Outhalves coming to fore

Ronan O'Gara's route to becoming the country's leading outhalf was via the All-Ireland League. A couple of seasons before he made any impact at provincial level, O'Gara - or more pertinently his right boot - built up a substantial reputation with Cork Constitution.

Since his emergence, however, a huge void has developed below the two quality international outhalves in Ireland. Besides the ageing David Humphreys, no other candidates have emerged to seriously challenge O'Gara as the leading player in this key position.

The league has once again become the breeding ground for a new generation of pretenders, further proof of its relevance in the overall scheme of Irish rugby.

At Castle Avenue on Saturday Clontarf's Dave McAllister and Dungannon's Gareth Steenson both vied for supremacy. Steenson was the number 10 on last summer's hugely successful Irish under-21 side that reached the World Cup final and his potential is undoubted but McAllister shaded the kicking dual on Saturday.

The 32-19 victory may appear convincing on paper but it was far from it. For three-quarters of the contest Clontarf struggled to contain the vibrant young Dungannon side, who had initially looked set for a fruitful afternoon.

Steenson made full use of a stiff breeze to nudge the Ulster club into a 16-3 lead, a well-taken try from Alastair Clarke also played its part, but things changed after the break as they failed to close out the contest with Steenson guilty of missing two penalties.

Clontarf raised their intensity with flanker Declan Quinn crossing for two tries and McAllister excellently converting to put the home side in front. A Dan Van Zyl try secured the bonus point before the finish.

Three games in and Clontarf are only behind Garryowen at the top of the pile with the memories of last season well and truly erased.

UCD's 100 per cent start to the season has been the real eye-opener and they laid down a serious warning for all future visitors to Belfield with a 30-7 victory over Cork Con.

Eoghan Hickey, another of this new generation of outhalf's, scored 20-points from the boot, including two drop goals.

Elsewhere, Lansdowne got their first win of the campaign over Galwegians with their young outhalf Andy Tallon kicking 21-points. Buccaneers swept Blackrock College aside in Ballinasloe, while Ballymena were far too strong for bottom club Co Carlow at Eaton Park.