Connacht vs Leinster

anonymous_joe

Disappointed at how noble all us Leinster fans have been in congratulating Connacht.

Must confess that questions are going to have to be asked of Cheika.

Let's hope for some improvement soon, and possibly some new signings, perhaps do a Melck and sign an outhalf for a couple of months, if only to offer support to Sexton, who needs a chance to mature, and certainly looks very talented.

JWAD

anonymous_joe wrote: »

Must confess that questions are going to have to be asked of Cheika

Why? He was doing fine up until a few weeks ago, wasn't he?

Inquitus

JWAD wrote: »

Why? He was doing fine up until a few weeks ago, wasn't he?

Draw Cardiff Away (Bad peformance)
Hammer Edinburgh Home (Decent performance)
Beat Weakened Ospreys Home (Average performance)
Get nilled by Munster Home (Poor performance)
Lose to Connacht Away (headless performance)
?????? to Edinburgh away

I wouldn't say he was doing fine, bad start to the season, followed by some decent performances, followed by 2 dire performances.

Season could be over after the next 2 weekends, 2 absolute must win games.

I'll judge him on those 2 games, I wouldn't bother criticising him heavily yet, but anything less than 2 wins in the next 2 weeks and he's definately in the firing line.

Amazotheamazing

JWAD wrote: »

Why? He was doing fine up until a few weeks ago, wasn't he?

Was he though, one ML in 3 years with the most talented provincial squad in Ireland (in terms of sheer ability)?

What great victories has he had? Bath and Toulouse away in his first year, and after that?

Imo, in his first two years, the excellence of D. Knox's coaching won them games when the forwards were weak. Last year he failed to keep Brewer and Knox civil, and that ultimately meant that when Brewer's forwards were doing the job, Knox's backs weren't. Poor management by Cheikia, imo.

This year it's too early to tell, I still think they can qualify from their pool and the ML isn't won or lost in October so it's still all to play for. Right now he needs Gibbes and Gaffney to do something, not sure he himself has the ability to turn things around.

Jackz

JWAD wrote: »

Why? He was doing fine up until a few weeks ago, wasn't he?

I think he bought himself an extra year with the Magners league victory - he has been given incredible resources and the fans are investing their money and time - if Leinster don't do well in the Heineken Cup they need a new coach.

Heroditas

anonymous_joe wrote: »

and possibly some new signings, perhaps do a Melck and sign an outhalf for a couple of months, if only to offer support to Sexton, who needs a chance to mature, and certainly looks very talented.

He did this already in the summer - they're called Rocky Elsom and Isa Nacewa.

anonymous_joe

I don't mean permanent additions to the squad, I mean something similar to the arrangement Dan Carter has at Perpignan.

JWAD

anonymous_joe wrote: »

I don't mean permanent additions to the squad, I mean something similar to the arrangement Dan Carter has at Perpignan.

Now, where would the money for that come from exactly????

JWAD

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Last year he failed to keep Brewer and Knox civil, and that ultimately meant that when Brewer's forwards were doing the job, Knox's backs weren't. Poor management by Cheika, imo

lmao :rolleyes:

Amazotheamazing

JWAD wrote: »

lmao :rolleyes:

Did you bother watch Leinster's backs last year? Knox had articles saying how it all fell apart in the national papers. He criticised Brewer's tactics at halftime in tha ML match (Llanelli iirc) and Brewer lost it. Ever since that point Leinster's backs have looked poor.

Amazotheamazing

JWAD wrote: »

Now, where would the money for that come from exactly????

From the 18,000 home attendances, Leinster are pretty flush at the minute, how else do you think they get top level players like Elsom and Van de Linde while Ulster and Connacht get journeymen?

Trojan

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Did you bother watch Leinster's backs last year? Knox had articles saying how it all fell apart in the national papers. He criticised Brewer's tactics at halftime in tha ML match (Llanelli iirc) and Brewer lost it. Ever since that point Leinster's backs have looked poor.

C'mon now, it's a tough gig for *anyone* to keep Knox civil!

Amazotheamazing

Trojan wrote: »

C'mon now, it's a tough gig for *anyone* to keep Knox civil!

Maybe, it's a pity he's a bit of a nutter, because he got some great rugby out of Leinster's backs. Was hoping he'd step up to Ireland eventually.

Sangre

fatgav wrote: »

at the time, leinster had the same number of penalties as connacht yet nothing was done to them at any stage in the 80 minutes for their repeated infringements.

