Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread VI: End of the MOC [Revenge of the STH]

Heroditas

total former wrote: »

Simon Shawe? He was actually a decent enough addition IIRC.

No mention of Fosi Pala'amo. Shame on the lot of you!

errlloyd

http://balls.ie/rugby/paul-oconnell-is-bestowed-with-possibly-the-greatest-honour-of-his-career/

ginger 15 has no room for fanning

molloyjh

errlloyd wrote: »

http://balls.ie/rugby/paul-oconnell-is-bestowed-with-possibly-the-greatest-honour-of-his-career/

ginger 15 has no room for fanning

Time to dust off the #JusticeForFanj.

errlloyd

errlloyd wrote: »

http://balls.ie/rugby/paul-oconnell-is-bestowed-with-possibly-the-greatest-honour-of-his-career/

ginger 15 has no room for fanning

He's above Ginger-national standard.

blackdog1

total former wrote: »

Simon Shawe? He was actually a decent enough addition IIRC.

Shaw was very decent. Like a slightly smaller version of Ross.

thomond2006

Deleted User wrote: »

He's above Ginger-national standard.

You beat me to that post.

.ak

LEINSTER:

15. Rob Kearney
14. Zane Kirchner
13. Colm O'Shea
12. Noel Reid
11. Dave Kearney
10. Ian Madigan
9. Isaac Boss
1. Jack McGrath
2. Richardt Strauss
3. Mike Ross
4. Devin Toner
5. Mike McCarthy
6. Jordi Murphy
7. Sean O'Brien
8. Jamie Heaslip CAPTAIN

16. Aaron Dundon
17. Michael Bent
18. Tadhg Furlong
19. Tom Denton
20. Jack Conan
21. Luke McGrath
22. Jimmy Gopperth
23. Cian Kelleher

Have to say I like the look of that team. I thought Mick McGrath would get shot but great to see the Clontarf midfield reunited! COS has to make an impression to justify his year extension.

thomond2006

Finally Kelleher gets a chance.

matthew8

Good way to blood the centres. Mixed in with the firsts in a competitive match.

.ak

Reid and COS really link up well. Kinda roll reversal with COS very much the stockier of the two but he reads great lines off Reid who's always guaranteed a line break.

total former

.ak wrote: »

Have to say I like the look of that team. I thought Mick McGrath would get shot but great to see the Clontarf midfield reunited! COS has to make an impression to justify his year extension.

Ah come on, he hasn't been that bad. Leaving him out of the team is punishment enough.

But yeah, delighted with that team. The turnaround starts here!

.ak

total former wrote: »

Ah come on, he hasn't been that bad. Leaving him out of the team is punishment enough.

But yeah, delighted with that team. The turnaround starts here!

Ha, yes I forgot an 'a' in there somewhere...

.ak

Presume T'eo has just been given a well deserved break?

total former

molloyjh

No Jennings I see.

And while I do like the idea of Kelleher getting a look in, it's a very full-back heavy squad. 4 full-backs in total? If we play really well then fantastic but if we don't I'm struggling to see what we'll have learned from it either. Mads has hardly played 10 for us all season and COS hasn't played for the seniors at all this season (only 9 minutes last season). Reids game time has been severely limited through injury and Mads selection at 12 meaning he's only played twice since the New Year, and more than 15 mins once.

In a way it's great that we're seeing some changes. In another is it really that meaningful to put out pretty much an entirely new and unfamiliar midfield for the last game of the season?

CatFromHue

tbh Jennings would only get in the team for sentimentality reasons, he just hasn't been good enough this season.

molloyjh

CatFromHue wrote: »

tbh Jennings would only get in the team for sentimentality reasons, he just hasn't been good enough this season.

True, but at the same time Conan hasn't been great the last few months either. It's not a big deal though.

total former

I'd have thought this was exactly people would have wanted to see.

CatFromHue

The 1-9 is our strongest available.

The back 3 is pretty close to the strongest available.

It's only the three quarters were there's some change.

stephen_n

.ak wrote: »

LEINSTER:

15. Rob Kearney
14. Zane Kirchner
13. Colm O'Shea
12. Noel Reid
11. Dave Kearney
10. Ian Madigan
9. Isaac Boss
1. Jack McGrath
2. Richardt Strauss
3. Mike Ross
4. Devin Toner
5. Mike McCarthy
6. Jordi Murphy
7. Sean O'Brien
8. Jamie Heaslip CAPTAIN

16. Aaron Dundon
17. Michael Bent
18. Tadhg Furlong
19. Tom Denton
20. Jack Conan
21. Luke McGrath
22. Jimmy Gopperth
23. Cian Kelleher

Have to say I like the look of that team. I thought Mick McGrath would get shot but great to see the Clontarf midfield reunited! COS has to make an impression to justify his year extension.

