ASM Clermont Auvergne vs Leinster Sunday 3pm Sky Sports (Red Button)\FR2

The Kidsnapper

Leinster deserve a bonus point

(feel like Louis Walsh sayin' 'you deserve to be in the final' .)

fitz

Can't see how Rougiere released there...

Rougerie doing something I loved seeing BOD do.

Pretty certain it was actually a Leinster penalty though with the new rules

eoin2nc

Whats the score lads? Stuck studying and missing the match!

randomer

Two forward passes!

LeeroyJones

eoin2nc wrote: »

Whats the score lads? Stuck studying and missing the match!

CLE 20-13 LEI with 2 minutes left

Leinster scrum in our own half

The Kidsnapper

eoin2nc wrote: »

Whats the score lads? Stuck studying and missing the match!

20 13 to clermont - 2 mins to go

game management now. Take the BP, lets go home.

corny

Clermont still all over the ball when the ruck is formed. Barnes is consistent though.

The Kidsnapper

The commentators are in love with Wayne Barnes

John_Rambo

Who is the NI commentator? He sounds like a major Clermont fan. Very one sided.

bleg

Clermont don't have the cool heads required of champions yet...

Hippo

Richly deserved bp

roryok

bonus point,
i'll take that. now onto next week.

The Kidsnapper

Hard worked Bonus Point

Bring them on next week

Monty Burnz

Did Reddan just deliberately end the game there, with a bonus point to play for and nothing to lose?????

*checks score*

Oh, apparently not.

corny

Bring it on next week.

Barnes had a great game, and I won't hear otherwise.

Couldn't see us getting more than a losing BP. Happy enough

very pleased with the result and the performance. Looking forward to the return fixture next week.

lologram

got the BP. Well done lads.

In the end, I think that could potentially be the difference between Leinster making the QFs or not

Monty Burnz

Monty Burnz wrote: »

Did Reddan just deliberately end the game there, with a bonus point to play for and nothing to lose?????

absolutely the opposite

CIARAN_BOYLE

Monty Burnz wrote: »

Did Reddan just deliberately end the game there, with a bonus point to play for and nothing to lose?????

we got the BP, he ended the game to claim the BP rather than make a mistake and let clermont score

B0X

Monty Burnz wrote: »

Did Reddan just deliberately end the game there, with a bonus point to play for and nothing to lose?????

We got the bonus point, that's what we had to lose.

Hippo

Monty Burnz wrote: »

Did Reddan just deliberately end the game there, with a bonus point to play for and nothing to lose?????

?? What if Clermont regained possession and scored?

LeeroyJones

Phwoar.... don't know what to think after that...

I suppose after the dust settles the story will read - we went into the home of the French Champions whilst missing BOD, Fitzgerald, Kearney and, for the second half, Heaslip, that's 4 Lions missing so I can have no complaints with a losing bonus point and denying Clermont a try bonus

A-Train

Very hard working display today, happy with the bonus point.

Roll on next week!

sock puppet

bleg wrote: »

Clermont don't have the cool heads required of champions yet...

That's not all. They outmuscled Leinster today but that's it.

CouchSmart

Happy enough to get the bonus. Bit disappointed with the second half. We were very one dimensional going forward, pretty much no variety at all. We kicked far too much. Nacewa should stick to what he's good at, running.

Redsock

There aren't too many teams in Europe would've have managed a bp against that clermont side today. Big performances from o'malley, mcfadden and so'b. He is an outstanding player.

Hippo

CouchSmart wrote: »

Happy enough to get the bonus. Bit disappointed with the second half. We were very one dimensional going forward, pretty much no variety at all. We kicked far too much. Nacewa should stick to what he's good at, running.

Agree 100%, some of Isa's kicking was really poor, just handing back possession.

Bugnug

Superb performance, well done Leinster. Claremont must be the most physical side in Europe. Particulary impressed with Eoin O Malley today. I thought Wayne Barnes had a shocker.

Leinster's MoTM - Eoin O'Malley

Just provided something different at 13, some guile and sharpness that we haven't seen too much of.

Clermont are absolutely huge. Huge powerful team. Everyone will struggle to contain them.

I feel Leinster will come away with more positives from today than them though. Ryan played excellently again when he came on today. I'd love to see him play 6 with SOB 7 and Heaslip 8. Jennings plays great at 7, but I just get so frustrated at the penalties and poor decisions.

If he had ironed that out of his game 3 years ago, he would've been Ireland's 7 imo

trackguy

sock puppet wrote: »

That's not all. They outmuscled Leinster today but that's it.

I thought Leinster stood up really well to Clermont. It was a ding-dong battle for the most part. Leinster got the best of alot of the exchanges.

Was a pretty good performance overall - if Leinster had taken 1/2 of the chances they had it could have been an even better result.

O'Malley and McFadden performed really well - probably the most pleasing aspect of the performance. Sexton had a good game too.

ALH-06

CouchSmart wrote: »

Bit disappointed with the second half. We were very one dimensional going forward, pretty much no variety at all. We kicked far too much. Nacewa should stick to what he's good at, running.

I felt there was plenty of variety, we threw everything we had at them. Their defence was just very, very good. BOD and Fitz were definitely missed though.

sock puppet wrote: »

They outmuscled Leinster today

They did, at times to quite a worrying degree. Some of that attacking rucking in Leinster territory in the second half was simply unstoppable. Such massive power, definitely worried about this for next week.

danthefan

I'll take that. We have more proven HEC quality players now in O'Malley and McFadden, it doesn't get much tougher than away to Clermont and they both did very well. Still nothing can be taken for granted, will take a massive peformance next week to win.