Missed that part of the match but I would point that this isn't always indicative for giving a yellow. I think the location on the pitch and the threat of the attack are very important factors as well.

il gatto

Was going to post last night, but had to go out. It would've been of the "woohoo" kind. In the cold light of day though, yes it was a fantastic win, but there's bigger issues for Connacht. We're very likely to squander points all over the shop during the season. There's no consistancy in the performances. The players showed what they can do, but Bradley's meddling will no doubt scupper any possible run of form. Johnny O'Connor was fantastic. Shows why he was such a rated player before that injury. Still young enough to get back into the Ireland squad too. Keatley had a great game. Wonder how long we'll have him for? It shows how a good outhalf can make such a difference. Warwick consistantly did the business for Connacht and scraped wins where the team didn't perform. Frank Murphy was brilliant too. Good distribution and solid behind the ruck.
Leinster were poor in the extreme. There was a lack or respect for Connacht, but not from Cheika and Co. You can understand sending that squad as it still should be good enough to put Connacht away. I thought the Leinster players looked like they expected to win for ages and when it occured to them that tings were looking bad, they started to panic and lost the plot. The forwards spent more time inspecting the rucks instead of hitting them. The backs didn't fire at all.
I wouldn't blame Sexton either, but I've never seen what some people have in him. Cipriani is 20. Wilkinson was 24 at the 2003 WC. 23 is old enough to be establishing himself. Potential is not enough at this stage and I can see Wallace or even Keatley warming the bench for O'Gara come the 6N.
Overall, Leinster seemed to have "regained" that inconsistancy of a few seasons ago which scuppered several ML and HEC campaigns.

juvenal

Any videos of high/low lights??

RugbyFanatic

il gatto wrote: »

.
I wouldn't blame Sexton either, but I've never seen what some people have in him. Cipriani is 20. Wilkinson was 24 at the 2003 WC. 23 is old enough to be establishing himself. Potential is not enough at this stage and I can see Wallace or even Keatley warming the bench for O'Gara come the 6N.

Sexton is 22. He will 23 by the end of this season. I believe he has this season and possibly the next to establish himself as a possible Ireland no.10
these two seasons will be his make or break.

ROG has stated he likely won't be around for the next WC so your looking at realistically Keatley or Sexton for Ireland choice 10 at WC.

Sexton is learning but has come along a very far way in a very short space of time and certainly has an element of maturity and level headiness that can't be taught. I think he has the potential to be great but we will see if that potential occurs over the next 2 seasons. The important thing is however the potential IS there.

Oh and to everyone putting Keatley ahead of Sexton in the pecking order?? Come off it, Keatleys put in one magnificent performance and now suddenly hes ahead of Sexton when Sexton has been putting in great performances week in week out for seasons.

Inquitus

RugbyFanatic wrote: »

Sexton is 22. He will 23 by the end of this season. I believe he has this season and possibly the next to establish himself as a possible Ireland no.10
these two seasons will be his make or break.

ROG has stated he likely won't be around for the next WC so your looking at realistically Keatley or Sexton for Ireland choice 10 at WC.

Sexton is learning but has come along a very far way in a very short space of time and certainly has an element of maturity and level headiness that can't be taught. I think he has the potential to be great but we will see if that potential occurs over the next 2 seasons. The important thing is however the potential IS there.

Oh and to everyone putting Keatley ahead of Sexton in the pecking order?? Come off it, Keatleys put in one magnificent performance and now suddenly hes ahead of Sexton when Sexton has been putting in great performances week in week out for seasons.

Sexton is the next Paddy Wallace....you heard it here first folks.

il gatto

RugbyFanatic wrote: »

Sexton is 22. He will 23 by the end of this season. I believe he has this season and possibly the next to establish himself as a possible Ireland no.10
these two seasons will be his make or break.

ROG has stated he likely won't be around for the next WC so your looking at realistically Keatley or Sexton for Ireland choice 10 at WC.

Sexton is learning but has come along a very far way in a very short space of time and certainly has an element of maturity and level headiness that can't be taught. I think he has the potential to be great but we will see if that potential occurs over the next 2 seasons. The important thing is however the potential IS there.

Oh and to everyone putting Keatley ahead of Sexton in the pecking order?? Come off it, Keatleys put in one magnificent performance and now suddenly hes ahead of Sexton when Sexton has been putting in great performances week in week out for seasons.

