Hard to avoid feeling of dread as collisions hit home

It was another successful weekend in the United Rugby Championship for Irish rugby.

Three of the four provinces qualified for the semi-finals of the competition and considering Ulster and Connacht faced off, it was a maximum possible return.

The reigning champions, DHL Stormers, are now the only team that can stop the trophy from returning to Ireland.

Ulster were hugely disappointing in their defeat at home to Connacht.

Connacht weren't perfect in their victory, missing a couple of scoring chances to properly reflect their dominance in the game.

However, they showed grit and determination to win the physical contest which gives you the edge that’s needed to win a knock-out game away from home.

What struck me from watching the game from home was the brutality of knock-out rugby collisions.

In the current year, with a World Cup looming, you’d have to wonder what kind of impact this will have on the Ireland squad and whether there’ll be a clean bill of health by the end.

Shamus Hurley-Langton was player of the match because of his general destruction but the Connacht pack were immense.

Conor Oliver, Cian Prendergast and Josh Murphy stood out as they punched above their weight all over the pitch.

Munster and Leinster will face off in another brutal interprovincial derby this weekend in the semi-final, meaning that there’s guaranteed Irish representation in the final of the competition.

That’s great news for Andy Farrell and the rest of his coaching staff and the interprovincial derby allows them to look at players ahead of naming a preliminary World Cup squad, but at what cost?

You need physical games to prepare for a World Cup, hence why there are warm-up games in the summer before heading off to their respective World Cup camps.

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