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Home , Aironi, Alberto De Marchi, Alberto Sgarbi, Andrew Conway, Cardiff Arms Park, Ceri Sweeney

RaboDirect PRO12 REVIEW 2012/13

Round Ten: 30th November – 2nd December 2012

THE SEASON SO FAR

Sunday’s 19-12 win over in gave Ulster a perfect 10 out of 10 start to the season, the best ever start to a campaign since the competition went home and away in season 2003/04. It also gave Ulster a 9 point lead clear at the top of the table with just over half of the regular season’s games left to play.

Despite their loss, Scarlets maintained their second place in the table, the only non-Irish side currently in the top four.

Munster’s bonus point win over Warriors had the desired effect of lifting the Irish province into a Play-Off spot, at the expense of their opponents. In the process Ronan O’Gara kicked his way through the 900 points barrier.

Ospreys, despite their comprehensive 33 - 12 victory over Welsh rivals, Blues, at the end of the round the reigning champions had not done enough to lift themselves out of 6th place in the table.

The RaboDirec t PRO12 takes a short break now whilst the focus is concentrated on European competitions, but will return the weekend before Christmas with the start of the traditional festive derbies.

FORTHCOMING FIXTURES

ROUND 11 Friday 21 December v SCARLETS At , 7.05pm. Live on

GLASGOW WARRIORS v RUGBY At Stadium, 7.35pm. Live on

ULSTER v LEINSTER At Ravenhill, 7.05pm. Live on

Saturday 22 December CONNACHT v MUNSTER At Sportsground, 5.15pm. Live on

ZEBRE v BENETTON TREVISO Stadio XXV Aprile, 3pm. Live on ROUND 12 Wednesday 26 December CARDIFF BLUES v NEWPORT GWENT At Cardiff Arms Park , 2.05pm. Live on

OSPREYS v SCARLETS At , 5.30pm. Live on

Page 1 of 10 RaboDirect PRO12 REVIEW 2012/13

Round Ten: 30th November – 2nd December 2012

Saturday 29 December BENETTON TREVISO v At Stadio Monigo , 3pm. Live on

EDINBURGH RUGBY v At Murrayfield, 4.05pm. Live on

LEINSTER v CONNACHT At RDS , 7.45pm. Live on

MUNSTER v ULSTER At , 7.05pm ROUND 11 Monday 31 December NEWPORT GWENT DRAGONS v OSPREYS At , 4.15pm Live on

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Round Ten: 30th November – 2nd December 2012

ROUND 10 MICROCOSM FRIDAY 30 NOVEMBER OSPREYS (16)33 CARDIFF BLUES (6)12 Matthew Morgan(3C/4P) (2P) James King(12) (2P) Richard Fussell(42) Att: 8,169 Morgan Allen(79) SATURDAY 1 DECEMBER (b) CONNACHT (13)23 (17)24 (2C/3P) (3C/P) Jason Harris-Wright(12) (5) Danie Poolman(69) (35) Att: 4,930 Stuart McInally(65) (B) LEINSTER (17)37 ZEBRE (0)7 Andrew Conway(26) Daniel Halangahu(C) (34/2C/P) (48) Fergus McFadden(59/ 78/C/P) Att: 15,894 (69) (B) MUNSTER (24)31 GLASGOW WARRIORS (3)3 Ronan O'Gara(4C/P) (P) CJ Stander(8/ 38) Att: 15,138 Tommy O'Donnell(23) Penalty Try(74) (B) BENETTON TREVISO (20)32 NEWPORT GWENT DRAGONS (6)13 Alberto di Bernardo(2C/P) (52/C/2P) (9) Att: 3,600 Christian Loamanu(25/ 42) Luke McLean(39) Tobias Botes(72) SUNDAY 2 DECEMBER (b) SCARLETS (3)12 ULSTER (13)19 (4P) (C/4P) Att: 7,089 (28) Key: winning team shown in green, losing team in red, a draw marked in amber Note: (B) denotes a try bonus point and (b) a losing bonus point

