Leinster v Connacht, Saturday. kick-off 7.35pm, eir Sport

Clegg

Benefit of hindsight and all that, but we looked much better with Hawkshaw at 10. Jimmy O'Brien is a very talented footballer but looked very uncomfortable subbing in for Sexton. Keep him at 13/15.

Dave_The_Sheep

Well, can't argue with that. Fair play, Connacht - an immense performance. Heads could have dropped in the third quarter, but getting that last try to keep Leinster down was impressive. Pack was on the front foot for most of the game, Carty was excellent throughout. Great performances across the park.

As for Leinster, that was ... a game. O'Reilly was at sea in the first half, Carty picking him apart it seemed at will with his kicks. Bad decision making from a lot of the (yes, I know, young) backline far too often - it's OK to just boot the ball up the pitch at times lads. Sexton going off (and failing the HIA) was obviously far from ideal, but you knew it was going to happen given how he has been lately. Quite a few other injuries as well - you'd wonder what kind of squad we'll be able to put out against Ulster who appear in very good form. It's basically the semi final, so I can well see an Ulster Munster final this year.

Paul Smeenus

Wegians89 wrote: »

Thornbury might have something to say about that

As might last week's Ulster second row.

lawrencesummers

Wegians89 wrote: »

Thornbury might have something to say about that

He can say what he wants, and so can James Ryan, but Roux - Dillane are the best pair.

CowboyTed

arsebiscuits1 wrote: »

That's stretching it a bit...

Blade has been consistently picked over Marmion recently.

Arnold would be first choice 12 or 13 when Bundee is around also.

Marmion and Blade share the the position. Marmion might shade it in big games, but mainly because Blade is great off the bench.

Arnold to me is forth in order... Bundee, Farrell, Daly & Arnold in that order before tonight... Saying that Daly has been very impressive this season.
Arnold was great tonight, well done to him... He showed massive physical commitment.
They are four very good centers and we are luicky to have them.

CowboyTed

Blanco100 wrote: »

What's the general consensus on Jack Carty as a player?

Better than Ross Byrne...

In all fairness for the Georgia Game we should have played
Cooney and Burns one half
Marmion and Carty in the next...

Carty needs a fast scrum half... Just like Marmion likes to speed up a game until the cracks show and the opposition bends...

Note: Marmion has only started 7 games for Ireland. In those has beat England, New Zealand and Walse when the were World No.1... that is some record...

arsebiscuits1

Clegg wrote: »

Benefit of hindsight and all that, but we looked much better with Hawkshaw at 10. Jimmy O'Brien is a very talented footballer but looked very uncomfortable subbing in for Sexton. Keep him at 13/15.

It doesn't seem like Hawkshaw is rated as a 10 by Leinster at all at the moment. Certainly not enough to get the nod for bigger games.

He was poor against Munster A at 10.

It was always going to be a big ask for Jimmy at 10 yeah and he didn't step up as they'd have hoped

Larbre34

lawrencesummers wrote: »

Roux and Dillane are the best second row in the country.

Calm down.

HBC08

Larbre34 wrote: »

Calm down.

Not that id disagree with you on the above but you've hardly been on the ball in this thread.
Going by your comments I wouldn't think you're doing dry January this year!

ElisaAtWar

Enjoyed that. Having Quinn and Gavin is huge. And Daly and Arnold were immense. The two combinations that seem to make Connacht tick

Wegians89

ElisaAtWar wrote: »

Enjoyed that. Having Quinn and Gavin is huge. And Daly and Arnold were immense. The two combinations that seem to make Connacht tick

Blade and Carty too

Zzippy

Zzippy wrote: »

Feels like one where Connacht could build an early lead only to have their hopes dashed again when Leinster empty the bench.

I had a few minutes of horrible deja vu in the second half but luckily the second part didn't come true.

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Connacht will not take the lead at any point in the entire match

I will never stop bringing this up!

Buer wrote: »

I don't see it happening to be honest. Connacht might hit the front. They're going to throw the kitchen sink, I'm sure. But there looks to be such a gap in the numbers from 6-10 on either side that I just don't see Connacht ever really building a lead.

Shut up Buer!

thomond2006

Ah IBF, that hot take aged like milk.

*bookmarked*

irishbucsfan

thomond2006 wrote: »

Ah IBF, that hot take aged like milk.

*bookmarked*

I was nearly right, actually. They only took the lead once

Bazzo

irishbucsfan wrote: »

I was nearly right, actually. They only took the lead once

You meant to say

irishbucsfan wrote:

Connacht will not not take the lead at any point in the entire match

****ing autocorrect, am I right?

mfceiling

So Ulster beat Connacht last week and Munster this evening and Connacht beat Leinster tonight.
So the logical conclusion is that Ulster are the bestest, greatest, most brilliant number one team in Ireland.