Sexton has been putting in great perfromances week in week out for seasons? I'm sorry. I thought we were talking about Jonathon Sexton, Leinster's hyper inconsistant replacement No.10. And on checking the Leinster website, they also say he is 23. And potential is fine as long as it develops. I personally haven't seen that it has yet. This was his year to make a breakthrough with Contepomi moving to center, but even his own coach didn't trust him enough and brought in Nacewa (and it remains to be seen if he's a good no.10 as well).

RugbyFanatic

Inquitus wrote: »

Sexton is the next Paddy Wallace....you heard it here first folks.

How about explaining your reasoning rather than taking cheap swipes at young prospective Irish players?

[Jackass]

I don't think players like Sexton or Keane are being scapegoated.

With all due respect, as a Leinster fan, I don't care a whole lot about the national team. Sure I want them to do well and I like to see the best players in this country come together, but for me I'm certainly province before country and I don't see why we should have to take responsability for blooding players for the benefit of another team.

The last time the Leinster backline took the piss in Europe was in 2006 when Contepomi was outhalf. 2007 and 2008 it has gotten progressively worse with him at centre and Sexton at 10. He's been given a lot of time, but realisticly, the fact that he can't place kick kills his prospects before they even get going. It's no coincidence that Nacewa was signed in the final year of Contepomis contract, especially when everyone was so surprised we signed a back.

I don't intend any disrespect to Connacht, I thought they played superbably and were fully worth their victory. But from a Leinster point of view, it's not unreasonable to expect a lot more. Our resources compared to Connacht should dictate that if nothing else.

The only positive I can draw from this is that it's a little fu*k you to the IRFU from Connacht for the way they've been treated and the lack of support, then they go and put in a display like that and take the scalp of one of the golden babies of the IRFU.

I'm gutted it's at our expense, but as a strong supporter of the Connacht cause, I can draw some positive from it at least I suppose. But it's still nothing short of a complete and utter humiliation.

Keatley rang rings around Sexton, which begs the question, why isn't he the trainee? Plus he can place kick. There's a star of the future, but the Sexton project has already started and a lot has been invested so maybe pride will dictate that the weaker player gets all the oppertunitys and never makes it while the more talented one is ignored and maybe never makes it either.

I'm not hitting the self distruct button just yet or preaching the end is neigh for Leinster rugby - I have a opinion I'll keep private about the Munster match but all I say is it wasn't this one sided hammering that some people would like you to believe and as for Connacht there are some small positives I can take. I also think the stage of the season we're at, I'd rather this happen now than in a few weeks.

I just think that if we are going to bounce back we HAVE TO learn from these lessons and acknowledge hard facts, like Keane is useless and Sexton isn't ready / just doesn't have it.

I remeber a coach who used to be overly loyal to players. His name was Eddie O'Sullivan, and we all know how that ended. We have to acknowledge that just because we want to play a certain way, doesn't mean we should or can and just because we want certain players to be good enough, doesn't mean they are.

That's all I'm saying, and I think if we learn as much from this as we can, we have been given a superb insight into our failings that we know exactly where we go wrong. If we open out eyes and learn from this, it could be the making of us and of our season. This is the real test of a coach. This situation right now. Some teams become immesuarbly stronger from the expericne. Some crumble. It's judgement day for Leinster and their coach. Now we will know what this team is made of.

Blured

[Jackass] wrote: »

I don't think players like Sexton or Keane are being scapegoated..

You start with this and then basically rip Sexton up and place the blame pretty much on his shoulders. Yes, he had a poor game and hasnt played well this season, but I do not think this is mostly Sextons fault.

Who decided that most of the time we get the ball an up and under is the best way to go?

Who decided that we are not going to commit numbers to the breakdown, so that any ball we get is slow and the opposition have time to rush up on us?

We are clueless at the moment with ball in hand, but I have to say, I think that comes from a lack of gameplan from the sidelines

Stev_o

Blured wrote: »

You start with this and then basically rip Sexton up and place the blame pretty much on his shoulders. Yes, he had a poor game and hasnt played well this season, but I do not think this is mostly Sextons fault.

Who decided that most of the time we get the ball an up and under is the best way to go?

Who decided that we are not going to commit numbers to the breakdown, so that any ball we get is slow and the opposition have time to rush up on us?

We are clueless at the moment with ball in hand, but I have to say, I think that comes from a lack of gameplan from the sidelines

OH are supposed to dictate game plans and Sexton couldnt even manage it he had no game management whatsoever just pass pass pass it ll work eventually seemed to be the idea of it all.

