Heineken Cup - General Discussion Thread

thomond2006

http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/heinekencup/fixtures/team_line_up.php

Great page to see all the lineups for the games this weekend. Some crackers coming up!

Castres:
15. Romain Teulet, 14. Romain Martial, 13. Thomas Sanchou, 12. Seremaia Bai, 11. Maxwell Evans, 10. Rémi Tales, 9. Rory Kockott, 1. Michaël Coetzee, 2. Marc-Antoine Rallier, 3. Luc Ducalcon, 4. Scott Murray, 5. Rodrigo Capo Ortega, 6. Ibrahim Diarra, 7. Steve Malonga, 8. Chris Masoe,
16. Mathieu Bonello, 17. Anton Peikrishvili, 18. Rossouw Kruger, 19. Matthias Rolland, 20. Yannick Caballero, 21. Paul Bonnefond, 22. Pierre Bernard, 23. Thierry Lacrampe,

Northampton:
15. Ben Foden, 14. Vas Artemyev, 13. George Pisi, 12. Tom May, 11. Jamie Elliott, 10. Steve Myler, 9. Lee Dickson, 1. Soane Tonga'uiha, 2. Dylan Hartley, 3. Paul Doran-Jones, 4. Courtney Lawes, 5. Mark Sorenson, 6. Tom Wood, 7. Ben Nutley, 8. Samu Manoa,
16. Mikey Haywood, 17. Alex Waller, 18. Brian Mujati, 19. James Craig, 20. James Ingle, 21. Martin Roberts, 22. Ryan Lamb, 23. Jon Clarke,

Castres should take that Saints side, it's a much weaker side than the one that came to Thomond.

Flincher

That also seems to be a stronger Castres team than the one which faced Munster. Kockott, Bai and Teulet are all decent additions, as is Diarra in the backrow.

I think the Saints may have jinxed themselves in moving our game to Milton Keynes. They are already in serious trouble in the group, and could be out of contention this time tomorrow. Realistically, they need 9 points from these 2 games to have any shot at getting out of the pool.

darragh_haven

The best results from the next 2 Castes/Northampton games from a munster point of view is that they both win one each..... Then both are out.
But Munster have to do their bit too. Minimum of 5 points, hopefully 6 (and 10 points in dreamland:D) in their 2 games against the scarlets.

wixfjord

15. Lee Byrne, 14. Sitiveni Sivivatu, 13. Aurélien Rougerie, 12. Wesley Fofana, 11. Julien Malzieu, 10. Brock James, 9. Morgan Parra, 1. Lionel Faure, 2. Benjamin Kayser, 3. Davit Zirakashvili, 4. Julien Pierre, 5. Nathan Hines, 6. Gerhard Vosloo, 7. Alexandre Lapandry, 8. Julien Bonnaire,
16. Ti'i Paulo, 17. Vincent Debaty, 18. Clément Ric, 19. Jamie Cudmore, 20. Elvis Vermeulen, 21. Kevin Senio, 22. David Skrela, 23. Regan King

:eek:
What a 23!

darragh_haven

wixfjord wrote: »

:eek:
What a 23!

Definatly not to be sneezed at.....

number 10 still the one of the lowest quality in the competition though

durkadurka

The word 'bottler' was invented for him.

Fireball07

Brilliant all around except James can be a weakness at 10. Which makes them beatable.

Flincher

Trinh-Duc at 10 would make that one serious hard-running backline.

This is the Leicester backline
15. Geordan Murphy, 14. Horacio Agulla, 13. Matt Smith, 12. Manu Tuilagi, 11. Alesana Tuilagi, 10. Toby Flood, 9. Ben Youngs

There are going to be serious collisions there - Alesana Tuilagi v Sivivatu will be a serious battle. No doubt Manu will be sent down Brock James's channel. Both outside centres are 6 foot 4.

I think I know what I'll be watching on Sunday afternoon............. Home & Away omnibus and Snow 2

thomond2006

Floch injured as well!

Fireball07

Is Morris injured or dropped? Scott Hamilton is on the bench...

CIARAN_BOYLE

Fireball07 wrote: »

Is Morris injured or dropped? Scott Hamilton is on the bench...

dropped as Leicster's injury crisis has eased

thomond2006

3-0 to Cardiff at home to Edinburgh, 15 minutes gone.

thomond2006

3-3 now

molloyjh

3-11 to Toulouse at the moment. Quinns playing well enough but Toulouse are a different class. Some indecision in the back 3 at times costing Quinns.

thomond2006

Barely anyone at Cardiff vs Edinburgh...