RaboDirect PRO12 DEBUTS IN ROUND 10 (4) JP Cooney, Danny Qualter (Connacht), Michael Bent (Leinster), Dimtri Arhip (Ospreys)

Page 3 of 10 RaboDirect PRO12 REVIEW 2012/13

Round Ten: 30th November – 2nd December 2012

HOW THEY STAND

RaboDirect PRO12 Record Points Attack Defence Pos Team P W D L TB LB Tot T C PG DG For T C PG DG Agst TB LB PD 1 Ulster (1)  10 10 0 0 3 0 43 30 23 28 0 280 13 9 21 2 152 1 5 128 2 Scarlets (2)  10 7 0 3 3 3 34 25 16 21 1 223 13 11 27 0 168 0 3 55 3 Leinster (4)  10 7 0 3 3 0 31 29 23 20 1 254 25 17 15 1 207 2 3 47 4 Munster (5)  10 6 0 4 3 2 29 22 19 22 2 220 14 9 22 0 154 0 2 66 5 Glasgow Warriors (3)  10 6 0 4 2 2 28 19 12 21 0 182 14 10 17 0 141 1 1 41 6 Ospreys (6)  10 6 0 4 1 2 27 19 17 25 1 207 8 6 35 0 157 0 1 50 7 Edinburgh Rugby (8)  10 4 0 6 1 4 21 23 16 25 1 225 24 21 24 3 243 2 2 -18 8 Benetton Treviso (10)  10 4 0 6 1 2 19 18 11 18 0 166 17 14 24 2 191 1 3 -25 9 Cardiff Blues (7)  10 4 0 6 1 2 19 14 11 26 0 170 28 21 19 1 242 2 2 -72 10 Connacht (9)  10 3 0 7 1 2 15 15 11 19 0 154 22 15 13 0 179 3 0 -25 11 Newport Gwent Dragons (11)  10 3 0 7 1 0 13 14 10 25 4 177 31 21 19 0 254 5 0 -77 12 Zebre (12)  10 0 0 10 1 3 4 12 9 15 0 123 31 24 29 1 293 4 0 -170 TOTALS 60 60 0 60 21 22 283 240 178 265 10 2381 240 178 265 10 2381 21 22

2012/13 ABBREVIATED RULES The RaboDirect PRO12 shall consist of a league stage followed by a play-off stage. In the league stage, four league points shall be awarded for a win and two league points shall be awarded for a draw.

One bonus league point shall be awarded to a Team scoring four or more tries and one bonus league point shall be awarded to a Team losing by seven points or less.

The top four Teams in the league at the end of the season shall qualify for the play- offs which shall consist of the RaboDirect PRO12 Semi Finals and the RaboDirect PRO12 Final.

If two or more Teams finish with the same number of league points, their placings will be determined by the following criteria in descending order: number of matches won; the difference between points for and points against; the number of tries scored; the most points scored; the difference between tries for and tries against; the fewest number of red cards received; the fewest number of yellow cards received. In the RaboDirect PRO12 Semi-Finals, the Team placed first in the league shall play the Team placed fourth and the Team placed second shall play the Team placed third. The RaboDirect PRO12 Semi-Finals shall be held at the home grounds of the first and second placed Teams respectively. The winners shall meet in the RaboDirect PRO12 Final.

The RaboDirect PRO12 Final is provisionally scheduled to take place the weekend of 25th May 2013. RaboDirect PRO12 will determine the venue for the RaboDirect PRO12 Final however the Team that finished highest in the league stage competing in the Final will be able to propose a venue within its own Union’s jurisdiction (which may include the team's own ground) to host the RaboDirect PRO12 Final, provided that the venue meets certain commercial criteria and has capacity for a minimum of 18,000 spectators.

The winner of the RaboDirect PRO12 for 2012/13 will therefore be the Team that wins the RaboDirect PRO12 Final.

