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Rugby

Is it too early for the Irish provinces to hit the panic button?

Three of the Irish provinces fell to defeats in the Guinness Pro 12 at the weekend. Ulster's loss...



Is it too early for the Irish...
Rugby

Is it too early for the Irish provinces to hit the panic button?

Three of the Irish provinces fell to defeats in the Guinness Pro 12 at the weekend.

Ulster's loss at Zebre came as a surprise, Connacht lost at a strong Glasgow Warriors, while Munster slumped to a home defeat against Ospreys.

Trevor Hogan and Grenoble coach Bernard Jackman joined us on the line to review the action and Trevor reckons changes for Munster especially will take time to bed in which will impact results.

"What Anthony Foley and the lads down there seem to be doing is a little bit different to what Rob Penney was doing and a completely different style of approach for the out-halves especially," said Trevor.

"So it's going to be more traditional-based and that's going to take a while for that to take a hold."

Bernard believes that the forwards are struggling to get over the gain line, but expects Munster to grow into Foley's philosophy.

The lads also assessed Gordon D'Arcy's performance at 13 for Leinster in the home win over Cardiff Blues - something his former centre colleague Brian O'Driscoll discussed on Off The Ball on Friday night.

"D'Arcy is a very good communicator in defence. He's vastly experienced and makes good reads early. And that's why he's able to step in there into a position that's probably the hardest position in rugby to defend as. It's going to be the question mark over Ben Te'o when he comes," said Bernard.

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