saturday. Scottish rugby had suffered a bloody nose with Gregor Townsend’s national team blown away by Ireland in their Triple Crown game the previous weekend, and that reputation took another bang when Glasgow gave up an intercept try to go behind after dominating the early exchanges. Fret not, though.
The riposte cooked up by the Scotstoun side was a delicious demonstration in how to apply pressure and exploit space when the opposition are in card trouble. Leinster were one man down when conceding their first try and two down when the next three were run in. There was even a worldie from Kyle Rowe. It was a devastating show of Glasgow power. The second half was largely a bogged down spectacle, but the 38-17 win now has the leaders nine points ahead of the fourth place Leinster, with respective four- and eight-point cushions over the second and third Stormers and Ulster teams with five rounds remaining. The 2024 champions are looking good to win back that title.
Bath: Who says lightning can’t strike twice in the West Country? It was December 2024 when Johann van Graan’s side filleted Saracens, inflicting a record-breaking 68-10 defeat on the Londoners. A 14th-minute red card was an excuse for that capitulation but even with the visitors having 15 players for this contest, apart from Theo Dan’s late yellow card, they were simply no match for a home side, who picked up the thread nicely after a nine-week lay-off in the PREM.
There were eight different try-scorers in this nine-try thunderbolt of a 62-15 win, highlighting how they certainly are no one-man team, and it wasn’t as if the win was a complete stroll either. They had to fight for the right to repeatedly strike. They went behind after just 53 seconds and were only 21-15 up nearing the interval. However, a lovely Henry Arundell intercept was the ignition for the hosts to win the closing 43 minute of the match 41-0. That was an impressively relentless dismissal, and the intrigue is whether they have mentally melted Saracens ahead of their Investec Champions Cup rematch at The Rec on April 4.
Sharks: Fixtures between the Sharks and Munster have always been won by whichever side happens to be at home, but there was something about the South African team’s 45-0 win on Saturday in their latest URC clash that will have made the rest of the league sit up and take notice. Yes, Munster are struggling to make things click, but the ravenous manner of the Sharks win – scoring three tries in the closing minutes at Kings Park after laying a solid, dominant foundation to have the win already comfortably secured – suggested their current 11th place won’t last and they can make the play-offs.
They still have their inconsistencies, as seen in recent South African derbies, but when they put their mind to it, they are a clinical operation, be it choking an opposition at the scrum or putting some space-exploiting width on their attack. Not even the late withdrawals of Ethan Hooker and Siya Kolisi unsettled them at the weekend. You’d back them to go on and pick off Cardiff, Benetton and Zebre at home, but it’s their April away games at Ospreys and Edinburgh that will be key for an outfit rejuvenated by JP Pietersen’s December appointment.
Bordeaux: Matthieu Jalibert would have been well within his rights to sack off rugby this past week after his important role in delivering the Six Nations for France. After the axe of February 2025, it was quite the Test-level revival. However, rather than taking a break to bask in his rebound, he was back at it with his club in their sumptuous 44-20 win over a table-topping Toulouse side that had the fit-again Romain Ntamack, Jalibert’s July rival for the No.10 Test jersey, calling their shots.
The first half was swings and roundabouts. Ntamack finished off a move that initiated when Jalibert was burgled after carrying to a ruck, but the Bordeaux player hit back with a smashing assist for Madosh Tambwe to score. In the second, though, Jalibert came into his own after Ntamack had a try disallowed for a Peato Mauvaka infringement. It was Jalbert’s intercept that created the game-breaking Maxime Lucu try, and there were good hands again to set to Arthur Retière before his quick-tap sweep from one 22 to the other ended with Toulouse sub Lucien Richardis yellow carded for taking out after a kick ahead. All in all, a nice feather for Jalibert to have in his cap.
Hurricanes: It’s 10 years since the New Zealand franchise won its one and only Super Rugby title but is there something genuinely stirring to suggest this decade anniversary will be celebrated by Clark Laidlaw’s team winning title No.2. They fell behind early at the Highlanders in Dunedin at the weekend, but their response was exquisite, rallying to lead 19-7 at the break before flooring the accelerator to record the 5-7 win that had them on top of the log with a game in hand on the Blues, who also have 20 points.
They won’t have liked their scrum suffering a second-half yellow card, but they will salivate over the slick manner of their passing. Two-try Cam Roigard, naturally, is a leader in this tipping it on skill, but there was a queue of willing accomplices putting tempo and width on the ball. It was no surprise that there was a hat-trick for Fehi Fineanganofo, his second of the five-game-old season, which next has them playing at home in Wellington versus the Reds on Saturday.