Page 4 of 10 RaboDirect PRO12 REVIEW 2012/13

Round Ten: 30th November – 2nd December 2012

If the Play Offs were to happen after this round they would be: 1st v 4th – Ulster v Munster 2nd v 3rd – Scarlets v Leinster

Page 5 of 10 RaboDirect PRO12 REVIEW 2012/13

Round Ten: 30th November – 2nd December 2012

SPECSAVERS FAIRPLAY LEAGUE The Specsavers Fairplay League rewards the best disciplinary record, with the club with the fewest disciplinary points (1 point for each yellow card, and 3 points for each red card or upheld citing) at the end of the 22 week regular season given £10,000 to spend on their youth development programme.

FAIRPLAY LEAGUE YC RC PC Pts 1 Ulster 1 0 0 1 2 Leinster 4 0 0 4 3 Cardiff Blues 6 0 0 6 3 Connacht 6 0 0 6 3 Benetton Treviso 6 0 0 6 3 Edinburgh Rugby 6 0 0 6 7 Newport Gwent Dragons 5 1 0 8 7 Scarlets 5 0 1 8 7 Glasgow Warriors 8 0 0 8 10 Ospreys 6 1 0 9 10 Munster 6 1 0 9 12 Zebre 11 0 0 11 TOTALS 70 3 1 82

The above sets out a summary of certain provisions of the RaboDirect PRO12 Rules for information purposes only. As such these provisions may not be relied upon and for a full and proper understanding of the provisions and rules of the RaboDirect PRO12, reference must be made to the RaboDirect PRO12 Rules in their existing and entire form. PROVEN CITINGS (1) (Scarlets @Munster, 25 Nov) infringement of Law 10.4(k) (charging into a ruck or maul without binding onto a player in the ruck or maul) suspended for two weeks, Ball will be free to play from Monday, 10 December 2012. RED CARDS (3) (Ospreys @ Benetton Treviso, 31 Aug) Damien Varley (Munster @ Ospreys, 29 Sep) Will Harries (Newport Gwent Dragons @ Benetton Treviso, 1 Dec) YELLOW CARDS (70) Blues (6) (2), Scott Andrews, Robin Copeland, , Nathan Trevett Connacht (6) Dave Gannon(2), Rodney Ah You, Andrew Browne, Jason Harris-Wright, Tiernan O’Halloran Dragons (5) Jonathan Evans, Lewis Evans, Steve Jones, Dan Way, Nathan Williams Edinburgh (6) Sean Cox(2), WP Nel, , Greig Tonks, John Yapp Leinster (4) Leo Auva’a, Brendan Macken, , Kevin McLaughlin Munster (6) Sean Dougall, Donncha O’Callaghan, Tommy O’Donnell, Ronan O’Gara, , Damien Varley Ospreys (6) Sam Lewis(2), Duncan Jones, , , Owen Williams Scarlets (5) Gareth Davies, Rob McCusker, , Gareth Owen, Treviso (6) , , , Ignacio Fernandez-Rouyet, , Ulster (1) Dan Tuohy Warriors (8) (2), James Eddie, Ofa Fainga’anuku, Chris Fusaro, , Tom Ryder, Zebre (11) (2), (2), , Alberto Chillon, Filippo Cristiano, Filippo Ferrarini, Luca Redolfini, Samuele Pace, Tito Tebaldi

