IS EVERYTHING SKY HIGH?

I found myself at something of a loss of words as I watched Sky Sports’ Rugby Club on Friday night before the Munster v Edinburgh game on TG4 (which was a cracker by the way).

As this is Sky’s maiden season of Pro12 coverage, something which was made abundantly clear over the course of the weekend, I can grant them a little bit of leeway regarding their naivety toward the Pro12, but I gaped with incredulity as the various pundits revealed their predictions for how the season would pan out. Take nothing away from their coverage which was professional and of top quality standard throughout, but these predictions were wild to say the least.

The sheer ineptitude of the pundits who they asked to provide their top four was astounding, especially since they are supposedly experts in their field. The vast majority of them had the Cardiff Blues in their top four based purely on their summer signings, while Will Greenwood went as far as to say that the Newport-Gwent Dragons would finish in fourth due to the lack of players that would head away during international breaks, as if the other sides would not be able to cope with a few missing front line players.

I mean no disrespect whatsoever to the Blues or the Dragons, the former of whom could very easily compete for silverware this season, particularly based on their dismissal of a stubborn Zebre side at the weekend, but I think the majority of Pro12 fans would share my scepticism at these bold and wild predictions. Instead we had to look to Pro12 punditry “regulars” in Scott Hastings, Shane Horgan and Alan Quinlan, who all predicted the same top four as last season – a more likely punt than a Welsh region breaking into the play-offs.

In my opinion this shows a complete disregard of respect for the Pro12 as a league that the experts covering it are making these wild stabs at the top four. Indeed, only Glasgow and Leinster featured in every prediction, and I’m willing to bet that that is purely down to the fact they contested last season’s final, while Munster made many appearances also, although we all know how much the pundits love them, regardless of how they do.

Instead you have to look no further than the Parc y Scarlets on Saturday to see two sides who will be there or thereabouts when it comes to May next year. Two sides locked horns with a bullish attitude and both came away with three points from a frenetic, fast-paced, furious battle that left everybody stunned as to just how Ulster managed to snatch a draw from the jaws of defeat. The phrase “backs up against the wall” doesn’t even do it justice – Ulster had been bruised and battered for the first thirty minutes of the second half and yet, remarkably, they managed to find the will and belief to leave Llanelli with three very valuable points to their name.

If Sky’s executives had to make do with the Pro12 following BT Sport’s swoop for the Aviva Premiership, they will have been licking their lips following the high scoring draw to begin their coverage and then the exciting end to Glasgow v Leinster straight afterwards. As far as the two games they could have chosen to launch their Pro12 showcase went, they couldn’t possibly have chosen two better games.

I won’t go into the details of Ulster’s draw this week, although I will make a quick note on the shortcomings of the officials, and for both teams may I add. Liam Williams can count himself extremely unlucky to have picked up his third red card in his last five games considering, while he did knock the ball on, it hardly looked like he did it deliberately, while Louis Ludik may well be cursing his luck following yesterday’s video review when he sees what his try was disallowed for. Any contact Michael Allen did make with a covering defender was minimal at best.

The standard of officiating in the Pro12 has declined rapidly and, while we can still boast probably the world’s best referee in Nigel Owens, the quality below that is not even close to the high bar he has set, and we saw that again on Saturday. Indeed, had the officials checked with the TMO for that final knock on that ended the game (as they did for every other close decision) Ulster may well have had a penalty to win the match and take all five points. That is if Peter Fitzgibbon had indeed left the TMO to make his own decision instead of putting it upon himself.

Whatever you thought of Sky’s coverage, which I thought was perfect for the game itself but poor in the build up, there is no doubt that the exposure that the broadcaster will bring to the league will be crucial in guaranteeing more sponsors and increasing the revenue being brought into the league. And if the two opening matches are anything to go by then we are in for some incredible rugby over the course of the 2014-15 season.

Everyone loves to put on a show for the cameras, don’t they?