Leinster v Connacht Build up Thread

Former Former

I wasn't having a go at Farrell. He's doing very well.

But sample size and quality of opposition mean he can't be talked about In the same terms as proven quality players yet.

policy75

Zzippy wrote: »

I notice there are a few "new" posters about, so this is a timely reminder to everyone to have a read of the charter and bear in mind the mod warning early in this thread. No dick-measuring contests please.

Does that not add to the conversation?

policy75

policy75 wrote: »

Does that not add to the conversation?

I suspect in your case it subtracts.

Wegians89

lowe and larmour seem lethal going forward but how are they defensively? Honestly haven't seen enough to have a proper idea myself

swiwi_

Zzippy wrote: »

I notice there are a few "new" posters about, so this is a timely reminder to everyone to have a read of the charter and bear in mind the mod warning early in this thread. No dick-measuring contests please.

And in the interests of equality, for those posters of the fairer sex, no vagina-measuring contests either please.

jacothelad

swiwi_ wrote: »

And in the interests of equality, for those posters of the fairer sex, no vagina-measuring contests either please.

They'll be 'chuffed' to read that.....:D

irishbucsfan

Jameis Be Papperton

wp_rathead

Why do I've a horrible feeling this match thread is gonna descend into the usual festive faeces

connemara man

wp_rathead wrote: »

Why do I've a horrible feeling this match thread is gonna descend into the usual festive faeces

Because it's the most wonderful time of the year....

Mr Shikadance

All joking aside, what Peter O'Mahoney publicly said this past week is true. Leinster are the team to beat now. They appear to have jumped up a level again. It would be a failure really if they do not win anything this season given the ability, experience and depth of the playing squad.

But hopefully it's a good test to see where Connacht are after a rough start, some good wins, but really still pretty inconsistent. It is that wild inconsistency that kills us and probably prevents our better players from getting national squad attention.

This game will tell a fair bit about where we are really on the curve.

I am excited!

wp_rathead

Totally, you wanna play the best, and this Leinster squad is ridiculous in their depth
Likes of JvdF, Fardy, SOB, Sexton, Kearney, Ringrose all to come into their 23
Can't wait to see how Connacht get on

First time in year's I'm not up at this fixture

Bazzo

Former Former wrote: »

I doubt Henshaw will be playing.

Tom Farrell has no business in any discussion about the best centres in the league.

Unnecessarily dismissive tbh, he regularly appears in the "top 5s" of stats for the league, of course he deserves a mention.

connachta

Zippy, i'm shoked by the opening post, stupid and totally unfair provocation is not humour.
You'd have had me banned for the reverse picture

Buer

Bazzo wrote: »

Unnecessarily dismissive tbh, he regularly appears in the "top 5s" of stats for the league, of course he deserves a mention.

Impressing against Pro14 opposition isn't in the same bracket as the lads who have done it at high end European games and test level. Stats against the Dragons, Zebra and Southern Kings or weakened teams aren't really relevant.

Farrell isn't in the same bracket as others. He's doing really well at the moment for himself but he's not in that conversation. He is someone who was let go by Leinster and London Irish and couldn't get a contract at a province before injury forced Connacht to look at him. That's not the pedigree of someone to be considered favourably against Ringrose, Payne, Scott Williams, Jonathan Davies, Aki etc.

The Lost Sheep

Bazzo wrote: »

Unnecessarily dismissive tbh, he regularly appears in the "top 5s" of stats for the league, of course he deserves a mention.

Does he really though? What top class players has he really performed against?
He's doing well but how long ago is it that he was let go by Leinster as well as London Irish?

Bazzo

In the context of best centres in the league like candidates to make pro14 team of the year which is only selected on pro14 league matches, of course somebody regularly being mentioned for things like most defenders beaten, most clean breaks etc should have their name mentioned.

gally74

this looks like a washout, I was up there 2 years ago, wetist night in memory, worse than the sports ground any day...

Bazzo

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

Does he really though? What top class players has he really performed against?
He's doing well but how long ago is it that he was let go by Leinster as well as London Irish?

He does, I follow opta Jonny on twitter and regularly see his name mentioned. He's performed against everybody put in front of him this season as far as I remember?

How long since Matt Healy was let go by Leinster and playing in the AIL? He managed to make the pro14 team of the year too.

Stheno

gally74 wrote: »

this looks like a washout, I was up there 2 years ago, wetist night in memory, worse than the sports ground any day...