Page 6 of 10 RaboDirect PRO12 REVIEW 2012/13

Round Ten: 30th November – 2nd December 2012

TOP RaboDirect PRO12 ACCUMULATORS TOP RaboDirect PRO12 POINTS SCORERS Rank Name Team Apps Mins Try Conv PG DG Points 1 Tom Prydie Dragons 10 765 2 9 23 0 97 2 Ospreys 6+1 495 1 11 14 0 69 3 Munster 7+3 603 2 8 12 2 68 4 Jonathan Sexton Leinster 5 348 2 15 8 1 67 5 Aled Thomas Scarlets 6+1 429 0 9 14 0 60 6 Paddy Jackson Ulster 5+2 357 0 9 14 0 60 7 Ian Madigan Leinster 8+2 657 3 6 11 0 60 8 Greig Laidlaw Edinburgh Rugby 6 480 0 12 10 1 57 9 Matthew Morgan Ospreys 4+4 320 1 6 11 1 53 10 Tim Visser Edinburgh Rugby 7 560 10 0 0 0 50 11 Ronan O'Gara Munster 5+1 356 0 11 9 0 49 12 Alberto di Bernardo Benetton Treviso 7+1 626 0 8 9 0 43 13 Niall O'Connor Ulster 3+2 310 0 3 12 0 42 14 Dan Parks Connacht 6 457 0 5 10 0 40 15 Daniel Halangahu Zebre 8 640 1 6 7 0 38 16 Ulster 2 150 2 11 2 0 38 17 Scarlets 4+3 371 0 6 7 1 36 Best in a PRO12 Season: 287pts by Felipe Contepomi (Leinster) in 2005/06

TOP RaboDirect PRO12 TRY SCORERS TOP RaboDirect PRO12 TRY SCORERS Rank Name Team Apps Mins Tries Home Away 1st H 2nd H 1 Tim Visser Edinburgh Rugby 7 560 10 7 3 7 3 2 Scarlets 6 466 7 3 4 2 5 3 Robert Barbieri Benetton Treviso 5+1 376 6 2 4 2 4 4 Andy Fenby Scarlets 8 600 6 2 4 3 3 5 Ulster 8+1 653 5 3 2 1 4 6 Tommy Seymour Glasgow Warriors 7 525 5 2 3 0 5 7 DTH van der Merwe Glasgow Warriors 6 421 5 3 2 2 3 8 Dragons 9 720 4 2 2 2 2 9 Tommy O'Donnell Munster 3+4 278 4 2 2 2 2 10 Nick Williams Ulster 8+1 622 4 1 3 3 1 11 Tom Brown Edinburgh Rugby 5+1 421 3 0 3 3 0 12 Cardiff Blues 4 295 3 1 2 0 3 13 Richard Fussell Ospreys 10 765 3 2 1 2 1 14 Brendan Macken Leinster 5+2 499 3 3 0 0 3 15 Ian Madigan Leinster 8+2 657 3 2 1 2 1 16 Andrew Trimble Ulster 6+1 492 3 0 3 1 2 17 Dries van Schalkwyk Zebre 9 692 3 3 0 0 3 Best in a PRO12 Season: 14 by Tim Visser (Edinburgh) 2010/11

