It was mostly a good weekend for the Irish provinces.
With only one round to go the make-up of the quarter-finals are beginning to take shape.
Both Munster and Leinster have secured quarter-final spots after both missing out last year. As a bonus, they both look set for coveted home quarter-finals also, if, as expected, they secure wins in the final round.
Connacht kept their dreams of securing progression from the pool stages alive but will need to get a result in Toulouse if they still want to be involved in April.
Unfortunately for Les Kiss and Ulster, they just didn’t have enough to live with a second half Exeter blitz and this will be the third consecutive season where Ulster have failed to successfully navigate the pool stages.
Here is out best XV from the four Irish provinces.
15. Tiernan O’Halloran (Connacht)
This is not the first time the Galway man has made this list. The Zebre match was the perfect opportunity for his attacking talents to shine and boy, did he take that opportunity with both hands.
O’Halloran scored two tries, and laid on an assist for another.
He also made 139 metres which consisted of 21 carries and three clean line-breaks.
14. Charles Piutau (Ulster)
One of the shining lights for Ulster this season, it’s a shame we won’t see the Kiwi rip it up against Europe’s best for the rest of the season.
Did all he could in Ulster’s loss to the Chiefs. His game consisted of line-breaks, offloads, aerial takes and the small matter of scoring a brace of tries for his side.
Will hope he can help turn around Ulster’s season as they look set to concentrate on the PRO12.
13. Gary Ringrose (Leinster)
The youngster just continues to justify all the hype surrounding him.
Showed once more he can mix it with big and physical players as he acquitted himself excellently on Friday night against a massive Montpellier team.
Although he will be disappointed with two missed tackles throughout the game, he nevertheless acquitted himself well with the likes of Joseph Tomane and Vincent Martin attempting to bulldoze through him on every occasion.
Capped off his night with an excellent try which, yet again, brought out the comparisons to one Brian O’Driscoll.
12. Rory Scannell (Munster)
Scannell’s rise just shows no sign of slowing down and surely it’s only a matter of time before we see this man in green.
Scannell, along with the rest of his teammates, had a bruising day at the office against a physical Glasgow Warriors side.
The 23-year-old’s attacking talents were not on display as much as he would have liked but he put in a huge defensive shift along with the rest of his team.
His play-making abilities in the inside channel cannot be understated and his kick under-pressure in the second half eventually led to Munster’s try.
Super composure from Scannell. Eye off the ball for a second, but he recovers to put a dinger down the line pic.twitter.com/3TVIYyDn2Q
— Three Red Kings (@threeredkings) January 15, 2017
11. Adam Byrne (Leinster)
We will shift Byrne to the 11 shirt as it is just impossible to leave him out here.
Another excellent display from the youngster who’s star continues to rise. Wasn’t fazed one bit lining up against the likes of Nemani Nadolo.
Had an excellent first half display which consisted of some incredible stats.
Adam Byrne's 1st half
5 carries
79 metres gained
2 clean breaks
2 defenders beaten
1 TRY pic.twitter.com/IRuwzKlZ71— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) January 13, 2017
Shout out to Munster’s Andrew Conway who had one of his most accomplished games for the men in red.
10. John Cooney (Connacht)
The Ulster bound scrum-half has been shoehorned into the out-half position due to Connacht’s injury crisis.
Acquitted himself excellently in his first start in this unfamiliar position.
One try, two assists and eight conversions, it wasn’t a bad day at the office for the new out-half. Check out this excellent kick which set-up a try for O’Halloran.
Stunning assist from John Cooney pic.twitter.com/LekAB3R9gR
— Pat McCarry (@patmccarry) January 14, 2017
9. Conor Murray (Munster)
Really difficult to leave out Ulster’s rookie scrum-half, Dave Shanahan, who did very well on his first start for the northern province but Murray nips him here.
Murray was under a ridiculous level of pressure from the Glasgow Warriors, whose targeting of the Limerick man was like something you would see in a full Test match.
Murray did excellently in the face of adversity to secure a win for his side. Excellent box kicking, accurate passing and a huge defensive effort around the fringes dominated his play.
Successfully returned from a HIA to get Munster over the line in the final minutes.
8. CJ Stander (Munster)
It wasn’t even one of Stander’s best performances but he still makes the cut. A performance which was littered with the usual hard carrying and relentless defensive work which we come to expect from the South African. Stander was up against the formidable Josh Strauss for most of this game and he still had a telling impact with 100% successful tackle rate.
On the attacking side, the Munster man was busy too with 13 carries for a yield of 39 metres.
7. Josh Van der Flier (Leinster)
Van der Flier was part of a hugely dominant Leinster back-row and delivered the highly energetic performance we have now come to expect from the 23-year-old.
The openside rarely let up throughout the match and his workrate at the breakdown ensured Leinster had plenty of quick ball from which Luke McGrath could launch attacks.
6. Jack Conan (Leinster)
Conan was sensational.
He did everything that was asked of him and then some.
He set up Adam Byrne for his try, made 15 carries for 87 metres, delivered clean breaks, support lines, turnovers and made seven tackles.
Not a bad shift from the game’s man-of-the-match, which is a frightening reminder of the plethora of options which Joe Schmidt has in the back-row for the upcoming Six Nations.
5. Hayden Triggs (Leinster)
Five carries, six tackles, 100% lineout success on Leinster’s own throw and causing havoc to Montpellier’s set-piece.
It was a good day out for the ever-improving Kiwi.
4. Jean Kleyn (Munster)
Typical bruising performance we have come to expect from the towering South African. Kleyn was excellent in defence, with no missed tackles and no penalties conceded.
He made a decent number of carries too when the grunt work was required.
Although himself and Donnacha Ryan will be disappointed with how the lineout operated in the early stages of the game, they regained their composure when the game reached the pivotal final stages.
Like Stander last week, Kleyn was quick off the line to put in an excellent block.
Kleyn had another strong game, especially on second watch. Lots of hard carrying and tackling. Great pace to get to this blockdown pic.twitter.com/Vd5yr5JVue
— Three Red Kings (@threeredkings) January 16, 2017
3. Tadhg Furlong (Leinster)
Was a busy man with four carries and eight tackles. He also played a crucial role in a dominant scrum. Was not fazed facing the Georgian behemoth, Mikheil Nariashvili.
John Ryan and Finlay Bealham both had good games for their respective provinces.
2. Tom McCartney (Connacht)
Connacht had a whopping 20 lineouts during this game where they secured a 100 per cent completion rate. McCartney was crucial to this with his accurate throwing.
He was also busy in attack with eight carries.
1. Jack McGrath (Leinster)
Like Furlong, McGrath had a severe test on his hands as he and his front row colleagues took on the formidable Montpellier front-row.
If this wasn’t a tough enough task as it was, McGrath also pitched in with a number of carries and defended excellently when asked upon.
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