It was horrific that day

The Lost Sheep

Bazzo wrote: »

He does, I follow opta Jonny on twitter and regularly see his name mentioned. He's performed against everybody put in front of him this season as far as I remember?

How long since Matt Healy was let go by Leinster and playing in the AIL? He managed to make the pro14 team of the year too.

He's been good this season but still not one of the best in the league. is still considerable bit off playing national side.

swiwi_

I always end up feeling any thread involving Connacht turns into a crusade to promote the latest hidden gem that apparently has escaped the eye of the other provinces and the national selectors. Is there anything about the match itself I should look out for other than whether Aki’s midfield partner is really better than Ringrose or Henshaw??

Bazzo

swiwi_ wrote: »

I always end up feeling any thread involving Connacht turns into a crusade to promote the latest hidden gem that apparently has escaped the eye of the other provinces and the national selectors. Is there anything about the match itself I should look out for other than whether Aki’s midfield partner is really better than Ringrose or Henshaw??

Is a post complaining about lack of posts contributing to the match build up which itself doesn't actually contribute anything to the match build up supposed to be ironic or??

Former Former

Ok.

In the context of which centres have performed well in the league this year, yes, Farrell is one of those.

In the context of the best centres who are signed to league teams, no, he's not.

The Pro14 stats are meaningless. They're a reflection of games played.

Wegians89

swiwi_ wrote: »

I always end up feeling any thread involving Connacht turns into a crusade to promote the latest hidden gem that apparently has escaped the eye of the other provinces and the national selectors. Is there anything about the match itself I should look out for other than whether Aki’s midfield partner is really better than Ringrose or Henshaw??

The chip on our back is strong, it's what happens after years of the sh*t we've had to put up with from other provinces and the media.

Although I do believe that the "banter" when Leinster play Munster was always clouded by similar stuff, or rog v sexton etc

ClanofLams

swiwi_ wrote: »

I always end up feeling any thread involving Connacht turns into a crusade to promote the latest hidden gem that apparently has escaped the eye of the other provinces and the national selectors. Is there anything about the match itself I should look out for other than whether Aki’s midfield partner is really better than Ringrose or Henshaw??

Given the amount of internationals now in the Connacht squad, most of those ‘gems’ have subsequently been capped so Schmidt presumably saw something in them too, Buckley aside.

I don’t think anyone suggested Farrell was better than Henshaw or Ringrose. Perhaps you might be so helpful as to highlight something you think should be looked out for on Monday instead of complaining.

connachta

Thank you Clanoflams, for now (and he's still very young), the debate about Farrell is : he seems talented enough to leapfrog the other Farrell/Scannell.
No more at stake before RWC 2019 I guess, but that's still a debate

swiwi_

Bazzo wrote: »

Is a post complaining about lack of posts contributing to the match build up which itself doesn't actually contribute anything to the match build up supposed to be ironic or??

Sorry, I just tend to find Connacht threads maximum angst and minimum craic. Maybe I'm wrong, and I won't persist on this theme or topic, but I just reckon it could be a bit lighter. I tend to get bored rather than entertained. Surely with the thrashing of Ulster there must be some confidence of Connacht pulling of an (IMO, unlikely) victory?

Anyway, I'm happy there are signs KK might be turning the corner and Connacht are on the up again.

I'll report back Monday if I get to watch the game, and give an honest opinion of Tom Farrell.

Squidgy Black

Hoping this will be a good contest anyways, the two previous interpros this season have been a serious let down with Ulster getting trounced and Munster losing to a 'Leinster B squad'. Not expecting much from Ulster v Munster either.

Will wait until we see the team lineups though.

Mr Shikadance

Farrell is a good boy and unlocked a full strength Munster earlier this season.

Anyway let’s move on from centres!

I’m looking forward to the battle upfront. Would like to see Delahunt continue and see Gallagher get some game time.

Wegians89

Squidgy Black wrote: »

Hoping this will be a good contest anyways, the two previous interpros this season have been a serious let down with Ulster getting trounced and Munster losing to a 'Leinster B squad'. Not expecting much from Ulster v Munster either.

Will wait until we see the team lineups though.

Meant to be a compliment and I'd love it was Connacht but unfortunately for the rest of the pro14 Leinsters 2/3rd team is pretty stacked with international players and this season Leinster look very very formidable. Saying that I personally feel this could be the closest Connacht get to them in the RDS. Especially with Connacht having a few days extra turnover.

