2018-2019 Champions Cup

ScrubsfanChris

Penalty 15m in and on the 22 and Toulon don’t go for 3. Crazy decision.

prawnsambo

Juan Magnificent Locomotive wrote: »

Glasgow have had more than enough chances to win this with a bit more composure and if they'd stop turning down kickable penalties.

No composure. Headless stuff in the red zone and just giving Saracens an easy out every time.

Heymans

Can’t wait for Leinster to give saracens a good kicking later on in the competition. So crabby this Saracens behaviour

razorblunt

Itoje MOTM, lol.

prawnsambo

Heymans wrote: »

Can’t wait for Leinster to give saracens a good kicking later on in the competition. So crabby this Saracens behaviour

Glasgow should be doing that to them. They stop being chippy when they're losing. Instead it's getting to Glasgow and they're playing into their hands. Stupid, stupid rugby.

Peter File

ScrubsfanChris wrote: »

Penalty 15m in and on the 22 and Toulon don’t go for 3. Crazy decision.

cost them the game

ScrubsfanChris

Toulon just imploded
Fair play Newcastle

mangobob

Delighted for Newcastle. That has to be a real low point for Toulon. How the mighty have fallen.

ionadnapokot

Not impressed by Saracens at all.
I don’t see them winning it this season

Akrasia

Juan Magnificent Locomotive wrote: »

Every damn time.

Glasgow are a different team in Europe than they are domestically (not in a good way)
That said,if they had Hogg and Seymour playing they would probably have scored at least one try

Squidgy Black

What I'll say about Saracens is, they regularly do this where they scrape a win against lesser teams and put in poor performances.

But when it comes down to the crunch they can be an absolute nightmare to face.

Boscoirl

Congratulations to Leinster on winning their 5th Heineken Cup

mangobob

ionadnapokot wrote: »

Not impressed by Saracens at all.
I don’t see them winning it this season

I am certainly not impressed with them here either, but its far too early in the season to write them off. I think they will be there or thereabouts at the business end of the season.

Akrasia

Glasgow really should have taken their penalty options. They would have been within a score of at least a draw

errlloyd

Only one team scored four tries this weekend.


And we did it twice!

eagle eye

razorblunt wrote:

Itoje MOTM, lol.

What's the lol about? Best player on the pitch today and it wasn't that close imo.

eagle eye

Saracens had a lot of bad passes today. There'll be a lit of work done on that midweek I think. They dominated possession but didn't make it pay.

Boscoirl

Boscoirl wrote: »

First time in years that I have had all the games at home on TV. That’s my weekend sorted

Dilemma of the weekend watch Ulster V Leicester or Scarlets v Racing.

Bring back sky

Squidgy Black

Boscoirl wrote: »

Bring back sky

I purchased "alternative services" simply because of the games moving to BT and the sheer cost of it all.

Watched all the games this weekend without a bother.

razorblunt

Glasgow should definitely have taken a shot at the posts to lock in the BP.

razorblunt

eagle eye wrote: »

What's the lol about? Best player on the pitch today and it wasn't that close imo.

Wilson, Rhodes, Jones, Brown all ahead of him, comfortably too.
He was lucky not to get a yellow, gave away 2 penalties, no turnovers and only one prominent carry.

thomond2006

25-26 to Newcastle.

I can see Toulon focusing on the Top14 from here. They will struggle on the road.

Suddenly Newcastle have a great opportunity to qualify with the dream of playing a home final.

c.p.w.g.w

thomond2006 wrote: »

25-26 to Newcastle.

I can see Toulon focusing on the Top14 from here. They will struggle on the road.

Suddenly Newcastle have a great opportunity to qualify with the dream of playing a home final.

That would be unreal but without an Irish team in the final it could be empty

Burkie1203

Billy injured
Mako has foot in moon boot
George and Maro have broken noses

That's a heavy toll

troyzer

Leinster have gone from 15/8 to 6/4 to win the tournament.

Good weekend for the provinces. Didn't think Leinster's performance could be topped but Munster were very good against a determined but somewhat ineffective Exeter.

Ulster soaked up plenty of pressure from Leicester and won convincingly in the end.

The pool situations are interesting, doubt anyone would have predicted Gloucester to be top of that group after round 1!

Surprising there was only 1 bonus point win in the end.

Pro14 teams playing some of the best rugby on display even taking Leinster out of the equation. How long until it's recognised as the premier northern hemisphere competition?

Burkie1203

Pool 1
A win for Leinster next week sets them up for a top seeding. Only side to get a TBP this weekend too. Bath lose next week and they are done after 2 games




Pool 2
Munster and Exeter will both fancy their chances of beating Glaws and Castes H&A. If that transpires then their game in R6 will be a shootout for top spot and a home QF. Think both will advance so it's all about who gets home QF.

Pool 3
Cardiff can go a long way towards a QF by winning their home games. A win over Glasgow next week is imperative. Saracens shoyld win this group comfortably


Pool 4
Ulster won't get out of pool but they could make life difficult for Racing and Scarlets. Think Racing top this one. Tigers look rudderless. Sad to see really. Scarlets might sneak out of his group if they can win 4 from 5 remaining games


Pool 5
If Newcastle can back up the win at Toulon next week it gives them a real shot at a QF. Monty to top pool and Newcastles results v Embra could be decisive.

Burkie1203

Ref didn't even bother looking at this

https://twitter.com/mazj_uk/status/1051521683209764864?s=19

Why is the twitter player so awful

Boscoirl

Mentioned at the time I’d like to see a replay of it. Watching it live I thought it was head first. Would have liked a closer in view

prawnsambo

Burkie1203 wrote: »

Ref didn't even bother looking at this

https://twitter.com/mazj_uk/status/1051521683209764864?s=19

I must be the ref . What are we looking at? Not a great gif tbf.