Fishooks12

molloyjh wrote: »

3-11 to Toulouse at the moment. Quinns playing well enough but Toulouse are a different class. Some indecision in the back 3 at times costing Quinns.

Jesus they're not. Haven't looked dangerous at all in the first half

Fishooks12

Am I alone in thinking Mike Brown is a very average player?

thomond2006

Cardiff 12-3 Edinburgh, dead game.

Why isn't twomint showing Quins v Toulouse?

Fishooks12

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Am I alone in thinking Mike Brown is a very average player?

Ha queue Brown scoring game changing try!

thomond2006

15-3, you'd swear Edinburgh had 15 DOCs on the field, giving away penalty after penalty.

molloyjh

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Jesus they're not. Haven't looked dangerous at all in the first half

They were alright in the first 20 I thought. As I said Toulouse are a different class so Quinns were always going to have a hard time looking threatening. Agree re Brown though, he hasn't looked great. That Brown for England sign in the crowd after the try was hilarious. Who in their right mind would drop Foden for him!?

ed7890

Ya Quins were really good in the first 15 minutes or so, but Toulouse were mauling them after that

Hagz

How come most people on here understand momentum when passing at pace, yet the commentators don't?! Daft.

molloyjh

Hagz wrote: »

How come most people on here understand momentum when passing at pace, yet the commentators don't?! Daft.

Don't forget these are the same commentators who seem to think Monya is a good player!

thomond2006

That's Toulouse through anyway.

EKClarke

Does anyone know the full time score?

ambid

EKClarke wrote: »

Does anyone know the full time score?

10-21 I think.

Big Nelly

ambid wrote: »

10-21 I think.

Yeah they looked good, no harm to Munster but I think the only team that can beat them is Leinster

CatFromHue

Big Nelly wrote: »

Yeah they looked good, no harm to Munster but I think the only team that can beat them is Leinster

From the bits of the game I saw it didn't look like Quins helped themselves. I thought Care and Evans were poor. Evans missed a kick or two to touch that he needed to get and Care, while it worked for their try, took quick tap penalties in bad positions. With 5 mins to go he tapped and went from a penalty on their own 22.

profitius

Quins unbeaten run is probably more a reflection on the Aviva Premiership than anything else. Connacht could/should have won there too.

durkadurka

So how did cardiffs team sheet compare to last weeks?

CIARAN_BOYLE

durkadurka wrote: »

So how did cardiffs team sheet compare to last weeks?

11 changes, only Filise, Tito, Rush, and Laulala kept their places

molloyjh

durkadurka wrote: »

So how did cardiffs team sheet compare to last weeks?

Internationals were back. Warburton got MOTM.

Thought Quinns, despite starting well, were awful at the breakdown. How often were players isolated or did players coming in to clear out and fail utterly to do so.

CatFromHue

molloyjh wrote: »

Internationals were back. Warburton got MOTM.

Thought Quinns, despite starting well, were awful at the breakdown. How often were players isolated or did players coming in to clear out and fail utterly to do so.

Last play pretty much summed this up. Toulouse just blew them away at the ruck here.

porterbelly

Toulouse are the real deal this year, will be very hard to beat. Looks like they're on course for a home q final. Leinster look like the only team equipped to trouble them, and maybe Clermont if they can be bothered.

Big drop off to the next best teams. Munster/Leicester/Ospreys have a bit to prove to bridge the gap

CiaranMT

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Am I alone in thinking Mike Brown is a very average player?

Always thought that. Same with Turner-Hall.

irishbucsfan

Brown is very good IMO. Doesn't have bags of natural talent but is ridiculously dependable. I remember being very impressed by him at the Amlin Final in Cardiff.

Turner-Hall is just a very physical center, nothing special about him. The sort of guy who can be very useful if used right though, key for opening space in a team without ball carriers in their pack.

profitius

CiaranMT wrote: »

Always thought that. Same with Turner-Hall.

Turner-Hall is very average indeed. I think Brown is a good player though. Maybe not international class but not far off at the same time.

thomond2006

Dean Ryan is a good pundit IMO.

thomond2006

Castres try up against Saints.

wixfjord

Fair play Lacey for starting to call hartley in driving up. They're constantly at that.

thomond2006

Treviso 7-0 Biarritz

justsomebloke

Treviso 14-0 up

thomond2006

Treviso 14-0 Biarritz :eek:

justsomebloke

Pah 14-5 now

thomond2006

Try for Biarritz, 14-5.

justsomebloke

Castres 13-7 up

justsomebloke

16-12 castres

Burgo

Treviso 19-5 Biarritz

Edit 21-5 with conversion