New Zealand Rugby appoint ex-All Blacks coach to take over the reins at the Blues
Leicester: With the pugnacious Michael Cheika only hanging around at Welford Road for a season despite Tigers’ uplifting run to the PREM Rugby final, there would have been anxiety that the first year with Geoff Parling at the helm could mark a return to the frustrations of the short-lived Dan McKellar era. It hasn’t. Fresh from their PREM Cup final success, their return to league action on Sunday culminated in an irresistible finish to blow Bristol away. The Bears were poised to complete a comeback that took them to within a point of their Welford Road hosts 13 minutes into the second half, but Tigers held strong to see out the remaining time 13-0 and bag the result that now has them third on the table.
They were clinical around the corner in generating the Izaia Perese try, but what happened with the clock in the red underlined their ambition to play and express themselves. Eight points up, Freddie Steward could have easily booted the ball into the stands to end the game. Instead, his kick from his 22 was expertly caught by Billy Searle and his pass was taken at full-tilt by Gabriel Hamer-Webb for a superb bonus-point try.
Yokohama Canon Eagles: Faf de Klerk was at the heart of the Japan league’s upset result of the season. The bottom side Eagles were supposed to be easy-beats on Friday away to the table-topping Kobelco Kobe Steelers, but the double Rugby World Cup winner – featuring in just his third game this season – was having none of that consensus and his first-half hat-trick was integral to fracturing Kobe’s expectation of an 11th straight win.
De Klerk’s contribution had Leon MacDonald’s side 24-10 up at the break, but that was far from the whole story as a Kobe comeback had them ahead by five points with 12 minutes remaining and seemingly poised to head off the Eagles’ scare. Late tries, though, from Billy Harmon and Ryo Tabata secured the upset.
Nigel Owens weighs in on controversial final France penalty as clarity provided after confusion
Lions: The transition from Super Rugby to the URC hasn’t been easy for the Jo’burg franchise, but are they about to end a miserable run that has seen them finish 12th, ninth, ninth and 11th by finally winning their way through to the end-of-season play-offs for the first time? They started off their latest campaign with a miserable tour, losing at Cardiff, Zebre and Benetton but they are now in the groove and last Saturday’s 54-17 hammering of Edinburgh, with Morne van den Berg again excellent, has them in seventh place with ambitions of going even higher.
A curiosity of the URC schedule is how the organisers marry having South African teams involved with European opposition, and a 2026 quirk somehow results in Ivan van Rooyen’s Lions having seven straight home matches. They have so far won three of these on the bounce after an initial glitch against the Bulls. With Dragons, Glasgow and Connacht all due at Ellis Park before the end of April, a play-off spot could already be secured before their two-game Irish tour in May.
Connacht: Only last week in this very column were we singing the praises of Ulster boss Richie Murphy and the progress he had made in turning them from also-rans into URC title contenders. Backboning that progress was re-establishing Ravenhill as a fortress, and having gone unbeaten in Belfast this season, home advantage was seen as a key factor in potentially finishing the campaign in the top two and securing a home semi-final after home advantage in the quarter-finals.
Stuart Lancaster’s Connacht, though, have put that summation in jeopardy with their superb second half last Friday, which gave them a deserved 26-19 win to generate optimism that they can play their way into the final eight. Wing Finn Treacy is very much an underrated player, and he showcased his finishing prowess with his two tries in a riveting conclusion to a match that had slumbered through its first half. There was also an interesting bit of biff at the finish, with player of the match Bundee Aki in the ear of Jacob Stockdale with a verbal volley. The West is very much awake at the moment!
Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust.
COLD AS ICE!
Saracens: Listening to Mark McCall explaining his team’s latest crash at The Rec, you were transported back to the time when things miserably fell apart for him long ago at Ulster. He had served a useful apprenticeship there under Alan Solomons before taking over, and a 2006 Celtic League title win hinted at a successful tenure, but he had resigned less than 18 months later. McCall’s time at Saracens had been laden with trophies but having signalled his intention to step away from his director of rugby role at the end of the season, there is a danger that it could all unravel in a season where their in-game inconsistencies are maddening.
They were initially competitive at Bath, taking an early lead and set to go in at the break trailing by not very much. However, they gifted the hosts an intercept try before the half-time whistle and their lack of bite and coordination in the second half was terrible. Remember, The Rec is a ground where they won 71-17 not so long ago, but they have now been beaten 68-10 and 62-15 in successive matches there and must visit again on Saturday week in the Champions Cup. With even someone as dependable as Owen Farrell playing terribly, they need a sharp response when hosting Northampton at Tottenham next Saturday.