RuggieBear

ross was my motm. thought he was outstanding in scrum, loose and tight.

thought we fronted up well but their pack was punching holes and the wingers are monsters

RuggieBear

RuggieBear wrote: »

ross was my motm. thought he was outstanding in scrum, loose and tight.

thought we fronted up well but their pack was punching holes and the wingers are monsters

was really very surprised to see him going off, thought he was having a great game.

Also very surprised that Clermont didn't move the ball wide half as much as they should have. We were clearly stretched every time the ball went across the pitch, and they didn't try to exploit it at all!

trackguy

I think Leinster can go into next week with a lot of confidence. It was a really close match in one of the most difficult places to play for away teams.

Clermont were physically imposing and impressive in that regard but were far from brilliant. I expected much more from Parra and James to be honest. They didn't provide much direction for a team that for parts of the game at least was getting alot of quick ball.

If Leinster can provide the same phyiscality next week it should be their game to lose.

ALH-06

Deleted User wrote: »

Leinster's MoTM - Eoin O'Malley

Just provided something different at 13, some guile and sharpness that we haven't seen too much of.

I think O'Malley had a solid game, nothing more. Lacked BOD's ferocity in the tackle and too much lateral running in attack. Also got turned over far too easily once or twice. But full marks for effort - a decent enough HC debut.

Darcy wasn't great. Really should have made that tackle for Clermont's second try and threw the errant pass that very nearly led to a third... Our lack of incising midfield play proved how solid their defence was, but also how much we depend on BOD going forward. Darce / O'Malley couldn't make much yardage today - BOD was sorely missed.

Amazotheamazing

trackguy wrote: »

I think Leinster can go into next week with a lot of confidence. It was a really close match in one of the most difficult places to play for away teams.

Clermont were physically imposing and impressive in that regard but were far from brilliant. I expected much more from Parra and James to be honest. They didn't provide much direction for a team that for parts of the game at least was getting alot of quick ball.

If Leinster can provide the same phyiscality next week it should be their game to lose.

I thought Parra was good but James had a very poor day, loads of unforced errors that killed Clermont. He's surprisingly flaky.

The Kidsnapper

I thought BOD was fairly anonymous today:)

thomond2006

Only saw the last 20 minutes, well done on getting the bonus.

wixfjord

Delighted with that tbh. First ten mins were the best rugby Ive seen in a long time.
Mcfadden was class. O Malley was brilliant, so unorthodox but very good. Makes yards every time he takes the ball and great feet. Only thing is he's small.
Sexton good, Boss (and I cant believe Im saying this) was the better SH on the pitch.
SOB, as we've become accustomed to was brilliant, as was Ryan.
Ross brilliant, Strauss brilliant.

Lineout wasnt great, thought scrum was excellent until Healy and Newlands came on. (Newlands is ****e btw)

Lauaki was monster for them, as was the Georgian prop.

Hope Heaslip is ok for next week. Anyone know what was wrong? Heading to it and cant wait.

thomond2006

Pool 2
Leinster 10
Clermont 9
Racing 8
Saracens 2 good riddance

Well Racing will definitely beat Saracens and be at least 2nd going into Rounds 5&6.

Next week is a must win for Leinster. Denying Clermont a losing BP is important too.

http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/heinekencup/pools/index.php

jolley123

Pretty happy with the losing bonus point, thought the draw was there to be taken though around the time Jennings kept going after being tackled. Happy with O'Malley - his passing game was brilliant, happy with McFadden/O'Brien/Ross/Sexton. Have to say I wasn't happy with Cullen. He is definitely an influential player and a leader but every time he's near a ruck I hold my breath. Personally I rate Ruddock over Ryan, although Ryan is a very good tackler, his hands let him down quite a lot in games.

Fairly confident we can beat them at Lansdown with Drico back and O'Brien/Heaslip not being so beat up in game. Although O'Malley played well, Drico would be more handy in defending Rougerie.

trackguy

thomond2006 wrote: »

Pool 2
Leinster 10
Clermont 9
Racing 8
Saracens 2 good riddance

Well Racing will definitely beat Saracens and be at least 2nd going into Rounds 5&6.

Next week is a must win for Leinster. Denying Clermont a losing BP is important too.

http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/heinekencup/pools/index.php

Next week is big - a win really boosts chances of winning the group.

Poor Saracens - did you see Venter's post match interview? Check it out - the man should be ashamed of himself.

stephen_n

wixfjord wrote: »

Delighted with that tbh. First ten mins were the best rugby Ive seen in a long time.
Mcfadden was class. O Malley was brilliant, so unorthodox but very good. Makes yards every time he takes the ball and great feet. Only thing is he's small.
Sexton good, Boss (and I cant believe Im saying this) was the better SH on the pitch.
SOB, as we've become accustomed to was brilliant, as was Ryan.
Ross brilliant, Strauss brilliant.

Lineout wasnt great, thought scrum was excellent until Healy and Newlands came on. (Newlands is ****e btw)

Lauaki was monster for them, as was the Georgian prop.

Hope Heaslip is ok for next week. Anyone know what was wrong? Heading to it and cant wait.

Don't think that's fair on Healy as the scrum was rock solid when he came on and only fell to pieces after Ross went off. Newlands has to be the worst scrummager in Ireland and that's saying a lot!

thomond2006

Was/Is Newland that bad? Hook just ate him on RTE.

PhatPiggins

I'll be amazed if there aren't 2/3 Leinster players out of the next game. That was brutal

danthefan

thomond2006 wrote: »

Was/Is Newland that bad? Hook just ate him on RTE.

He can't scrummage at all.