The strength of leinsters pack and particularly the back row will be the winning of the match I feel. With SoB and VDF supposedly in the frame?

If Connacht can start in a similar fashion to last week though the form they're in and the confidence in the camp could go along way to seeing Connacht finally winning in up there.

Former Former

I think we'll see a Leinster team along the lines of:

Byrne Cronin Porter
Fardy Molony
Murphy Deegan VDF/Leavy
McGrath Sexton
Lowe Reid Ringrose McFadden
Kearney

Almost impossible to predict which wingers will be named. That's a good team but it's beatable if Connacht go full strength and maintain form.

Wegians89

Former Former wrote: »

I think we'll see a Leinster team along the lines of:

Byrne Cronin Porter
Fardy Molony
Murphy Deegan VDF/Leavy
McGrath Sexton
Lowe Reid Ringrose McFadden
Kearney

Almost impossible to predict which wingers will be named. That's a good team but it's beatable if Connacht go full strength and maintain form.

Don't think Connacht will be full strength, think 3/4 first trainers will be rested. With some of marmion, carty, dillane, masterson, Healy some of the lads likely to need a break. And Buckley is injured which is a big blow

Bridge93

On that, what sort of shambolic organising was done to give Connacht/Ulster 3 extra days rest on Leinster/Munster? Given how 12 of the teams teams are playing derby games back to back, how difficult would it have been to, for example, go:

23rd: Two Irish games and Scottish game
26th: Two Welsh games and Italian game.

All the games were on tv too so that's no excuse. Leinster and munster are the only teams penalised by the scheduling

Peregrine

Both Leinster and Munster are playing three interpros in an 11 day period before Europe. Not ideal.

CIARAN_BOYLE

swiwi_ wrote: »

I always end up feeling any thread involving Connacht turns into a crusade to promote the latest hidden gem that apparently has escaped the eye of the other provinces and the national selectors. Is there anything about the match itself I should look out for other than whether Aki’s midfield partner is really better than Ringrose or Henshaw??

Well there's no teams named yet.

I expect there will be a mix of seasoned internationals and exciting youths and someone will identify the exciting youths for you when the team is named.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Former Former wrote: »

No, it is exactly ideal.

If you had them over a 14 day period it would be better.

mogwai81

Is the team announcement at lunchtime today?

Burkie1203

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

If you had them over a 14 day period it would be better.

Next year will be 22nd and 29th. Cant see how they can play games on 26th when it is a Wednesday.

Saturday-saturday should be the case for the next few years anyway so we get a better idea then

errlloyd

15. Rob Kearney (190)
14. Fergus McFadden (160)
13. Garry Ringrose (42)
12. Noel Reid (91)
11. James Lowe (2)
10. Johnny Sexton (141) CAPTAIN
9. Luke McGrath (85)
1. Peter Dooley (41)
2. Seán Cronin (141)
3. Andrew Porter (18)
4. Ross Molony (53)
5. Ian Nagle (13)
6. Dan Leavy (46)
7. Josh van der Flier (57)
8. Max Deegan (9)

16. Bryan Byrne (19)
17. Ed Byrne (15)
18. Michael Bent (98)
19. Mick Kearney (27)
20. Scott Fardy (10)
21. Nick McCarthy (15)
22. Cathal Marsh (26)
23. Rory O’Loughlin (32)

Granny15

That's out 3rds team

connachta

we can beat that team g'wan Connacht!!!!!!!!!!

Strong Back row, weaker but very mobile tight five. Back line looks very tasty and it appears were going to get a 'battle of the backstards"

thomond2006

wp_rathead

Tom McCarthy, James Cannon and Kelleher in for Delahunt, Roux and Niyi who all move to the bench

connachta

Connacht win by a small +25 margin

connachta

Still no sign of a back-up 10

MarinersBlues

MarinersBlues

I'd prefer to see Ronaldson instead of Griffin and Leader instead of Kelleher but in reality a much stronger team than I expected to be named.

Bridge93

Leinster the mix and match that was to be expected. Good strong Connacht selection. They seem to be targeting this game instead of Thomond? Leinster seem to be risking this one to go close to full on against ulster.

Leinster by 3 or 4 points for me

From a national point of view Aki v Ringrose should be exciting. That is the matchup to watch as the other one that has plagued this place for so long is a non issue currently

That Leinster team looks beatable. Front 5 is not great at all, backs are a mixed bag.