Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

.ak

Joe Schmidt wrote:

Dear Leinster Supporter,
I would firstly like to thank you for your outstanding support so far in our opening games of this year’s heineken Cup both away to Montpellier and in our Round 2 victory over Glasgow Warriors in the RDS. It goes without saying that Sunday’s game against Bath will be another enormous test of our squad’s durability against one of the great traditional clubs in English and European rugby. any side that is coached by the hugely decorated Sir Ian McGeechan will be formidable opponents and with the strength in depth which they have in their squad, it should make for another enthralling game


Stephen Donald seems to have taken to life in Bath after playing a brief but
very influential role for New Zealand in their recent World Cup success. He is
one of a number of key performers in their ranks who have proven their quality
on the highest stage, while Springbok scrum-half Michael Claasens has an eye
for an opportunity. In the likes of Nick Abendanon and Matt Banahan they have pace and power while, up front, we will need to prepare for a war of attrition against their impressive pack led by long time Leicester player and England World Cup captain Lewis Moody. Former Ulster lock Ryan Caldwell is a strong and aggressive player who will have a good knowledge of Leinster and carried the ball well against Montpellier in their 16-13 win at ‘the Rec’.

Pool 3 is certainly shaping up to be a close group with all four teams still in
contention. these back-to-back games in December can often go a long way
to determining the outcome of the pool so we will need to be very focused
this test and the return leg in the aviva Stadium in a positive manner.
I hope that you enjoy your trip to Bath; one of the most picturesque cities on the heineken Cup circuit. Your support means an enormous amount to the team and management and the colour and noise which you bring to each game gives us all a great lift. as this is our closing away guide before the Christmas break I would like to thank all of you for your support on our travels across Europe thus far and wish each of you and your families a Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

Enjoy the game,
JOE SCHMIDT
Leinster Coach

Taken from the OLSC Bath Away Guide PDF


Interesting message from the coach there... I really like those snippets from Joe, he gives you a little slice of his thoughts on the opposition and really instills the idea they look at every opposition as being a danger. Great attitude imo.

tolosenc

.ak wrote: »

Interesting message from the coach there... I really like those snippets from Joe, he gives you a little slice of his thoughts on the opposition and really instills the idea they look at every opposition as being a danger. Great attitude imo.

As opposed to Kidney, who comes close to denying that there are matches coming up...

danthefan

Going to be in Castle Leslie this weekend, anyone know if there's any pubs down in Glaslough that show rugby? Or even in Emyvale or Monaghan town?

CatFromHue

I don't know much about Castle Leslie but if there is no English soccer on you should be ok.

Finding a place that has Sky Sports could be tricky though.

I was on Oldcastle in Cavan for the Glasgow game a few weeks back. Three places didn't have Sky Sports and there were only four places open!

tolosenc

CatFromHue wrote: »

I don't know much about Castle Leslie but if there is no English soccer on you should be ok.

Sunderland v Blackburn is on, but it's hardly a massive game that everyone will want to watch!

MLC61

danthefan wrote: »

Going to be in Castle Leslie this weekend, anyone know if there's any pubs down in Glaslough that show rugby? Or even in Emyvale or Monaghan town?

The only pub in Glaslough is Wrights which doesn't have a TV.

Squealing Pig in Monaghan is the Monaghan equivalent of a sports bar - lots of TV's showing different sports.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Leinster A are playing away this weekend in the B&I cup against Llanelli in Parc y Scarlets

All to play for in the cup with both teams undefeated so far. AFAIK teams that top the 6 groups qualify for the QF along with 2 best runners up.

Pointless to speculate about the makeup of the team untill we know what the senior team is like and I;m not sure if some guys are fit (Conway and Ryan), but I would expect McGrath Sexton Hagan Flanagan Cooney Macken Carr and DKearney

wixfjord

I can't understand dropping Healy for the Bath game tbh.

My team would be

Healy, Cronin (never thought I'd be saying that, but he's been brilliant), Ross, Leo, Toner, SOB, Jennings, Heaslip, Boss, Sexton, Fitz, Darcy, O Malley, Nacewa, Kearney.

Strauss, VDM, White, Browne, Ruddock, Reddan, Madigan, MCF.

Anyone think Joe might spring a surprise and start Ruddock? He was brilliant last week. Best forward on the pitch imo.

Would have to start Kearney and Boss, because it could be a sticky pitch and we'll more than likely be reduced to more forward orientated rugby.

Also, any news on injuries for them? Moody, Donald, Atwood etc?

Hype710

I'd agree with your 22 wixfjord. Although we may see Locky start as he was seemingly rested last week.

smurphy29

Agree with you 22 Wixfjord. Coin flip at scrum half, both playing well and it's 50-30 anyway!

totallegend

wixfjord wrote: »

Also, any news on injuries for them? Moody, Donald, Atwood etc?

Bath have de-registered Moody from the HC squad, replaced him with Chris Biller (a hooker). While Moody being out is no surprise, at least they didn't sign a big-name replacement, so good news there.

Donald is expected to be fit, according to BBC.

wixfjord

totallegend wrote: »

Bath have de-registered Moody from the HC squad, replaced him with Chris Biller (a hooker). While Moody being out is no surprise, at least they didn't sign a big-name replacement, so good news there.

Donald is expected to be fit, according to BBC.

Feck, didn't think it was that bad.

Anyone have a guess at their team?