Munster: It was always going to be an issue for the Irish province, keeping up the bounce they enjoyed when Clayton McMillan initially arrived as their new boss. They lit up the early stages of the URC but their winter of gloom, combining inconsistent league form with a brutal Champions Cup exit, has left them picking up the spring-time pieces, and it so far has been an excruciating ordeal.
Unconvincing home wins over perennial strugglers Dragons and Zebre (both minus a four-try bonus), either side of a late fade at Glasgow, weren’t a cure, and their backs are very much to the wall now in South Africa after a worrying 0-45 loss at the Sharks. Munster don’t help themselves with an unreliable set-piece, and overplaying the ball in the wrong areas of the pitch is also a stumbling block. It’s easy to say that the squad inherited by McMillan isn’t strong enough. Everyone knows it isn’t, but they still can’t go down without showing a fight. That is bad for the brand, and how they respond next Saturday at the Bulls will be interesting.
Toulon: Coaching at the Mediterranean club has increasingly become stressful. Having dominated Europe with that hat-trick of titles and also winning a Top 14, the expectation there has always been to win trophies every year. That pressure has meant there is only ever a short window allowed for team building, but the gap between them and leading outfits Toulouse and Bordeaux is widening, and it recently necessitated boss Pierre Mignoni taking a break from the sidelines due to what was described as a ‘breakdown’.
He was back on duty at the weekend, but his return wasn’t accompanied by an upswing in fortunes. Toulon had been winless in their last three, losing to Pau and Clermont as well as drawing at Lyon, and that run stretched to four with their 46-27 home loss to Stade Francais. There are still seven rounds of matches remaining in the league, so their situation isn’t hopeless. But they are now in ninth place, seven points behind Clermont in the sixth and final play-off spot, so their margin of error has been reduced.
Ranked: Six Nations teams as kicking is up in 2026 with England’s making ‘striking retreat’
Leinster: Having repeatedly messed up at the knockout stages of the URC since the ‘big four’ from South Africa joined in 2021/22, Leo Cullen was excellent in driving his Irish province to the title last year by ensuring they finished top of the table to secure home advantage for their quarter, semi and final matches. However, it now seems as if shoddy execution on their travels will force them to try and retain the title the hard way in June. Much was made about how poor they were in their start-of-campaign losses at the Stormers and Bulls, but they recovered that lost ground over the winter only to now lose it again.
The one-point loss at Cardiff was sore, but Saturday’s surrender at Glasgow was far more painful as so much of the loss was self-inflicted. Having two players in the sin-bin at the same time was a ridiculous situation and the damage was costly. The hosting of Scarlets next Friday should alleviate some of that frustration before they focus on Europe, but their away game at Ulster and Benetton in April are now crucial if they are to finish as high up the URC table as possible. That can’t continue being so generous away from home.
Bristol: How long can Pat Lam’s Bears continue without making finals and challenging for trophies? Their pandemic-era Challenge Cup final win over Toulon now seems like a lifetime ago and with a likely troublesome trip to Toulouse on the horizon in the Champions Cup, they need to be at their best and give it their all in the PREM.
Three semi-finals in seven top-flight seasons under Lam isn’t good enough for such a flamboyant team that has had more than its fair share of stars over the years, and the manner of Sunday’s loss should rankle. They should have been well able to close the deal when moving to within a point of Leicester with plenty of time remaining, but they wound up getting defeated by 14 points and, as a consequence, tumbled down the table into fifth place and outside the play-off spots.
Wallabies bolstered as former All Blacks coach added to their backroom staff
Waratahs: Eighth place in coach ex-Leicester coach McKellar’s first season in charge at the Sydney franchise wasn’t good enough, and there were high hopes of a big improvement in 2026. They began the year promisingly with wins over the Reds and the Drua, but fortunes have since swung the other way and a 20-35 loss to the Blues was a third loss on the bounce.
All the more frustrating was that they somehow managed to blow a 12-point interval lead in Sydney. It drops them to seventh on the table and facing a moment of truth away to the third place Brumbies next weekend followed by an Easter weekend trip to the Chiefs. It would be unimaginable for their season to be over so soon, but that is the dubious prospect they are facing unless they quickly snap this winless run.
Harlequins: Things were already embarrassing at the London club, but there seems to be no end to the depths of despair they are reaching in the PREM. Last Saturday’s home loss to Gloucester was their sixth defeat in succession in the league, leaving them with a paltry 11 points after 11 matches. So terrible is this return that they are a whopping 29 points behind Exeter, who occupy the fourth and final play-off spot.
That’s just not on for a club that would have come into the campaign with notions of winning the title. It’s time for a major clear-out as they have clearly lost their way, and there is only so much dross their loyal fans can tolerate.