The News Review:
- Munster leave it late
- Heineken Cup Game Zone
- Whipping boys Scarlets need to look to beyond their glorious past
- Dan Carter: pardon my French
- Gavin Henson misses Ospreys’ Heineken Cup trip to Treviso
Munster leave it late
SkySports
White consulted his touch judge who also had a prime view of events before issuing a red card to Cudmore and yellow to O’Connell a fair decision given that Cudmore had sparked the duo’s furious disagreement. O’Gara slotted the subsequent penalty although James brought Clermont level just a minute later with a three-pointer of his own. Another penalty in the 25th minute allowed O’Gara to edge Munster back in front and move his career Heineken Cup tally to 999 points. Once O’Connell returned from his enforced 10-minute absence to restore the Irish province to their full complement they began to take control. The opening try arrived from a familiar source just before half-time when number eight Wallace powered over from short range following several forward-dominated phases. O’Gara missed the conversion so the hosts went to the break with an 11-3 lead. TurnaroundIt was all very different after the interval as Clermont made light of their numerical disadvantage to dominate proceedings.
Heineken Cup Game Zone
Telegraph.co.uk United Kingdom
By Steve James Last Updated: 8:48PM GMT 13 Dec 2008 Robinson’s rageWasps v EdinburghAdams ParkKick Off 1pmTV Sky Sports 2Former England coach Andy Robinson is rarely happy but he was positively seething after his Edinburgh’s side 25-16 loss at Murrayfield last weekend. Not only was he irate at the performance of French referee Christophe Berdos (especially for the sending to the sin-bin of flanker Ross Rennie now banned for two weeks) but also at his side’s naivety in missing the scalp of a still dysfunctional Wasps. “We need to understand how to win games at this level how to nail down these games” he railed. Surely Wasps won’t provide that opportunity again today even if Danny Cipriani scorer of 20 points last weekend is consigned to the bench after suffering from a stomach bug.
Whipping boys Scarlets need to look to beyond their glorious past
guardian.co.uk UK
Once upon a time Llanelli had marched to the edge of a. Victory over the All Blacks in 1972 gave weight to the cause.
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Dan Carter: pardon my French
Times Online UK
Everybody from the town’s mayor to Paul Goze the owner of the club expectsmiracles or at the very least the championship of France. “He is the No 1player in the world in his position and that confirms our ambition tofinally bring the shield [the French championship] to the foot of theCastillet [a Perpignan landmark]” says Goze. He admits the HeinekenCup is out of the side’s hands but they are “going all out to beat Leicesterand have no regrets”.
Gavin Henson misses Ospreys’ Heineken Cup trip to Treviso
Telegraph.co.uk United Kingdom
Amongst those who will also miss out are Ryan Jones Mike Phillips Huw Bennett and Duncan Jones. Holley said; “We are looking forward to this match which is the second game in a nine week second phase of the season that will take us up to the Six Nations. “It’s an important time for us with key fixtures in the Heineken Cup and the Magners League and there’s a real sense of excitement in the camp at the moment. “Last week we recorded an excellent victory at the Liberty Stadium and the challenge this time around is to ensure we deliver a similar performance on Saturday. “We are aware of the challenge that Treviso will present at home they will be looking to put the record straight. We are under no illusions that it will be difficult but we’ve worked hard this week on making sure that we stay focused we’ve worked on a few areas for improvement from the last game and we are confident of producing a performance to the required standard. “I was pleased by the ruthlessness we showed in the first Treviso game we didn’t let up in the second half after we had secured a bonus point we kept on going until the final whistle and scored some late tries to round off the win.