No comebacks...can't argue with facts.

Five Eighth

Good luck to Connacht and Ulster but...does anyone have any concerns about Munster and Leinster fielding such understrength teams for derby matches in their top league?

Max O’Reilly; Andrew Smith, Jimmy O’Brien, Rory O’Loughlin, Dave Kearney; Johnny Sexton, Luke McGrath; Peter Dooley, James Tracy, Michael Bent; Ross Molony, Devin Toner; Ryan Baird, Scott Penny, Dan Leavy.

A Leinster full-strength team would have Sexton and (a fit) Leavy starting.

Shane Daly; Calvin Nash, Dan Goggin, Rory Scannell, Liam Coombes; Ben Healy, Craig Casey; Liam O’Connor, Niall Scannell, John Ryan; Fineen Wycherley, Billy Holland (c); Jack O’Donoghue, Chris Cloete, Jack O’Sullivan.

A Munster full-strength team might have...maybe a fit Niall Scannell starting.

Are the above team selections respectful to the league and to supporters?

molloyjh

mfceiling wrote: »

So Ulster beat Connacht last week and Munster this evening and Connacht beat Leinster tonight.
So the logical conclusion is that Ulster are the bestest, greatest, most brilliant number one team in Ireland.

No comebacks...can't argue with facts.

This. Leinster must be massive underdogs next week. Massive. I'd go so far as to say anything other than an Ulster win would be a huge shock that Ulster may never recover from....

Paul Smeenus

Five Eighth wrote: »

Good luck to Connacht and Ulster but...does anyone have any concerns about Munster and Leinster fielding such understrength teams for derby matches in their top league?

Max O’Reilly; Andrew Smith, Jimmy O’Brien, Rory O’Loughlin, Dave Kearney; Johnny Sexton, Luke McGrath; Peter Dooley, James Tracy, Michael Bent; Ross Molony, Devin Toner; Ryan Baird, Scott Penny, Dan Leavy.

A Leinster full-strength team would have Sexton and (a fit) Leavy starting.

Shane Daly; Calvin Nash, Dan Goggin, Rory Scannell, Liam Coombes; Ben Healy, Craig Casey; Liam O’Connor, Niall Scannell, John Ryan; Fineen Wycherley, Billy Holland (c); Jack O’Donoghue, Chris Cloete, Jack O’Sullivan.

A Munster full-strength team might have...maybe a fit Niall Scannell starting.

Are the above team selections respectful to the league and to supporters?

I think Leinster are way out in front, and mentioning Munster in the same breath as them is nonsense.

Munster have no concerns, as there's no-one near them in their conference. That is an issue.

I'm glad Connacht won, but you're literally asking did the two teams that lost tonight disrespect the league. Well if they did, their prizes were losses.

CowboyTed

Paul Smeenus wrote: »

I think Leinster are way out in front, and mentioning Munster in the same breath as them is nonsense.

Munster have no concerns, as there's no-one near them in their conference. That is an issue.

I'm glad Connacht won, but you're literally asking did the two teams that lost tonight disrespect the league. Well if they did, their prizes were losses.

If Connacht win next week with out a BP they would be only 4 points behind with each having a game in hand.
Connacht v Dragons
Munster v Leinster

That is far from 'no-one near' IMHO...

Five Eighth

Paul Smeenus wrote: »

I think Leinster are way out in front, and mentioning Munster in the same breath as them is nonsense.

Munster have no concerns, as there's no-one near them in their conference. That is an issue.

I'm glad Connacht won, but you're literally asking did the two teams that lost tonight disrespect the league. Well if they did, their prizes were losses.

Slightly confused. You state that "Leinster are way out in front...and...Munster have no concerns as there's no one near them in their conference." Also, '...mentioning Munster in the same breath is nonsense." Please clarify.

It's not so much that both teams lost but that they went into derby matches with, to all intents and purposes, sides that were below even second string strength.

Paul Smeenus

Five Eighth wrote: »

Slightly confused. You state that "Leinster are way out in front...and...Munster have no concerns as there's no one near them in their conference." Also, '...mentioning Munster in the same breath is nonsense." Please clarify.

It's not so much that both teams lost but that they went into derby matches with, to all intents and purposes, sides that were below even second string strength.

No problem.

Leinster are, by a distance, miles better than anyone else in the league. I think that's aggravatingly self-evident. You might think Munster are close - I don't.

Having said that, Munster don't have anyone of the quality of Ulster in their conference. If they did, they wouldn't be so comfortable. They might not be in first place.

But they don't. So they don't have a great deal of concern about coming top. Ulster would be very comfortably top of that conference - it's not a huge achievement. Given some of Connacht's results. I think they're a better team than they've shown, but their results are their results.

The teams can go into inter-pro derbys and field whatever teams they want. At the end of the day, if no-one can beat them, that's fine. But both teams fielded understrength teams that lost. I don't see how that's disrespectful. A mistake maybe. But not disrespectful.

