Double-headers done. And done in style for many of the Guinness PRO14 clubs, with some blistering rugby played across the weekend. On Friday there were huge wins for Ulster and Dragons while Benetton and Connacht lit up Saturday afternoon – here’s a selection of the best lines coming out of the clubs now the dust has settled. Out of the frying pan and into Derby fire What a win that was for Dan McFarland’s men on Friday night. Away from home, at Harlequins – five tries and five points in the bag – 34-10. A fairly tight first half was lit up by a wonderful John Cooney try just before the interval and after the break Ulster gradually took control - Cooney, Luke Marshall, Matt Faddes and Tom O’Toole all flying over. Here’s how wing Louis Ludik saw it: “It was good, obviously in the first half they were very physical and it was really tough for us. “Second half when the rain came in it was quite tough, sloppy, a lot of high balls and not the prettiest game out there. But I thought we were pretty clinical with a couple of good kicks and we played the territorial game really well. “There were a few brilliant individual performances and scoring the bonus point try is very special away from home, its huge for us.” After that win that sets up a doozy of a fixture at Clermont in 2020, head coach McFarland was already turning his attentions to the fire of the Christmas Derbies – Leinster at the RDS followed by Connacht and Munster in Belfast. “We’ve got a few sore bodies this week, so we might give a couple guys an opportunity next week,” said McFarland. “The Connacht home game, we lost to Connacht last year at home and that was the last time we lost at home (October 2018). That’s a massive match for us. That’s a massive match for me. I don’t want to lose that game. “Obviously Munster, we’ve already lost to them once this year so we don’t want them to do the double over us. They come thick and fast.” https://twitter.com/UlsterRugby/status/1205876018747203584?s=20 King of the Hill Dragons boss Dean Ryan heaped praise on the performance of returning Wales star Cory Hill as he helped inspire the side to an impressive 25-16 win over Worcester Warriors in the Challenge Cup. Wales international Hill played his first regional game for Dragons since January but showed no signs of rustiness with an all-action 80-minute show at Rodney Parade. “The plan was 50 minutes for Cory - but that good plan changed,” smiled Ryan. “It was a chess game and Cory is smart and was causing them problems with the drive. “I didn’t really want to bring him off and it wasn’t a big running game, so just thought we had to play chess for longer. He has experience in Test matches, which a lot of the time are like that. “It was the right decision, before the game we thought about trying to lift the tempo with Harri Keddie coming on for Cory but once we saw the night’s weather I thought about staying a bit longer to see if something came for us. “The fresh legs off the bench got us a couple of scrum penalties and we got a bit of joy in the drive. I thought that in last 20 minutes we dominated.” https://twitter.com/dragonsrugby/status/1205762247169064961?s=20 Wales wing wizards First it was Josh Adams grabbing a hat-trick against Pau, last week on debut, this week it was the turn of club and international teammate Owen Lane. Cardiff Blues trailed 24-7 at half-time following a frustrating, error strewn first half at Stade du Hameau despite Lane’s early try. They appeared down and out when Pau scored a fifth after the break to make it 31-7 but launched a stunning fight-back with three quick-fire tries of their own, including a brace from Lane to complete his hat-trick. Final score – 34-29. Head coach John Mulvihill commented: “Pau certainly won the first half and played some really good rugby. They didn’t allow us out, but in the second half I thought we were close to faultless. A few little errors have ultimately cost us, but to give a team as good as Pau such a head start is something you can’t do. We came out in the second half and basically blew them away. https://twitter.com/cardiff_blues/status/1205848255319461890?s=20 “We didn’t get into our attacking shape in the first half and our biggest thing was discipline and territory. We were only at the right end 38 per cent of the time and we didn’t play much rugby. “We got caught up in a bit of a mauling game against a massive pack and turned over a bit of ball but we will learn from that. We needed to keep the ball alive and play of the top and with tempo. “Now we need to have a really good win against Calvisano and then go away and get something at Leicester in January. That is one of the games we’re really looking forward to. Hopefully we will go into it full strength and we will see what comes of it.”