Keatley who is 20 peformed like a season pro, kicking was excellent and executed the game plan perfectly but more importantly then other aspect he TACKLED. 10's by nature are always hidden away from tackles and tbh Leinster would have been thinking to themselves they only would have to deal with 13 players after McCarthy got carded but Keatley stepped up and made his tackles all over the park lesser OH would of continued to avoid making tackles.

[Jackass]

Blured wrote: »

You start with this and then basically rip Sexton up and place the blame pretty much on his shoulders. Yes, he had a poor game and hasnt played well this season, but I do not think this is mostly Sextons fault.

Who decided that most of the time we get the ball an up and under is the best way to go?

Who decided that we are not going to commit numbers to the breakdown, so that any ball we get is slow and the opposition have time to rush up on us?

We are clueless at the moment with ball in hand, but I have to say, I think that comes from a lack of gameplan from the sidelines

Oh I agree, absolutely, but Keane is a terrilbe player. full stop. we had presented quick ball on the Connacht 22, which I pointed out earlier, took him the guts of half a minute to pass although the ball had been presented.

The breakdown is so competetive now that it is very difficult to defend it even when it is presented on your side. I can remember at least 2 balls turned over as Keane was too slow getting it out of there. There's a big differnce when you watch stringer play, probably one of the best scrum halves in the world for this, he arrives, passes, arrives, passes, no bullsh*t, as soon as the ball is presented it's gone, end of story. Then you don't need to commit players to the breakdown and you have a lot more players around the park to offload too and you give the opposition defence no time to reorganise and they commit more and more men to the breakdown leaving massive overlaps.

It's amazing how one small little simple thing is a game plan in its self, and Keane is a hinderence to our team. It's like giving the opposition another number 6 he slows down the ball so much. He's terrible. Hey, if I played last night, I would expect to be talked about as terrible and shouldn't be in the team. If you're not good enough you're not good enough. It's nothing personal, just a fact. He shouldn't be in the squad.

As for Sexton, I'm not blaming him at all!! But again my point is why should we suffer to develop a player who is missing amongst the most crucial aspects of an outhalf straight away, goal kiking, and his tactical game is very poor and when under pressure his decision making is shocking. Again, I'm just pointing out that there are MUCH stronger options for our team, so why waste our time and sacrafice results "developing" this guy when he isn't stepping up. I don't know if you've noticed, but the game has progressed so far in the last 2 or 3 years that there isn't any time for this cr@p anymore. Welcome to professional sport. All that matters is the next result. Players should play there way into a team, not be baby stepped in and playing a second out half to cover them while they learn. Case in point, Fitzgerald, Kearney, Keith Earls, as soon as he's good enough, he's in. None of this bubble wrap b0llox.

Diom

Yay Connacht!



A number of things:
1) Keatley v Sexton... Keatley played much better last night. I don't think that Sexton is being 'scapegoated' simply because people are pointing out errors in his game. Personally I think he did a functional job, had a few nice kicks, but he failed to really bring the backline into the play, which is essential. Whether that is enough to get him a call up is up to the Irish setup.

2) JOC: Immense game. Simply superb, he was like D.Wallace and Quinlan in one last night (i.e. running and cheating ).

3) The McCarthy Incident (the 'schmoozle under the posts' as it has been termed): I've got no problem that he should have gone off. He did headbutt a player. However he should not have gotten that first yellow. The penalty count was 5-5, and he did nothing that merited it. Ref should have given a penalty, as Leinster would still have gained quite a bit from that. I don't think that there will be citings for either team.

4) Bradley: My opinion of the man is unchanged. I think he needs to move along. This performance came from the team, who had fired themselves up for it. Bradley should have been the man to do that, to get his team fired up. But obviously he cannot do that, otherwise we'd see intensity like that week in and week out.

5) Leinster bad feelings: Why didn't they send a representative to the press conference? They have a duty to their fans after all. I saw the Leinster brass in O'Connells before the game and they seemed relaxed enough at that stage, so you think that they might have made an appearance later on.

6) Support for Connacht: I firmly believe that the crowds will follow the results. Not the other way around. We need a couple of seasons of success to inspire a crowd and start building a base of long term supporters. This is how it happened in Munster, fans followed the success. In order to do that I think that the IRFU must place a bet on Connacht.

gcgirl

Inquitus wrote: »

Sexton is the next Paddy Wallace....you heard it here first folks.