Page 7 of 10 RaboDirect PRO12 REVIEW 2012/13

Round Ten: 30th November – 2nd December 2012

RHINO GOLDEN BOOT AWARD BEST RaboDirect PRO12 KICKERS Rank Name Team Good Att Kick% Last 10 kicks Conv PG Streak 1 Ian Keatley Munster 20 23 86.96% 2/3/2/p3222c/3 8/9 12/14 Last 1 2 Ronan O'Gara Munster 20 23 86.96% p/2322/22322 11/13 9/10 Last 9 3 Matthew Morgan Ospreys 17 20 85.00% 32/32p33232 6/6 11/14 Last 5 4 Cardiff Blues 9 11 81.82% 3323/3p/3c22 3/4 6/7 Last 2 5 Zebre 9 11 81.82% 33/p223/3233 3/3 6/8 Last 7 6 Ruan Pienaar Ulster 13 16 81.25% 3222/222222 11/12 2/4 Last 11 7 Miah Nikora Connacht 12 15 80.00% 323322/3c3/2 4/5 8/10 Last 2 8 Jonathan Sexton Leinster 23 29 79.31% 222c22c/322 15/18 8/11 Last 3 9 Ian Madigan Leinster 17 22 77.27% 33p/32pp/3p3 6/7 11/15 Last 1 10 Gregor Hunter Edinburgh Rugby 10 13 76.92% 3/3cp3333p3 2/3 8/10 Last 1 11 Paddy Jackson Ulster 23 30 76.67% 3223/p32333 9/12 14/18 Last 5 12 Greig Laidlaw Edinburgh Rugby 22 29 75.86% 2/p32c2/2322 12/17 10/12 Last 5 13 Tom Prydie Dragons 32 43 74.42% 33/3pc33/332 9/13 23/30 Last 5 14 Dan Biggar Ospreys 25 34 73.53% 2c332/2c2p2 11/13 14/21 Last 1 15 Ceri Sweeney Cardiff Blues 10 14 71.43% 23c/c3p33/33 2/4 8/10 Last 4 16 Rhys Patchell Cardiff Blues 12 17 70.59% p32p2322/33 5/5 7/12 Last 6 17 Pete Horne Glasgow Warriors 7 10 70.00% 3/333333p/pp 0/0 7/10 Missed last 3 18 Duncan Weir Glasgow Warriors 7 10 70.00% 3/p2/cp3232/3 3/4 4/6 Last 5 19 Harry Leonard Edinburgh Rugby 9 13 69.23% c/23333p333 2/3 7/10 Last 3 20 Kris Burton Benetton Treviso 11 16 68.75% 2/323c/c/p23p 3/5 8/11 Missed last 1 21 Dan Parks Connacht 15 22 68.18% 2pc/3p/23332 5/8 10/14 Last 5 22 Aled Thomas Scarlets 23 36 63.89% 2pp/p3p33p3 9/11 14/25 Last 1 23 Niall O'Connor Ulster 15 24 62.50% 33c32/323p3 3/5 12/19 Last 1 24 Scott Wight Glasgow Warriors 10 16 62.50% 2c/3223cc2/p 6/10 4/6 Missed last 1 25 Alberto di Bernardo Benetton Treviso 17 28 60.71% 3cpp/23cc2c 8/13 9/15 Missed last 1 26 Daniel Halangahu Zebre 13 23 56.52% 2/c3cpc2/2/p2 6/9 7/14 Last 1 27 Glasgow Warriors 9 17 52.94% c/p2c2p/p333 3/5 6/12 Last 3 28 Rhys Priestland Scarlets 13 29 44.83% pp2/p223/3c/3 6/12 7/17 Last 1 Qual: 10 place kicks at goal Under Streak, "Last 4" means has kicked last four place kicks in a row successfully. Under "Last 10 kicks" 3 denotes a penalty goal, 2 a conversion, p is a missed penalty and c a missed conversion, whilst separate matches are divided with forward slashes.

Page 8 of 10 RaboDirect PRO12 REVIEW 2012/13

Round Ten: 30th November – 2nd December 2012

RaboDirect PRO12 RECORD CENTRE INDIVIDUAL GAME RECORDS All-Time Best in 2012/13 Most points 32 - Stephen Jones (Llanelli RFC @ 24 – Dan Biggar , 4 Oct 02) (Ospreys @ Zebre, 5 Oct) Most tries 4 - Mike Mullins (Munster @ , 11 3 – Tim Visser Sep 01) (Edinburgh v Munster, 1 Sep) 4 - Lee Abdul (Blues v Ospreys, 25 Oct 03) 4 – Jamie Robinson (Blues v Borders, 27 Feb 04) Most conversions 9 - Brendan Laney (Edinburgh @ 7 – Jonathan Sexton Caerphilly, 21 Sep 02) (Leinster v Blues, 27 Oct) Most penalty goals 9 – Luciano Orquera 7 – Harry Leonard ( v Treviso, 23 Dec 11) (Edinburgh v Scarlets, 26 Oct) Most drop goals 4 – Dan Parks 3 – Stefan Jones (Glasgow v Ulster, 16 Apr 10) (Dragons v Edinburgh, 28 Sep) Fastest try 18 secs – Nathan Brew 2 mins – Ian Keatley (Dragons @ Blues, 27 Dec 05) (Munster v Dragons, 22 Sep) Quickest 17 mins 43 secs – 26 mins – bonus point try (Ulster v Reivers, 12 May 06) (Leinster v Blues, 27 Oct)

