Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

durkadurka

Big Nelly wrote: »

Sorry guys, no good, says it cant be forwarded!!!

I Forwarded mine today. Maybe you could download as PDF and email the PDF?

whatawaster

Quick question - I'm looking at Bath tickets for myself and my girlfriend, but we're on a bit of a budget, so the €20/€30 seats are the only options.

Most of the €30 euro ones seem to be on the top tier near the very top, but along the lenght of the pitch.

The €20 euro ones seem to be in the corners of the top tier, like block 511.

Any experience of these cheap seats? What would you guys go for? Or is it a case that one can't go wrong in a modern stadium like this one

durkadurka

Front of the top tier is excellent.

But I was at one game half way up the top tier and it was very high to be honest and quite far from the pitch.

whatawaster

Went for block 527 Row U. They were 40, but the selection didn't seem great below that. Hoping I can see a big screen at least!

durkadurka

Bath lost at home to sale today. Ther scrum collapsed apparently to a scrum containing Tony Buckley. Two losses in a row for them.

RuggieBear

durkadurka wrote: »

Bath lost at home to sale today. Ther scrum collapsed apparently to a scrum containing Tony Buckley. Two losses in a row for them.

jesus. how bad is the bath scrum?

durkadurka

Match report from the telegraph

The festive season has started early in Bath. The city’s rugby players will be appearing at the Bath Pavilion on Sunday afternoon in the club’s pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk, having already handed Sale a gift-wrapped victory in this thud-and-blunder contest.

Bath surrendered a 10-point lead with a wretched second half performance in which their scrum crumpled, their discipline deserted them and they were frustrated by tenacious Sale.

Michael Claassens’ knock-on, as he went for the line in injury time, typified Bath’s effort but they should never have been relying on a last-ditch attack to snatch victory. Bath appeared in little difficulty when Claassens bounced out of one tackle and raced over unopposed midway through the first half but they failed to convert subsequent pressure into points.

Last week’s defeat to Worcester described as “unacceptable” by Bath chairman Bruce Craig in his programme notes and coach

Brad Davis admitted that this performance was unlikely to please a man who has invested heavily in the club. “The chairman wears his heart on his sleeve regarding performance, Bruce wants the team to win as much as we all do,” Davis said.

Sale were transformed after the break. Mark Cueto rounded off a flowing move, Nick Macleod kicked three penalties and openside David Seymour showed his class once again. “Seymour has been outstanding, whoever comes in at England has to look at people like him,” Sale’s director of sport Steve Diamond said.

Match details

Scoring: 3-0 Barkley pen; 8-0 Claassens try; 10-0 Barkley con; 10-3 Macleod pen; 10-8 Cueto try; 10-10 Macleod con; 13-10 Barkley pen; 13-13 Macleod pen; 13-16 Macleod pen.

Bath: J Cuthbert; O Woodburn, M Banahan, O Barkley, N Abendanon (D Hipkiss 68); T Heathcote (S Vesty 76), M Claassens (C Cook 39-40); D Flatman (C Beech 58), W Tanner (C Biller 58), D Wilson (A Perenise 58), S Hooper (captain) (D Attwood 73), R Caldwell, J Ovens, G Mercer, S Taylor.
Sale: M Cueto; W Addison, J Leota, S Tuitupou (captain), J Tuculet; N Macleod, D Peel (C Willis 65); A Dickinson, M Jones, T Buckley (H Thomas 60), F McKenzie (J Gaskell 72), K Myall, R Vernon (O Auva’a 60), D Seymour, A Powell.
Referee: J P Doyle (London).

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tolosenc

RuggieBear wrote: »

jesus. how bad is the bath scrum?

Pretty dreadful if Buckley comes off looking good...

Big Nelly

durkadurka wrote: »

Bath lost at home to sale today. Ther scrum collapsed apparently to a scrum containing Tony Buckley. Two losses in a row for them.

Was this game on tv? anyone see it? how did Willis do?

durkadurka

Better news report here


http://www.espnscrum.com/premiership-2011-12/rugby/story/155459.html?CMP=OTC-RSS

jacothelad

tolosenc wrote: »

Pretty dreadful if Buckley comes off looking good...

God no! You know what this means? Deccie will have the Great Marshmallow back in for the 6 Nations. Any excuse seems good enough to confirm his prejudices about certain players.

tolosenc

jacothelad wrote: »

God no! You know what this means? Deccie will have the Great Marshmallow back in for the 6 Nations. Any excuse seems good enough to confirm his prejudices about certain players.

I'm terrified that TOL is going to be starting come the 6N. I can genuinely see it happening. I'd sooner have Mauro Bergamasco.

In other news... 1 point clear at the top with just Ulster at home left until the mid way point. Despite the awful start, 3 weeks from now we could be in a really strong position!

durkadurka

Yes but by the ulster game we'll have played 7 out of 11 at home so it's not as rosy as it appears. Tough run in.

CatFromHue

In the second half of the season we've away games to Cardiff, Munster, and Glasgow. We also play at home to the Ospreys and Treviso. So 5 games out of 11 against teams in the current top 6 isn't too bad, 2 of which are at home.

During the 6 Nations we've Lanelli and Treviso at home and Glasgow and Aironi away. We should be able to win 3/4 of those.

