Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

danthefan

Deleted User wrote: »

yeah clearly. First XV for the HEC game, second XV for the Glasgow game.

Why would I start McLaughlin, Ryan and Ruddock in a HEC opener?!

You know the Glasgow game is in the HEC, right?

wixfjord

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

I know jennings is more likely but sometimes you have to take a bit of a risk and see if a young player can take on the job with the full team around him in a big game and I feel it might be time to throw in Ryan

If not this week then try it against Glasgow in the HEC

I agree, the Glasgee game would be by far more apt for a start for Ryan.
An away game in France is still an away game in France, no matter who we're playing.

Podge_irl

Deleted User wrote: »

yeah clearly. First XV for the HEC game, second XV for the Glasgow game.

Glasgow is a HEC game. Glasgow also already beat Leinster in Dublin this season.

If there are changes then it will be two or three at most.

danthefan

danthefan wrote: »

You know the Glasgow game is in the HEC, right?

totallegend

Maxine Wrong Grits wrote: »

totallegend wrote: »

Your post reads like the second xv you've listed is the team you'd pick against Glasgow, is that not what you meant?

Playing that side would be bananas frankly.

yeah clearly. First XV for the HEC game, second XV for the Glasgow game.

Why would I start McLaughlin, Ryan and Ruddock in a HEC opener?!

Yeah, but you realise the glasgow game is also Heineken Cup, right? And you'd be putting that back row against Barclay and Beattie? Nah, couldn't agree with that, nor with dropping Toner when Gray is coming to town.

durkadurka

Deleted User wrote: »

I thought you'd lost the head there

durkadurka

durkadurka wrote: »

I thought you'd lost the head there

working too hard obviously

embarrassing that it took about 12 posts for the penny to drop, and only after it was kicked by Dan

durkadurka

Don't know about you folks but i'd take 6 points from these next two games. We're a bit undercooked at the moment, although Montpelier are apparently too.

A win in Montpelier and the home qf is on a plate, but I think they might have a good cut at the HEC at least while they're still in it.

And i just can't figure out Glasgow. Theyre hot and cold.

wixfjord

durkadurka wrote: »

Don't know about you folks but i'd take 6 points from these next two games. We're a bit undercooked at the moment, although Montpelier are apparently too.

A win in Montpelier and the home qf is on a plate, but I think they might have a good cut at the HEC at least while they're still in it.

And i just can't figure out Glasgow. Theyre hot and cold.

It all depends on how Montpellier approach it.
A fired up full team who want to take their minds off their T14 struggles in front of a baying mob would be hard to beat.
A half cooked struggling team who haven't played together fully in a long time and are playing away from their usual stadium and have a weak backine wouldn't.

I think we'll beat them with a grinded out performance.

A loss to Glasgow at home would be a pure catastrophe imo.

CatFromHue

Matt Williams on The Breakdown was saying that this game is a big deal for the town of Montpellier. They're welcoming the reigning Champions of Europe to their club that's only been existence for a relatively short period of time. I'm guessing they'll get stuck in as best they can. the away game in Dublin may be a different story though.

durkadurka

Yeah if we can't beat Glasgow at home we should be ashamed , but depending on which glasgow turns up it could be hard fought.

A trip to france is a trip to France though. Rarely easy

GerM

Montpellier have been on a very bad run. If we can negate their back row, then we're in business. Shutdown Gorgodze and let Jennings negate Ouedraogo. Trinh-Duc is excellent when on form but he doen't have a huge amount of quality outside him. Decent players but not great. With that said, they're a French side in France and they're going to give it a serious shot. I can see us enduring a seriously bruising encounter. I can't see their set piece giving us a huge amount of trouble. Their scrum is solid but line out can be very wobbly. Should improve with Ouedraogo coming back in to run proceedings but only to a certain extent. We should make hay there. They're solid goal kickers so we need to keep discipline. No threat with ball in hand though. 7 tries all season by them.