Presume it'll be something like
Abendanon, Banahan, Hipkiss, Barkley, Biggs, Donald, Classens, Flatman, Tanner, Wilson, Caldwell, Hooper, Louw, Mercer, Taylor

Definitely enough quality there to cause us a lot of trouble. Banahan and Hipkiss will be particularly dangerous running at O Malley.
Our forwards, particularly front 5, are better though.

durkadurka

I thought banahan was injured?

Edit: nah talking rubbish

totallegend

wixfjord wrote: »

Anyone have a guess at their team?

Presume it'll be something like
Abendanon, Banahan, Hipkiss, Barkley, Biggs, Donald, Classens, Flatman, Tanner, Wilson, Caldwell, Hooper, Louw, Mercer, Taylor

Definitely enough quality there to cause us a lot of trouble. Banahan and Hipkiss will be particularly dangerous running at O Malley.
Our forwards, particularly front 5, are better though.

Yeah the team will be 90% along those lines, and it wouldn't be too bad.

Not worried about Banahan, he's a big unit obviously but how often does he cause real, chaos for defences? Hipkiss something similar, he has a great step but zero creativity. Any threat its going to come from Donald and Barkley, maybe Abendanon if he gets a run in space.

If Leinster are in front after 60 mins, I'd expect them to pull away. Talk of a bp is very optimistic though.

CatFromHue

Bath are currently tenth in the Aviva Premiership with only 4 wins out of 10. We're top of the Pro12 with 8 wins out of 10. The Rec isn't exactly a fortress either as they've only won 2 out of the 5 games at home whereas we've only lost 1 out of our 5 away games in all comps. I'm not counting the LV Cup as it's a Mickey Mouse competition.

In the Hec they lost away to Glasgow by 5 who we took apart in the RDS and only beat Montpellier by 3 at home who we drew with away.

Against Montpellier 12 out of starting 15 had international caps and 13 against Glasgow. Bath had about 7 guys with international caps starting against Glasgow and 8 against Montpellier. More importantly the vast majority of out international capped players are still in contention for further international honours. This is not the case at all with Bath.

Statistically speaking we will win as we have better players and have better form. Statistics can be misleading of course but I'd be surprised if we don't get 5 points from this game.

durkadurka

I think we should win soundly. Just far too much firepower. Bath are a team in disarray , with no confidence, missing a lot of players . Leinster are on fire.

I'd be happy with a 10-9 win tbh but we are capable of more.

In terms of a home qf this game a win here would make it a clear run.
Lose and it's a real struggle.

CIARAN_BOYLE

While it is possible for teams with 20 points to get a home QF (07/08) 22 is a more a usual requirement. Furthermore I would expect it to be high this year since the number of teams undefeated so far seems higher than usual this year.

4 more wins with no BPs will get Leinster to 23. 3BP wins and a LBP will also get us 23.

durkadurka

22 is a good target for home qf and 20 for second place.

anonymous_joe

totallegend wrote: »

Yeah the team will be 90% along those lines, and it wouldn't be too bad.

Not worried about Banahan, he's a big unit obviously but how often does he cause real, chaos for defences? Hipkiss something similar, he has a great step but zero creativity. Any threat its going to come from Donald and Barkley, maybe Abendanon if he gets a run in space.

If Leinster are in front after 60 mins, I'd expect them to pull away. Talk of a bp is very optimistic though.

Banahan looked alright on the weekend. Could cause a young midfield some trouble.

WeeBushy

anonymous_joe wrote: »

Banahan looked alright on the weekend. Could cause a young midfield some trouble.

It's not a young midfield, though. D'Arcy ain't no spring chicken, and both O'Mally and McFadden have played in bigs games in the centre. I'm not worried about our midfield. I think it's better.

anonymous_joe

WeeBushy wrote: »

It's not a young midfield, though. D'Arcy ain't no spring chicken, and both O'Mally and McFadden have played in bigs games in the centre. I'm not worried about our midfield. I think it's better.

Me too tbh, but I'd be wary of dismissing Bath.

RMD

anonymous_joe wrote: »

Banahan looked alright on the weekend. Could cause a young midfield some trouble.

I wouldn't worry about Bath. Some of the bigger teams with better quality players I'd worry about McFadden and O'Malley, but I think this is a perfect opportunity for these 2 to get some Heineken cup time in against an average side. They've both shown before they can hold their own against much better sides.

A BP would be great, but I don't see it happening this weekend. Next week in the Aviva, it could certainly happen I think.

wixfjord

Interesting piece here about the Bath fan's expectations for this weekend.

http://www.rugbynetwork.net/main/bath/s105/st173417/match-preview--great-expectations

Hopefully we aren't being talked up for a fall.

CatFromHue

wixfjord wrote: »

Interesting piece here about the Bath fan's expectations for this weekend.

http://www.rugbynetwork.net/main/bath/s105/st173417/match-preview--great-expectations

Hopefully we aren't being talked up for a fall.

It's a fairly realistic piece about where they are at the moment i.e. in the Aviva and HEC they've 5 wins from 12 games.

Good to hear that Caldwell is doing well too.

durkadurka

Fairly reasonable assessment to me. They are bottom half of the premiership,missing a good few players and losing at home.

We need to go out positively and aim to win it ( as opposed to trying to eek out a win). We dont need to play 7s rugby or take mental risks.

managerman

any tickets going for sundays game?

Podge_irl

Presumably by Sunday's game he means the one in Bath

Benny Cake

Podge_irl wrote: »

Presumably by Sunday's game he means the one in Bath

managerman

Podge_irl wrote: »

Presumably by Sunday's game he means the one in Bath

yes i do! bath website says there sold out.. any other way of getting them?

Podge_irl

Turn up at the ground and try and pick one up off someone. Dunno how good your chances are though.