Considering the position we're in now, top by one point, with a very strong points difference, 6 points ahead of third and 9 points ahead of fourth I don't think we could be in a better position.

danthefan

Two very good sides to play away during the 6N. Both will be missing a massive number of players and I think it's fair to say neither has the squad depth Leinster do.

CatFromHue

danthefan wrote: »

Two very good sides to play away during the 6N. Both will be missing a massive number of players and I think it's fair to say neither has the squad depth Leinster do.

I would have said we could win 4/4 as we played Lanelli, Aironi and Glasgow during the world cup but Glasgow beat us.

durkadurka

We won't be as badly hit during the 6n as the world cup because you only lose first xv players for two games and players from the matchday 22 for the other two games.

.ak

Yeah, and Munster could've done us a big favour by beating Osprey's away.

irishbucsfan

I reckon we'll see Ospreys, Leinster and Munster in the top 3 which makes finishing 1st a very big deal. If Munster are 2nd or 3rd then we need to finish 1st to avoid them in the semi. At the very least a 2nd place finish to be able to play them in the Aviva rather than Thomond.

The depth of the squad is going to be what will hopefully put us in the final... after that it's all up to the big guns to do what they couldn't last year: Win the double!

.ak

irishbucsfan wrote: »

I reckon we'll see Ospreys, Leinster and Munster in the top 3 which makes finishing 1st a very big deal. If Munster are 2nd or 3rd then we need to finish 1st to avoid them in the semi. At the very least a 2nd place finish to be able to play them in the Aviva rather than Thomond.

The depth of the squad is going to be what will hopefully put us in the final... after that it's all up to the big guns to do what they couldn't last year: Win the double!

Or, we could see Sexto steering the big guns to a third HEC win and Mads earning his salt by directing a youthful mix in the Pro12 final vs Ospreys... Oh we can dream.

CatFromHue

irishbucsfan wrote: »

I reckon we'll see Ospreys, Leinster and Munster in the top 3 which makes finishing 1st a very big deal. If Munster are 2nd or 3rd then we need to finish 1st to avoid them in the semi. At the very least a 2nd place finish to be able to play them in the Aviva rather than Thomond.

The depth of the squad is going to be what will hopefully put us in the final... after that it's all up to the big guns to do what they couldn't last year: Win the double!

I think Munster will finish third or fourth. During the 6 Nations they've away games to Treviso, Aironi, and Dragons with a home game against Cardiff. Treviso and Dragons away accounted for two of their three losses last season. Their last 5 games are tricky too, away to Connacht and Scarlets and then home to Leinster, Ulster, and to a lesser extent Glasgow.

Higher

Leinster could definitely do the double this year. That would be some feat without the likes of Horgan and O'Driscoll but they're certainly looking on top form.

danthefan

Speaking of Horgan is there any word at all of when he might be back available?

CIARAN_BOYLE

danthefan wrote: »

Speaking of Horgan is there any word at all of when he might be back available?

last I heard it was if rather than when

Burgo

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

last I heard it was if rather than when

So disappointing to hear

CIARAN_BOYLE

My team for next week against Bath

Healy Strauss Ross
Cullen Toner
SOB Heaslip Jennings
Boss Sexton
Darcy EOM
Fitz RKearney Nacewa

Cronin VDM White Sykes McLaughlin Redden Madigan McFadden

I was tempted to put McFadden ahead of Darcy and bring DKearney into the 23 shirt but decided Darcy hasn't done anything to deserve being dropped

Listening to the breakdown and Franno doesn't rate Sykes. The lads on the breakdown are suggesting a trade Conway or Carr for Nagle. They are saying Sykes was bad against Cardiff personally but I thought he was average enough.

Fireball07

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

My team for next week against Bath

Healy Strauss Ross
Cullen Toner
SOB Heaslip Jennings
Boss Sexton
Darcy EOM
Fitz RKearney Nacewa

Cronin VDM White Sykes McLaughlin Redden Madigan McFadden

I was tempted to put McFadden ahead of Darcy and bring DKearney into the 23 shirt but decided Darcy hasn't done anything to deserve being dropped

Listening to the breakdown and Franno doesn't rate Sykes. The lads are suggesting a trade Conway or Carr for Nagle. They are saying Sykes was bad against Cardiff personally but I thought he was average enough.

I'd probably take Conway for Nagle.

Hagz

Fireball07 wrote: »

I'd probably take Conway for Nagle.

Jesus NO! Nobody is touching Conway.

molloyjh

Hagz wrote: »

Fireball07 wrote: »

I'd probably take Conway for Nagle.

Jesus NO! Nobody is touching Conway.

Franno floated the idea but it was quickly dropped. I think they were kind of making the point that there really isn't anyone we'd want to send down.

GerM

I'd be reluctant to swap those two. They've a similar amount of game time but one is 23 and one is 20. Conway has had a fairly bad time of it with injuries by managing to be injured at the exact same time as the international windows which saw him miss out on about 6 or 7 more likely starts. I don't know what's going on with Nagle but he seems to have slipped back down the pecking order slightly now.

I'd be happy with Carr going if I had to choose someone. The likes of Dave Kearney and Conway should have bright futures in Leinster.