CatFromHue

durkadurka wrote: »

Yeah if we can't beat Glasgow at home we should be ashamed , but depending on which glasgow turns up it could be hard fought.

They beat us in Dublin in September!

The last time we beat them in Glasgow was May 2006!

We are favourites no doubt but they're still going to be tough team to beat.

durkadurka

CatFromHue wrote: »

They beat us in Dublin in September!

The last time we beat them in Glasgow was May 2006!

We are favourites no doubt but they're still going to be tough team to beat.

They beat us minus 23 players or something, but it could well be very tough. Their HEC record is pretty poor .

We've often send poor teams to Glasgow too.

[Jackass]

Glasgow are a concern, but I feel ok about them, I feel ok about Bath too. It's first game up that sets the tone. If we win in Montpellier, I feel we're left with a load of banana skins, but no massive barriers.

Coonor

Hi Guys i'm new to the Forum so go easy on me!!! I am from Guernsey Channel Islands and i'm a big rugby fan, player and referee. I support Leinster and pretty much all Irish rugby!!

I think we should be going into these away games with an aim of winning and nothing else. A bonus while is not the end of the world it is below par for the current champions and top team in Europe. I don't want us to go the same route as Munster did last year where they thought they would go through by getting bonus points away from home and winning homes game but that ended badly!!!

CIARAN_BOYLE

Coonor wrote: »

Hi Guys i'm new to the Forum so go easy on me!!! I am from Guernsey Channel Islands and i'm a big rugby fan, player and referee. I support Leinster and pretty much all Irish rugby!!

I think we should be going into these away games with an aim of winning and nothing else. A bonus while is not the end of the world it is below par for the current champions and top team in Europe. I don't want us to go the same route as Munster did last year where they thought they would go through by getting bonus points away from home and winning homes game but that ended badly!!!

Nice to be optimistic man, welcome to the forum.

I agree with you that a win away should be expected against Montpellier, Bath and Glasgow. Lets face it Montpellier's performance last season in the top 14 was something of an aberation.

They are there for the taking and a win away sets the group up beautifully for Leinster to top the group and claim a home quarter final.

Coonor

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

Nice to be optimistic man, welcome to the forum.

I agree with you that a win away should be expected against Montpellier, Bath and Glasgow. Lets face it Montpellier's performance last season in the top 14 was something of an aberation.

They are there for the taking and a win away sets the group up beautifully for Leinster to top the group and claim a home quarter final.

I completely agree if we lose here we then have to pick ourselves up and fight our way out of the group and that will not be easy especially with BOD injured. A sole bonus point will also likely put us in a much lower seeding position if we qualify for the quarters making progress much harder.

wicklowwonder

I think we have to remember no team has won every single game in their Heineken Cup campaign and lifted the trophy. As far as I recall if Northampton had of won last year they would have been the first team to win every game. It would be a huge achievement to go through the campaign unbeaten and without BOD and Shaggy and Hines from last year.

pajunior

wicklowwonder wrote: »

I think we have to remember no team has won every single game in their Heineken Cup campaign and lifted the trophy. As far as I recall if Northampton had of won last year they would have been the first team to win every game. It would be a huge achievement to go through the campaign unbeaten and without BOD and Shaggy and Hines from last year.

I think that fact was bandied about a bit but I recall several people (possibly here) said it was bogus and some other team did in fact have an unbeaten run to the trophy.

Edit: Just had a quick look on Wikipedia and according to it, in 97 Brive and Leicester were both unbeaten going into the final which Brive won.

wixfjord

wicklowwonder wrote: »

I think we have to remember no team has won every single game in their Heineken Cup campaign and lifted the trophy. As far as I recall if Northampton had of won last year they would have been the first team to win every game. It would be a huge achievement to go through the campaign unbeaten and without BOD and Shaggy and Hines from last year.

