[caption id="attachment_68824" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Munster's Tomas O'Leary scores a try against Connacht at Thomond Park."]
RUGBY was the only team sport in town over the festive weekend with Leinster and Munster further improving the RaboDirect Pro12 League positions following St Stephen's Day victories over Ulster and Connacht.
At the RDS, Leinster managed six tries in a 42-13 victory over an inexperienced Ulster outfit. The victory puts Leinster six points clear of their nearest rivals the Ospreys at the top of the table.
Munster, for their part, comfortably saw off Connacht 24-9 at Thomond Park despite fielding a much under-strength side. The occasion was most noteworthy for the retirement of the hugely popular former Ireland and Lions prop John Hayes.
While Hayes was bowing out of the game at the age of 38, Ulster opted to field a young and generally untried side against Leinster. Coach Brian McLaughlin's reasoning was that, with two games in five days, he was left with very little option.
Consequently, he has held back his top players for Friday night's Ravenhill meeting with Ulster. In the event, a much more experienced Leinster side was expected to pulveri ze the young Ulster outfit.
It was to Ulster's credit, that Leinster took a surprisingly long time before finally turning the screw. At one point, early in the second half, Ulster only trailed by 21-13, but inevitably Leinster's superior resources told.
The tries came from Fionn Carr, Sean Cronin, Leo A'Auva, Ian Madigan and substitute Jamie Hagan. The remaining one was a penalty try, while Fergus McFadden landed all six conversions.
Ulster had a very well taken try from wing Chris Cochrane on his debut, with out-half James McKinney kicking the remainder of their points. Leinster coach Joe Schmidt was very matter of fact in his comments.
He said: "You come out on St Stephen's Day to get a job done. And that's what it was in the end."
Quite right. To be fair, Leinster's weren't helped by some over strict refereeing by Peter Fitzgibbon at the scrum, but there were some good individual performances.
From an international point of view, Luke Fitzgerald again looked really sharp. Operating at full-back, he was a constant threat to Ulster.
But the man-of-the-match award went to Leo Auva. The powerful No 8, who has been playing for Old Belvedere in the All-Ireland League for
the past few seasons, is improving with every Leinster outing.
At Thomond Park, Munster responded to Leinster's success with a decent performance to see off Connacht. John "the Bull" Hayes did his bit in the forward exchanges before leaving the field to a standing ovation in the 59th minute.
By then, Munster had the match well in control. They scored two tries through full-back Sean Scanlon and Tomas O'Leary with out-half Ian Keatley kicking the remainder of their points.
Unfortuantely, Connacht didn't help themselves as their long losing run continued. Out-half Niall O'Connor missed a number of easy penalty opportunities, while they gifted O'Leary his try.
Just the same, Munster will, like Leinster, see it was mission accomplished. With the Ospreys losing over the weekend, they now within a point of their Welsh rivals in third spot.
The big test, however, will come against Ulster at Ravenhill on Friday night while leaders Leinster will be in action against Connacht at the Sportsground on Sunday.
Coaches vent at IRFU
NO sooner had the Leinster-Ulster match finished at the RDS, than the respective coaches Joe Schmidt and Brian McLaughlin were venting their disapproval of the IRFU's new policy on overseas recruitment.
The idea of the policy is to boost the development of Irish players by curtailing the amount of overseas imports. It's felt that in some circumstances young Irish players are simply not getting a chance to prove their worth.
Ideally, the moves, to be fully introduced at the start of the 2013/20014 season, will help the international side. But the provincial coaches clearly see things very differently.
For one thing, they argue that there has been a lack of consultation. Schmidt makes no bones about his annoyance.
He said: "I was massively disappointed in the way they did it and I know from talking to other coaches that they feel the same way." Very obviously, Schmidt feels that things are fine as they are, so why change it if it isn't broken.
"Irish rugby is doing really well at the moment, so why the changes?" Schmidt continued. " If Ireland had beaten Wales in the World Cup, would we be doing this?"
Besides reducing the number of foreign players by one from next season, it's intended that the provinces will have to replace some high-profile foreign imports with Irish qualified players from 2013/14. No doubt, there will be some adjustments before then, but, for the moment, the provinces are far from happy.
Ulster coach Brian McLaughlin knows the situation from both sides, as he was part of Eddie O'Sullivan's Irish management teaam. But he is still trying to come to terms with the lack of consultation over this matter.
He said: "Everyone would like to see the development of players for the international team but we [the provincial coaches] should definitely be involved in the process."
Popular grafter call it a day
THE retirement of John Hayes at 38 marks the end for one of the most popular characters in Irish sport.
He has also always been one of the most respected figures in Munster and Irish rugby - not just because of what he did on the field, but just as much so for what he was like off it.
Affectionately known as "The Bull Hayes," the Munster, Ireland and Lions prop is an immensely shy and modest individual. If he could, he would always shy away from publicity.
But he wasn't shy about doing the business on the pitch. A late developer, he only started playing rugby in his late teens after featuring on the GAA fields at school.
By his own admission he wasn't very good at it, so he was delighted to give rugby a go. Originally a second-row for Bruff in Limerick, he moved to prop after a short spell in New Zealand.
He developed, initially with Bruff and Shannon, before making his mark with Munster. He helped them win the Heineken Cup twice before assisting Ireland to a Grand Slam.
No one possibly appreciates his talents more than the former Munster coach, now the Irish coach, Declan Kidney. On virtually every occasion when Kidney was asked about the exploits of one of the star players on his team, he would refer to the fact that they could not have achieved it without the efforts of Hayes.
Because you need the grafters for those star players to shine. And Hayes, with his work in the front-row, and lifting in the line-out, was essential to the success of both Munster and Ireland.
The fact that he was convinced to stay on for so long is testament to that. But he was as aware as anyone that he could not go on forever.
He said: "Obviously, there's a feeling of sadness after being around for so long. But there's also a realization that the time has come.
"I'm just delighted that my last game was at Thomond Park and am really appreciative of the reception I received."
Hayes now intends spending a lot more time on his farm.
Semis set for Feb. 11, 18
THE dates for the All-Ireland Club hurling and football semi-finals have been picked.
In hurling, the two semi-finals will go ahead on Saturday, Feb. 11. Coolderry from Offaly will face Galway's Gort at the Gaelic Grounds, while the second semi-final will see Limerick title-holders Na Piarsaigh facing Loughgiel Shamrocks from Antrim at Parnell Park.
The football semi-finals will take place a week later, on Saturday, Feb. 18. Dr Crokes from Kerry meet Armagh's Crossmaglen Rangers at Portlaoise, with St Brigid's (Roscommon) meeting Garrycastle (Westmeath) at Pearse Park.
