Ian Madigan

By Gary Watton
May 22 2014

Last weekend played host to a couple of nail-biting, bone-crunching encounters in the semi finals of the Pro12. Munster again proved unable to surmount the hurdle of the last four, having already fallen at this same obstacle in the last two years of the European Cup. Ulster also found Leinster to be a bridge too far as the men from the east foiled their Pro12 hopes for a second successive year.

Perhaps, in some respects, justice has been done, as the top two teams in the Pro12 league format have successfully travelled through to the final. Leinster will understandably start as favourites, but plucky Glasgow showed much spirit and resolute defending in their semi-final triumph to suggest that the finale is far from a foregone conclusion. In fact, Glasgow deserve maximum respect for transforming Scottish rugby's ailing fortunes, after another under-achieving Six Nations campaign for the national team. Whether they can spoil Brian O'Driscoll's final outing remains to be seen. Here is a reminder of the semi-final scores:

Glasgow 16 MUNSTER 15

[Munster try-scorers: Varley, Dougall]

LEINSTER 13 ULSTER 9

[Leinster try-scorer: Madigan]

The final between Glasgow and Leinster will be played in Dublin on Saturday the 31st of May, commencing at 18.15, while Leinster's second string also have a final to play against Leeds Carnegie in the British & Irish Cup on Friday the 23rd of May, commencing at 19.30.

PRO12 FINAL TABLE

LEINSTER 82

Glasgow 79

MUNSTER 74

ULSTER 70

Ospreys 66

Scarlets 55

Cardiff Blues 41

Edinburgh 38

NG Dragons 35

CONNACHT 35

Treviso 30

Zebre 29