Bib theory right again.

Glad to see Reddan dropped/rested, interesting backline and a strong pack, hopefully we'll see a good performance.

irishbucsfan

CatFromHue wrote: »

The 1-9 is our strongest available.

The back 3 is pretty close to the strongest available.

It's only the three quarters were there's some change.

It's midfield where we've had all the issues this year. But then also I'm not sure if a Reid/Madigan partnership should be expected to fix that either, I can see them making headway if they get good ball in the Edinburgh half but the important thing is getting that in the first place. Boss will have a lot of responsibility to direct us in that department.

total former

irishbucsfan wrote: »

It's midfield where we've had all the issues this year. But then also I'm not sure if a Reid/Madigan partnership should be expected to fix that either, I can see them making headway if they get good ball in the Edinburgh half but the important thing is getting that in the first place. Boss will have a lot of responsibility to direct us in that department.

We'll learn/gain a lot more from a Madigan/Reid midfield than we would from Gopperth/Madigan or Gopperth/Reid.

Te'o being left out is a bit odd maybe, he has played nearly every minute of every game so maybe he's knackered, but I'm delighted to see O'Shea getting a run after a difficult couple of seasons.

molloyjh

total former wrote: »

I'd have thought this was exactly people would have wanted to see.

A lot of it depends on the context though. For example a lot of people wanted to see Mads at 10, full stop end of. So they are happy that he is starting at 10. Personally I wanted to see Mads at 10 a bit more earlier in the season just to freshen things up a bit and maybe take a bit of pressure of Gopperth to find some form. Selecting him now barely does any of that so I'm not as happy. That's not to say I'm dead set against it or anything.

Similar to that had Mads actually gotten more time at 10 then Reid would probably have gotten more time at 12 and then COSs inclusion would be really positive because it would be alongside midfield partners that are that bit more used to where they are and what they are doing. Putting him in there with a guy who has played 12 twice in the last 4-5 months and a guy who has hardly played at 10 all season changes things a bit.

Like I said if it works then I'll be delighted, but if it doesn't I'm not sure how much we'll learn from it. For example if the midfield simply doesn't click will that be because of the service from 9, Mads form, Reids form or COSs ability/form? And if there are issues from 9-12 then how does that enable COS to show what he can do?

Ultimately the proof of the pudding will be in the eating. Overall it is positive that we are seeing some changes but that comes with a bit of concern over the timing of them and the manner in which the entire midfield has been changed in one go.

errlloyd

Picks an exciting team for a match on alba, moc is the ultimate troll.

Doesn't make a huge difference, I'm flying anyway.

irishbucsfan

Its mostly about getting these guys on film so there's context in pre season. This is basically the core of the team we'll have left when we come back from the break. I have no idea why anyone would complain about it.

crisco10

Can we get ALBA on sky in Ireland via added channels?

molloyjh

crisco10 wrote: »

Can we get ALBA on sky in Ireland via added channels?

http://ekayi.com/blog/sky-channel-codes-all-you-need

Greyian

crisco10 wrote: »

Can we get ALBA on sky in Ireland via added channels?

Yes, these are the settings found on freetv.ie:

FreeTV wrote:

BBC Alba
Frequency: 10803
Polarity: H
Symbol Rate: 22000
FEC: 5/6 (Optional)

molloyjh

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Its mostly about getting these guys on film so there's context in pre season. This is basically the core of the team we'll have left when we come back from the break. I have no idea why anyone would complain about it.

Who's complaining?

total former

molloyjh wrote: »

A lot of it depends on the context though. For example a lot of people wanted to see Mads at 10, full stop end of. So they are happy that he is starting at 10. Personally I wanted to see Mads at 10 a bit more earlier in the season just to freshen things up a bit and maybe take a bit of pressure of Gopperth to find some form. Selecting him now barely does any of that so I'm not as happy. That's not to say I'm dead set against it or anything.

Similar to that had Mads actually gotten more time at 10 then Reid would probably have gotten more time at 12 and then COSs inclusion would be really positive because it would be alongside midfield partners that are that bit more used to where they are and what they are doing. Putting him in there with a guy who has played 12 twice in the last 4-5 months and a guy who has hardly played at 10 all season changes things a bit.

Like I said if it works then I'll be delighted, but if it doesn't I'm not sure how much we'll learn from it. For example if the midfield simply doesn't click will that be because of the service from 9, Mads form, Reids form or COSs ability/form? And if there are issues from 9-12 then how does that enable COS to show what he can do?

Ultimately the proof of the pudding will be in the eating. Overall it is positive that we are seeing some changes but that comes with a bit of concern over the timing of them and the manner in which the entire midfield has been changed in one go.

All reasonable points, but I suppose the better question is, who would you have picked for this game?