Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread XII (The Byrne Supremacy)

You can just buy one from ticketmaster, they're on general sale.

That's great! Hopefully they fill every seat. Are Toulouse assigned a certain amount of tickets? If they are and their tickets are not sold, do the remaining tickets revert to Leinster?

Saturday could be a classic, if the weather is good. I would be delighted if it's close to the standard of Munster/Toulouse. The stadium itself is a strange design. The one end that is towards the city center is so small and strange. That is a weird way to construct a stadium? I think the acoustics are affected by the design.

I was just going through the biographies of the Toulouse players. There are some serious big lads in the squad! One lad is listed at 140kgs and 2.03 in height. Feckin he'll. Lots of tempo and attacking space will be necessary to wear these boys down. We can win if we continously keep the action alive. Toulouse will look for breathers by faking Knocks and injury. Keep them moving and have them gasping for air. The extra 30 min v Munster may help us.

The other semi looks to be a cracker. I think La Rochelle will win. I hope the final is us v them!

Agree, not rocket science you’d think IRFU would build their own system. It’s the fan who pays so maybe they don’t care!

Absolutely. People not really understanding the implications of an enormous ticketing system like that and using it as a stick to beat the IRFU with is strange.

Keeping it exclusively in house (assuming in house development also) will easily run into the millions when factoring in salary of senior devs, sys admins hosting, and maintenance. Not to mention they're a sporting organisation, not a technology company. So literally the first thing that will be decided is to outsource it. And who is going to front the cost of these? It will be factored in ticket sales (almost like a service charge......)

If you're outsourcing a system why pay for one to be built when there is a reputable one available world wide?

Ticketmaster are a product of a lack of competition. Not something the IRFU could solve.

Don't get me wrong, I really hate having to use Ticketmaster. But until something better comes along this is what the consumer and the organisers are stuck using.

I think we can probably all agree that if satan himself has ever set up a company we’d be shocked if it wasn’t ticketmaster. They are an absolute stain on entertainment but have also managed to pretty much corner the market.

Ticketmaster's ticketing system isn't a trivial one though. Theres a big capability (and cost) difference for a system that can handle tens of thousands of users accessing it at once without crashing, a live interactive stadium map etc than a simple eventbrite ticketed gig for a nightclub.

If it was that easy, and cheap, to replicate you can be sure the IRFU and other sporting bodies wouldn't be outsourcing it when they could be creaming in the service fees themselves.

"A ticketing system" maybe.

A ticketing system with the functionality and reliability of Ticketmaster - no.

Any predictions for the score? I think it will be tight.

The conventional wisdom is that they're not that fit and keeping the ball in play is a weakness for them. It might be that they have such a strong bench that they are a better team than almost any opposition when all the subs are made. That might explain why they're able to win games at the end.

The only thing "rubbish" is the quality of rugby coverage on OTB, especially when it concerns Leinster. It also used to annoy me, but I've given up listening to it in the main - it's total garbage.

That was the best club match I have ever attended and was an absolutely cracking atmosphere for it too. Nonsense comment from OTB but not surprising from them sadly.

I was at the semi final the previous year where Leinster lost in Toulouse and that Toulouse team was ridiculously strong.

I think the implication was that Leinster were hot favourites in 2011 but Toulouse still ran us very close and thus being strong favourites this weekend isn't necessarily an indication of how it will pan out.

Good representation for Leinster in the Player of the Year nominations. It's very hard to choose between VDF or Doris. Both have been excellent for Ireland and Leinster this season. Might shade it towards Josh for his better Six Nations. But then again, Doris was voted best overall player for the Autumn Series. Both are world class though. Very lucky to have them.

Sheehan has also been nominated for Young Player of the Year.