TEAM RECORDS All-Time Best in 2012/13 Most points in a home 63-17 Ulster v Reivers 59-22 Leinster v Blues game (Ravenhill, 12 May 06) (RDS, 27 Oct) Most points in an away 67-15 Ulster @ Caerphilly 48-19 Ulster @ Blues game (Virginia Park, 5 Oct 02) (Arms Park, 28 Sep) Highest aggregate of 98pts - Caerphilly 32, Edinburgh 66 81pts – Leinster 59, Blues 22 points in game (Virginia Park, 21 Sep 02) (RDS, 27 Oct) Biggest home win 62pts - Connacht 62, Caerphilly 0 37pts – Leinster 59, Blues 22 (, 16 Sep 01) (RDS, 27 Oct) Biggest away win 52pts - Ulster 67 @ Caerphilly 15 29pts – Blues 19, Ulster 48 (Virginia Park, 5 Oct 02) (Arms Park, 28 Sep) Best attendance 50,645 – Leinster v Munster 46,280 – Leinster v Munster (regular season) (, 2 Oct 10) (Aviva Stadium, 6 Oct) Note: 2012/13 Season bests set or equalled this past round shown in italics.

Page 9 of 10 RaboDirect PRO12 REVIEW 2012/13

Round Ten: 30th November – 2nd December 2012

APPROACHING CAREER MILESTONES POINTS SCORING 1,500 points: Dan Parks (1381) 1,000 points: Ronan O’Gara (907), Dan Biggar (841), Ian Keatley (741) 500 points: (430) Record: 1,381 points – Dan Parks (Glasgow Warrior, Cardiff Blues & Connacht) TRY SCORING 50 tries: Tommy Bowe (48), Tim Visser (47) 25 tries: Gordon D’Arcy (23), (22), (21), Jonathan Davies (21), Brian O’Driscoll (21) Record: 48 tries – Tommy Bowe (Ulster & Ospreys) MATCHES PLAYED 150 games: Ceri Sweeney (145), Adam Jones (145), John Muldoon (141) 100 games: Ronan O’Gara (99), John Barclay (99), Wayne Evans(99), (98), (98) 50 games: (49), (48), Tommy O’Donnell (47), Scott Andrews (47), Tom Ryder (47), Aled Thomas (47), (47) Record: 154 games – Michael Swift (Connacht)

CAREER TOP TENS MOST POINTS MOST GAMES MOST MINS PLAYED MOST TRIES Dan Parks 1381 Michael Swift 154 John Muldoon 9841 Tommy Bowe 48 Ronan O’Gara 907 Ceri Sweeney 145 9685 Tim Visser 47 Felipe Contepomi 877 Adam Jones 145 9468 Shane Horgan 39 Dan Biggar 841 John Muldoon 141 Dan Parks 9460 36 810 Deiniol Jones 139 Tommy Bowe 9126 34 David Humphreys 786 Alastair Kellock 139 Michael Swift 9037 30 Stephen Jones 741 Dan Parks 138 Ceri Sweeney 9006 30 Ian Keatley 741 Dougie Hall 137 Allan Jacobsen 8929 30 Ceri Sweeney 691 Steve Jones 137 Mick O’Driscoll 8857 Three players 29 Paul Warwick 664 Allan Jacobsen 137 Gareth Wyatt 8587 Active players in RaboDirect PRO12 marked in orange

Compiled for RaboDirect PRO12 by SFMS Ltd Tel: 0044 1455 442849 Fax: 0044 1455 442559 e-mail: [email protected]

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