Heineken Cup Final 2020/2021 - Toulouse vs La Rochelle

Sabre0001

You see a pen for that in some games. Shame to see it result in injury too!

Burkie1203

vetinari wrote: »

How is that not a penalty for tackling in the air?

Because he got to the ball

vetinari

The LA Rochelle player came down with the ball.

AlfaZen

Sabre0001 wrote: »

You see a pen for that in some games. Shame to see it result in injury too!

It was definitely a penalty. Toulouse are getting the rub of the green and the 50/50 calls so far.

Larbre34

Very unfortunate for the lad.

prawnsambo

vetinari wrote: »

The LA Rochelle player came down with the ball.

Yes. But it was a fair competition for the ball.

aloooof

"Draw and pass, give the ball to Kolbe. Easy". Austin Healey offers some good insight at times, but will always eventually remind you that he's a dose...

vetinari

The contest doesn't matter. Every other ref for the last decade talks about a duty of care to the player in the air.

prawnsambo

vetinari wrote: »

The contest doesn't matter. Every other ref for the last decade talks about a duty of care to the player in the air.

Yes. But you're allowed compete for the ball. And both players went in the air. Both players got a hand to it, the SR player won it, but it was a fair competition.

RugbyLover123

That’s the shortest penalty advantage I’ve seen in months, regardless of yards made

Game over now.

AlfaZen

RugbyLover123 wrote: »

That’s the shortest penalty advantage I’ve seen in months, regardless of yards made

Game over now.

And a soft penalty there too.

schmoo2k

Why not come back for the penalty? Toulouse had a knock on advantage and went ten meters beyond and he came back for them?

vetinari

That's about four big decisions that have gone Toulouse's way

thomond2006

Shame the final got called off and never happened.

Lost Ormond

vetinari wrote: »

The contest doesn't matter. Every other ref for the last decade talks about a duty of care to the player in the air.

The contest does matter and its been relevant in most big cases that have come up in this area of the game...

Really poor game. Like all french finals all too often....

Larbre34

Are you not entertained now?

lawrencesummers

This could get interesting now

AlfaZen

Costly miss

thepogues

Come on La Rochelle!

AlfaZen

Time for an O’Gara special. 40 plus plays then a winning score!!

A-Train

Why kick the ball away

RugbyLover123

West has had one to forget

vetinari

West has had an absolute shocker. Really bottled it in the final

Larbre34

Yeah really.

thomond2006

Ihaia West has had a game worthy of Brock James.

Digifriendly

Should that have been a penalty to La Rochelle at the end?

Larbre34

SR cheated out of a final penalty there to be sure. The ref clearly seen bottling it, after what had been a good day for him.

bilston

Digifriendly wrote: »

Should that have been a penalty to La Rochelle at the end?

There were definitely two or three tight decisions that could have gone the other way at the end.

The injury to the Toulouse property seemed to be the result of a no arms tackle.

The 8 looked to have knocked it on at the scrum

That last ruck was total carnage so I don't envy Luke Pearce there

Utopia Parkway

Toulouse got a kind whistle off Pearce today.

Can't have any complaints about the red though.

Sabre0001

West had a shocker, but ROG will feel for him and knows what that's like so can hopefully rally him. Rub of the green for TLS at times and lucky to get away with losing the heads in the last min! Good to see LAR stay in it despite the red. Thought entertaining enough.

thecomedian

Terrible game.
La Rochelle Are the better team but the red card cost them today.
Disappointed Toulouse didn’t play better with the extra man.

Hippo

ST deserved to win for producing the one moment of real quality in attack. LAR, plenty of spirit and bosh but not a lot else.

Aidric

Sabre0001 wrote: »

Good to see LAR stay in it despite the red. Thought entertaining enough.

Yep, thought they would have fizzled out in the last quarter but showed huge balls to stay in there. We'll never know how it would have panned out with 15 v 15 but I think LAR might have edged it.

All said great template for ROG to build on for next season.

RugbyLover123

You’d feel for Marchand

Sabre0001

ROG his usual honest self in interview anyways. Questioned last call but acknowledged ref had good game.

He prob hasn't seen it back so BT analysis then looked at it. Only saw it the once but LAR could have been pinged for straight off feet too.

TLS negated the physical side of LAR again. Skelton much quieter today!

lawred2

those last few rucks were "on the edge" to say the very least

swiwi_

Last 10 minutes aside that was a pretty dud match. Champions cup was pretty dull this season, can barely think of any match that will go down as a classic. Brawn > brain is the current NH style.

swiwi_

swiwi_ wrote: »

Last 10 minutes aside that was a pretty dud match. Champions cup was pretty dull this season, can barely think of any match that will go down as a classic. Brawn > brain is the current NH style.