I do think though that we're more than capable of winning 6 from 6.
Really, Sats game is probably the biggest in the group for us.
We should beat Glasgow at home, and that would stand to us coming into the double header.

iroced

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

I agree with you that a win away should be expected against Montpellier, Bath and Glasgow. Lets face it Montpellier's performance last season in the top 14 was something of an aberation.

Hey! As a Montpellierain, I feel a little offended here .

You could say we overachieved last season but we played well through most of it (finished in the top 4 of teams scoring the most tries) and even though we had a little guardian angel in the play-off and the semi, we deserved to win and didn't choke on day D despite discovering that level for the first time. We actually made the great Stade Toulousain underplay for over an hour in the final, which was a huge surprise for me (and well lets also bitter regret as had we scored our opportunities in the beginning of the second half, we could have made it). In fact the main reason Toulouse won was their much stronger bench.

That being said, and especially after our catastrophic start this year, we are David against Goliath on Saturday but I believe it's just a great opportunity for our club, our town to enter the Europe of rugby. If we manage not to get hammered, it'll be good and anything from defensive bonus point will be an achievement.

durkadurka

iroced wrote: »

Hey! As a Montpellierain, I feel a little offended here .


That being said, and especially after our catastrophic start this year, we are David against Goliath on Saturday but I believe it's just a great opportunity for our club, our town to enter the Europe of rugby. If we manage not to get hammered, it'll be good and anything from defensive bonus point will be an achievement.

I think I detect a little bit of whatever the French version of Cute Hoorism is here.:D

I suspect you're not half as bad as you're making out.....

justsomebloke

durkadurka wrote: »

I think I detect a little bit of whatever the French version of Cute Hoorism is here.:D

ah they're all just trying to pull a Marc Lievremont at this stage

iroced

durkadurka wrote: »

I think I detect a little bit of whatever the French version of Cute Hoorism is here.:D

I suspect you're not half as bad as you're making out.....

Well, I don't know if you've seen any of our games this season, but honestly, we were appalling. I mean we lost at home to Begles-Bordeaux, a newly promoted club. And we've been playing very bad. We deserved all these defeats. Now the internationals are back, I guess they'll play but their form is unknown. I'm sure that Trinh-Duc and Ouedraogo will be fired up as being brought up in Montpellier and its surroundings, this is a golden opportunity for them. But, how the team will react, after such a bad start is an unknown too.

The thing is, I haven't seen Leinster playing this season, so my "reference" is last year HCup final. I suppose at the start of a new season, after the WC, you're not in such a state of grace but if you can come close to it, it will be a training game for you.
On the other hand, if Montpellier manage to come out with a performance close enough to last year standard, then, at home, in La Mosson, with the crowd, we'd have a chance, but rationally, I just can't see it happening even though I must admit I secretly hope it will...:D

wixfjord

Here's last night's Ear to the Ground with SOB!

Absolute legend, he seems oblivious that he's one of the best players in the world.

http://www.rte.ie/player/#!v=1120777

Podge_irl

when Brive went through unbeaten there wasn't a home and away pool stage as far as I know. No one has done it under the current format

ormond lad

Podge_irl wrote: »

when Brive went through unbeaten there wasn't a home and away pool stage as far as I know. No one has done it under the current format

correct, home and away pool stage came in the season after brive won it.
when brive won it there was 4 pools of 5 and everyone played each other once

vinny chase

Hadn't seen this posted anywhere, and genuinely hadn't heard anything about it, but apologies if it was posted previously.

Jason Harris-Wright has left and signed for Bristol http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Bristol-coach-Liam-Middleton-increases-options/story-13797223-detail/story.html

CIARAN_BOYLE

vinny chase wrote: »

Hadn't seen this posted anywhere, and genuinely hadn't heard anything about it, but apologies if it was posted previously.

Jason Harris-Wright has left and signed for Bristol http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Bristol-coach-Liam-Middleton-increases-options/story-13797223-detail/story.html

His contract expired at the same time as Willis's he was only on a short term deal this season.

I think he became unhappy when Cronin was signed which dropped him down the pecking order