Paul Smeenus

NB - I don't mean Ulster would be top ahead of Munster, I meant instead of Munster.

Although there's every chance we could be ahead if we were in the same conference. But that's absolutely not guaranteed.

Wegians89

Paul Smeenus wrote: »

No problem.

Leinster are, by a distance, miles better than anyone else in the league. I think that's aggravatingly self-evident. You might think Munster are close - I don't.

Having said that, Munster don't have anyone of the quality of Ulster in their conference. If they did, they wouldn't be so comfortable. They might not be in first place.

But they don't. So they don't have a great deal of concern about coming top. Ulster would be very comfortably top of that conference - it's not a huge achievement. Given some of Connacht's results. I think they're a better team than they've shown, but their results are their results.

The teams can go into inter-pro derbys and field whatever teams they want. At the end of the day, if no-one can beat them, that's fine. But both teams fielded understrength teams that lost. I don't see how that's disrespectful. A mistake maybe. But not disrespectful.

If I was a Munster fan I wouldn’t be too comfortable. Connacht are 8 points behind them, having both played 8 games. They play each other next week in the sportsground and Connacht will be full of confidence after today’s win. They both have a game in hand, Munster vs Leinster and Connacht vs dragons. After all that Connacht could sit on top of the conference

Zzippy

Paul Smeenus wrote: »

NB - I don't mean Ulster would be top ahead of Munster, I meant instead of Munster.

Although there's every chance we could be ahead if we were in the same conference. But that's absolutely not guaranteed.

Wrong thread Paul. This is the thread to celebrate Connacht's magnificent victory over the Empire

ElisaAtWar

Zzippy wrote: »

Wrong thread Paul. This is the thread to celebrate Connacht's magnificent victory over the Empire

It is a game to celebrate. It's been a while since we had our first choice second row, and maybe our best centre partnership. And with Jack on top form it was convincing. So let's hope they can pay it forward

Paul Smeenus

Zzippy wrote: »

Wrong thread Paul. This is the thread to celebrate Connacht's magnificent victory over the Empire

Sorry folks - I have no idea why this is in two threads. Phone issue possibly?

Well done again - passion, intelligence and no little skill has seen you bloody the nose of Darth Cullen and Emperor Stuart Palpatine - I shall be on Endor doing the Connacht boogie with the rest of them.

Paul Smeenus

Sorry - it wasn't in two threads. Just me being a thread-derailing @rsehole.
Apols.

thegreycity

People keep referring to Leinster as “the Empire”. I presume this is the Roman Empire; a shining beacon of civilisation and unrivalled power in a dark world of jealous barbarians.

Garda Kenny

thegreycity wrote: »

People keep referring to Leinster as “the Empire”. I presume this is the Roman Empire; a shining beacon of civilisation and unrivalled power in a dark world of jealous barbarians.

There is an empire in Irish Rugby and it’s not Leinster. Blackrock College is the closest thing we have to an empire and they are absolutely ruthless in perpetuating its dominance. They use all sorts of tactics such as bringing in non schools players and talking up the club game to disguise their absolute elitism and belief in their right to rule. They even appease their rivals by forming alliances with the weaker schools and annihilating the upper tier schools. There have been many challengers but none have managed to break down its imperialism. We as Irish people are opposed to that type of success and it should be our raisin d’etre to break it down. Of course they are “nice guys” when they leave school and befriend others. People leave it behind and move forward. But never doubt their ruthlessness in school.

That has fed into Leinster rugby somewhat but I preferred the earlier days in the 60’s when it was about art and flair rather than domination and success.

As to the merits of Rome many have differing views on it. I for one credit them for connecting many countries via their road network and achieving great feats of architecture like their aqueducts and theatres and coliseums. Has Rock given us anything of the sort? They pride themselves as the protectors of 1916 and the keepers of Irish heritage whilst lambasting neo liberalism from their offices where they earn 6 figure salaries. The wheels won’t come off any time soon though they have competent intelligent pseudo submissive people running it nowadays

Thrashssacre

Is it a full moon tonight or something??

Zzippy

I prefer sultanas d'etre myself. Raisins are such a common snack...

molloyjh

Zzippy wrote: »

Wrong thread Paul. This is the thread to celebrate Connacht's magnificent victory over the Empire

Good, good. Let the hate flow through you. Take your tries. Strike us down with them. With each passing moment you make yourselves more our servants....

CowboyTed

ElisaAtWar wrote: »

It is a game to celebrate. It's been a while since we had our first choice second row, and maybe our best centre partnership. And with Jack on top form it was convincing. So let's hope they can pay it forward

Great having a choice of three top class second rows...

I say Mr. Aki and Mr. Farrell might question you on best Centre partnership but it is a great position to be in..