Your being a bit hard on Paddy Wallace ! I have seen better kickers down here in Wicklow than Sexton,Sexton is someone i don't rate sorry but seeing him missing something my granny would get over the bar does not make me have confidence in him. Fair play to Connacht last night it was a real up yours to the IRFU just hope they have a few more matches in them over the season and i also hope Keatley get a call up for the matches in November as understudy to O Gara.

daveharnett

gcgirl wrote: »

I have seen better kickers down here in Wicklow than Sexton

In that case, why is he still kicking? Did Dr Phil forget how to kick penalties when he moved to centre?

JWAD

Diom wrote: »

3) The McCarthy Incident (the 'schmoozle under the posts' as it has been termed): I've got no problem that he should have gone off. He did headbutt a player. However he should not have gotten that first yellow. The penalty count was 5-5, and he did nothing that merited it. Ref should have given a penalty, as Leinster would still have gained quite a bit from that. I don't think that there will be citings for either team

He pulled a player who at his highest in mid-jump down and backwards in a lineout. Yellow was obvious.
Leo Cullen could be cited for elbowing the player running back to congratulate his teammates.

JWAD

[QUOTE='[Jackass]With all due respect, as a Leinster fan, I don't care a whole lot about the national team[/QUOTE]
Weirdo

phog

[Jackass] wrote: »

With all due respect, as a Leinster fan, I don't care a whole lot about the national team. Sure I want them to do well and I like to see the best players in this country come together, but for me I'm certainly province before country and I don't see why we should have to take responsability for blooding players for the benefit of another team.

Seeing as the IRFU pay for the majority of the players in the 4 provinces then it should no suprise that the provinces have to blood players for the national team.

Sangre

since when do provinces 'have' to blood players?

phog

Cullens moment of glory - check out 2.40 for his contribution to the game:mad:

Peter B

I would agree with whoever said earlier that the problem with Leinster was their 9, 10, 12 axis. This is the most vital part of the team and without these three performing you are at a serious disadvantage. The same 3 positions were guilty with having a bad day for the Munster match.

d-gal

After seeing that incident captaincy should bet taken off cullen, what a sore loser. I dont mind a fight kicking off but a sly elbow for going up to congratulate your team mates is BS. What a cowardly d*ck

redroar1942

d-gal wrote: »

After seeing that incident captaincy should bet taken off cullen, what a sore loser. I dont mind a fight kicking off but a sly elbow for going up to congratulate your team mates is BS. What a cowardly d*ck

I'm inclined to agree. He must have spent too much time with Neil Back.

Shelflife

What Mccarthy did was wrong and leading with the head deserves a straight red, but that was missed by the officials and he was carded effectively for handbags with elsom, for that incident a 2nd yellow was punishing connacht too much.

the first yellow was for pulling down at the lineout an incident that warranted a peno but thats it, even the ref didnt call the pen but was happy to give a straight yellow.

Cullen should be cited and banned, it was a cheap sly shot that was unbecoming of a professional player never mind the leinster captain.

overall the officials were poor with many decisions not going connachts way, macarthy got what he deserved ( a red for the headbutt) but not for what the officials got him for.

even at home connacht dont seem to get the home decisions, against the ospreys the ospreys forwards had the ref in their pocket ( experienced play by them) they were warned twice and again in the 2nd half yet connacht get a straight yellow.

fitzgerald was always ahead of the kicker at kickoffs but was never penalised.

anyway a great and deserved result and a fantastic atmosphere, hopefully there will be many more.

cerebus

Anyone know if there is a torrent of this game knocking around?

phog

Sangre wrote: »

since when do provinces 'have' to blood players?

Since the IRFU capped the number of foreign players a province can sign.

Shelflife wrote: »

Cullen should be cited and banned, it was a cheap sly shot that was unbecoming of a professional player never mind the leinster captain.


fitzgerald was always ahead of the kicker at kickoffs but was never penalised.

Cullen will not be cited - it seems once it's an inter-pro you can do as you like and Cullen I guess took advantage of this. It's possible he took his fustration with his team out on the poor Connacht guy but it was still a cheap shot and deserves punishment.

As for Fitz being ahead of the kicker - I think that is getting more common place in the race for winning the restart. One assistant ref should be assigned to stay on the line and watch the early break and penalise it, that would rule it out.