Burkie1203

prawnsambo wrote: »

I must be the ref . What are we looking at? Not a great gif tbf.

First breakdown. The "clearout" by Jamie George

Boscoirl

https://twitter.com/brianmoore666/status/1051449307445035009?s=21

Healy takes a pop at Brian Moore but the coward has BM blocked on Twitter

(Read the comments)

prawnsambo

Burkie1203 wrote: »

First breakdown. The "clearout" by Jamie George

That red streak that shot across the picture? Thought it was a glitch in the matrix.

Burkie1203

Billy V has possibly a broken arm. Terrible if that is the case.

Isiekwe also has an knee/calf injury

Won't get any easier in the physicality stakes v Lyon next week

bilston

Burkie1203 wrote: »

Ref didn't even bother looking at this

https://twitter.com/mazj_uk/status/1051521683209764864?s=19

What are we meant to be looking at?

The first clear out?

Edit - It looks suspicious I suppose, but what law has been broken?

Burkie1203

bilston wrote: »

What are we meant to be looking at?

The first clear out?

Edit - It looks suspicious I suppose, but what law has been broken?

He tackled a man without the ball for starters. He went off His feet at a ruck

bilston

In hindsight having watched it severa tilmes I the Glasgow hooker wasn't part of the ruck so yes it should have been a penalty to Glasgow

Bridge93

c.p.w.g.w wrote: »

That would be unreal but without an Irish team in the final it could be empty

Not at all. The only fear is an all French final. Any combination of Irish/English or welsh will see it full or very very close

The Lost Sheep

c.p.w.g.w wrote: »

That would be unreal but without an Irish team in the final it could be empty

Not true. Any english there will get good support. An All french final wouldnt have great attendance but not anything else

irishbucsfan

There was a fair few empty seats in Murrayfield in 2017 (still great craic, as every final is).

They'd definitely prefer an Irish team gets there. However the idea it would ever be empty is mad, there's a group who will always go regardless of who is there plus obviously the fans who will travel for their own teams.

Podge_irl

irishbucsfan wrote: »

There was a fair few empty seats in Murrayfield in 2017 (still great craic, as every final is).

They'd definitely prefer an Irish team gets there. However the idea it would ever be empty is mad, there's a group who will always go regardless of who is there plus obviously the fans who will travel for their own teams.

Don't be silly, history shows that literally every final without an Irish team was played in a half-empty stadium.


:pac:

troyzer

Podge_irl wrote: »

Don't be silly, history shows that literally every final without an Irish team was played in a half-empty stadium.


:pac:

Saracens get a good crowd as well. Racing and Saracens was fairly rammed. Saracens and Toulon in 2014 was only a few thousand short as well, Toulon and Clermon the year before was fairly packed as well but that was in Lansdowne, loads of people probably bought tickets expecting Leinster to make a title defence and went anyway.

Other than that though, there is definitely a drop off in attendance when Irish teams aren't there.

ablelocks

is there any general highlights programme, online or terrestrial, of all matches of the champions cup each weekend?

troyzer

ablelocks wrote: »

is there any general highlights programme, online or terrestrial, of all matches of the champions cup each weekend?

BT have highlights. I presume you're excluding pay tv?

Tigerandahalf

ablelocks wrote: »

is there any general highlights programme, online or terrestrial, of all matches of the champions cup each weekend?

The Heineken Champions Cup youtube channel might have highlights of all games later in the week.

Virgin/tv3 showed the Irish games late Saturday night. I haven't seen any mention of C4 having highlights.

Youtube is probably the best option.

Looking ahead to this weekend, Munster have a good chance to move into poll position with a home 5 pointer against Gloucester. Nothing I saw in the game against Castres suggests to me that Gloucester are a threat to an increasingly organised Munster side. Exeter will test Castres home form and I'm predicting 4 for them albeit a 5 pointer wouldn't surprise me. Munster to be ahead by 1 or on points difference.

Ulster won't have enough to beat Racing but I hope they can keep it respectable. A lbp would be massive.

Leinster will have a much bigger test this weekend. Toulouse are a coming side and whilst they look vulnerable at times and ran out of gas a bit in the last quarter we know they'll offer much more at home and the away win gives them more to play for also. Still predict 4 for Leinster out of this, 5 points and the group is on the verge of being sown up.

Toulouse, Saracens and Racing have put themselves in a good position with away wins in round 1. Hard to know where Newcastle are at, brilliant win aside I think they'll struggle against Montpellier and Edinburgh.

Bit of a flat opening weekend. First round of the pro14 was more exciting to be honest.

Very early final 8 predictions:

Leinster
Racing
Saracens
Munster
Montpellier
Exeter
Scarlets / Ulster
Cardiff / Newcastle

Digifriendly

ablelocks wrote: »

is there any general highlights programme, online or terrestrial, of all matches of the champions cup each weekend?

Rugby highlights website have highlights of every game and some Challenge cup matches as well.

eagle eye

The Cardiff performance should be taken seriously
They were excellent at the breakdown turning over possession many times. In fact they looked extremely well drilled in all facets of the game.

prawnsambo

eagle eye wrote: »

The Cardiff performance should be taken seriously
They were excellent at the breakdown turning over possession many times. In fact they looked extremely well drilled in all facets of the game.

Yeah. One of the most impressive Pro 14 performances at the weekend. Far better at taking their chances than Glasgow or even Munster. Glasgow especially annoyed me. They absolutely threw that game because of their unwillingness to take the points on offer. Did anyone count the number of kickable ones they turned down?