For some reason leinster and tolouse have gone a lot more brown the last two years or so also they where both electric a few years back more so than probably any other clubs in Europe

prawnsambo

Belle Big Logging wrote: »

For some reason leinster and tolouse have gone a lot more brown the last two years or so also they where both electric a few years back more so than probably any other clubs in Europe

Well a partial loss of electricity is known as a brown-out, so makes sense.















I'll get me coat.

hahashake

Belle Big Logging wrote: »

For some reason leinster and tolouse have gone a lot more brown the last two years or so also they where both electric a few years back more so than probably any other clubs in Europe

Qué?

Buer

Thought it was a fairly absorbing game. La Rochelle had the tools to win that game but I can't argue too much about the end result.

Even allowing for the red card, La Rochelle seemed to lack focus or the occasion got to them. The missed kicks at goal, poor kicks from TKB, knock ons in open play and iffy discipline. Skelton had a few nibbles at people off the ball. They looked like a team too wound up on the day.

You can't dominate the opening 25 minutes in a final and be behind if you want to win.

If La Rochelle can hold this team together for another year, there's silverware ahead. They lacked composure and experience today but that will come. As good as West is at times, his old weaknesses came back to haunt him today. That's one area they might look to strengthen.

razorblunt

Digifriendly wrote: »

Should that have been a penalty to La Rochelle at the end?

The rucks at the end were a mess but there was one where at least 3 French forwards went flying off feet, past the ruck. Pearce looked away.

I was stuck watching it on Channel 4. It’s a joke at this stage they pay Heaslip to co commentate, he was whooping and hollering and guffawing all game. Incredibly distracting.

blackvalley

Just dont get it . Abosolute borefest today
You have a guy like Skelton 22 stone , 6 foot 10 inches and what the fook does he do other than throw himself on top of every available ruck and damm all else . No heart , drive or determination . Give me a Peter Stringer any day who is prepared to risk life and limb for the cause . Time to move away from the idea of " big units " slamming into each other and return rugby to the running , passing game as it was in the past .

OldRio

I think playing Stringer at second row would be 'interesting'???
The idea that the game was all running and passing in the past is absurd. It's a game for all sizes and shapes. That's the beauty of it.

prawnsambo

blackvalley wrote: »

Just dont get it . Abosolute borefest today
You have a guy like Skelton 22 stone , 6 foot 10 inches and what the fook does he do other than throw himself on top of every available ruck and damm all else . No heart , drive or determination . Give me a Peter Stringer any day who is prepared to risk life and limb for the cause . Time to move away from the idea of " big units " slamming into each other and return rugby to the running , passing game as it was in the past .

Ah, Skelton did a bit more than throw himself at rucks. He threw a few players around as well.

blackvalley

prawnsambo wrote: »

Ah, Skelton did a bit more than throw himself at rucks. He threw a few players around as well.

Main picture in your reply shows biggest man on field tackling “ throwing around “ smallest.
Brave man.
Pound for pound Skeleton is greatest waste of space on a rugby pitch.

blackvalley

OldRio wrote: »

I think playing Stringer at second row would be 'interesting'???
The idea that the game was all running and passing in the past is absurd. It's a game for all sizes and shapes. That's the beauty of it.

So you think I suggested Peter Stringer would make a second row. That’s some stretch of the imagination.
My point if I need to clarify is that I would prefer to see a player with heart, fire and determination any day who would be prepared to fight to the last breath for the cause rather than a swaggering bully who throws in the towel when challenged.

theVersatile

blackvalley wrote: »

Pound for pound Skeleton is greatest waste of space on a rugby pitch.

Interesting take.

pickarooney

blackvalley wrote: »

So you think I suggested Peter Stringer would make a second row. That’s some stretch of the imagination.
My point if I need to clarify is that I would prefer to see a player with heart, fire and determination any day who would be prepared to fight to the last breath for the cause rather than a swaggering bully who throws in the towel when challenged.

What about a swaggering bully who fights to the last breath?

OldRio

blackvalley wrote: »

So you think I suggested Peter Stringer would make a second row. That’s some stretch of the imagination.
My point if I need to clarify is that I would prefer to see a player with heart, fire and determination any day who would be prepared to fight to the last breath for the cause rather than a swaggering bully who throws in the towel when challenged.

You do know that Skelton has been capped by Australia. Helped Sarries win 2 EP championships. Won a European Championship with said team. Helped Lá Rochelle to their first European Final and has a good chance of a French Championship medal.
If only he had applied himself?