ScrubsfanChris

Hey, Ruggie.......I think this thread needs closing
The match was 3 days ago:pac:

Pshan

ScrubsfanChris wrote: »

Hey, Ruggie.......I think this thread needs closing
The match was 3 days ago:pac:

So should all threads that have topics that are three days old be closed? I think Connacht should be given more time to glory in their victory.

Jackz

ScrubsfanChris wrote: »

Hey, Ruggie.......I think this thread needs closing
The match was 3 days ago:pac:

Dr. Percival Cox

Looky here Christine, in this thread here Leinster fans have no problem admitting that we were ****e and congratulating Connacht. The longer any Leinster v Munster match thread is left open the more it degenerates into jibe swapping. Ruggie has been moderating this forum in an unbiased manner as long as I've been around.

Zzippy

ScrubsfanChris wrote: »

Hey, Ruggie.......I think this thread needs closing
The match was 3 days ago:pac:

Umm, this is Tuesday morning, the match was on Sunday evening... 3 days?? :rolleyes:

Just watched the clip of the Elsom-McCarthy incident. Deserved red card alright, but Leo Cullen's thuggery should definitely not go unpunished. Scumbag move putting the elbow into a young player's face like that. Real leadership material alright :rolleyes:

buck65

Cullen's elbow was a cheap cowardly shot, but it wasn't exactly "dangerous". He was frustrated but isn't a bad guy or a dick. A yellow at the time would have sufficed. Even when he was getting pucked after doing it he walked away because he knew he let himself down. Handbags, give the guy a break totally out of character.

Zzippy

buck65 wrote: »

Cullen's elbow was a cheap cowardly shot, but it wasn't exactly "dangerous". He was frustrated but isn't a bad guy or a dick. A yellow at the time would have sufficed. Even when he was getting pucked after doing it he walked away because he knew he let himself down. Handbags, give the guy a break totally out of character.

Ah come on, handbags is 2 players facing each other and throwing a few digs, if someone gets injured well they were as bad as the other lad. Cullen stuck the elbow into the face of a player who was running past him, caught him totally unawares, he had no chance to defend himself. Like you said a cheap cowardly shot, but an elbow can be extremely dangerous. Yes he let himself down, but it should have been a red card, there is no defending what he did.

Amazotheamazing

buck65 wrote: »

Cullen's elbow was a cheap cowardly shot, but it wasn't exactly "dangerous". He was frustrated but isn't a bad guy or a dick. A yellow at the time would have sufficed. Even when he was getting pucked after doing it he walked away because he knew he let himself down. Handbags, give the guy a break totally out of character.

What's worse is Cullen than ran away and let Elsom take the blame for it. If you watch the video Cullen legs it after his cheap shot and McCarthy thinks it was Elsom who hit Keatley and takes it out on him.

toomevara

Massive brain-fart on Cullen's part...really shoddy stuff but it must be said in his defence that it was completely out of character...

Webbs

It appeared to me that Leinster had a deliberate ploy to take out both Murphy and Keatley at any opportunity, was amazed at the number of late shots that both got hit with during the game and the linesman turning a blind eye.
There was one particular incident that everyone around me saw with a Leinster player leading with shoulder no attempt at tackle long time after ball had gone right in front of the linesman who just kept on running away.
Cullen doing what he did was a continuation of this, and was one of the most cowardly things I have seen on the pitch for a good while, an elbow would normally warrant a decent ban (the running away and leaving your team mate to take the blame should be dealt with at the next training session by Elsom )

JWAD

Webbs wrote: »

It appeared to me that Leinster had a deliberate ploy to take out both Murphy and Keatley at any opportunity, was amazed at the number of late shots that both got hit with during the game and the linesman turning a blind eye

Exactly when did you see either John Lacey or Peter Fitzgibbon "turn a blind eye"?

Zzippy

toomevara wrote: »

Massive brain-fart on Cullen's part...really shoddy stuff but it must be said in his defence that it was completely out of character...

Agree with you there, he's not normally a dirty player, but it doesn't excuse what he did. He could have showed some character by having a word with Keatley when he was being treated afterwards and apologising or at least checking how he was...

RuggieBear

d-gal wrote: »

What a cowardly d*ck

banned

As an aside I have taken a step back in the last week or so from my usual modding just to see what happens...

I'm really not impressed. It doesn't take long for the petty provincial biases to emerge and the same pathetic point scoring repeatd ad nauseum