Rugby Union 2010

[joeSoap]

May as well start it...

Big weekend in the Heineken. Leinsters job has been made a formality by London Irish's collapse last week. Ulster need a miracle to top the group but might sneak a best runners up spot if they get a try bonus win, and Munster still have it all to do, but with the form they are currently in, then they should be good enough to see off Northampton. Great to see Marcus Horan back in a matchday squad. Connacht will secure a home quarter final when they beat Madrid, so all good in the hood so far.

[endabob1]

What happens if Leinster lose & Irish get the bonus point, ie they're tied on 20 points, how are they seperated, points difference or results against each other?
Northampton are in good form at the moment too, used to live there and it's a proper rugby town, it won't be easy although Munster should progress.
Ulster are out I think, it's been a much better showing from them this season but Stade are highly unliekly to drop points at this stage and there are too many teams with the chance to get 18 points or above & a bonus win in Bath is not going to be easy.
Good news for Connacht who have done well in this competition which I think will be more interesting with the HC runners up dropping in (which may well include Ulster) for the first time, but it makes winning it a lot harder.

[Real ale Madrid]

If Leinster fail to get anything and Irish get a bonus point then Leinster are relegated to 2nd in the pool - thier 20 points will be good enough to get into the quarter finals I think, barring a strange run of results, which would include Munster losing Friday night. They will be separated by points scored against each other in group games which would read Irish 9 Leinster 1.

Strong Possibility of a Connacht v Ulster Amlin Cup Quarter Final in the showgrounds if both sides win this weekend and Ulster miss out on HC Q'Final.

[Leeside Swagger]

Handicap of +10 for Munster, get the house on lads.

[dantheman]

With Wasps losing last night, a win for Connacht would guarantee a very winnable home draw against the weakest Challenge Cup group winner. So there's a good chance of both Ulster and Connacht in the semifinals of this competition, with leinster and munster getting into the semi finals of the big one.

Hopefully Ulster could join them but the loss in Edinburgh messed that one up for us I fear!

[Aberdonian Stu]

The weakest group winner could be Wasps though depending on how the weekend goes which wouldn't be ideal.

[Charlie Darwin]

Ulster out of Europe.

Leinster draw Clermont in Dublin, Munster draw Northampton (again!) in Thomond and both will face an away semi if they progress.

[Schumi]

Connacht at home to Bourgoin in the Challenge Cup as well.

[OneRedArmy]

Interesting weekend.

Rugby doesn't come much worse than Friday nights borefest in Thomond. Very few came out of it with any credit, but ROG and Quinlan were the standouts for me. Been pointed out a lot in the media, but O'Connell seems to be getting very mouthy, possibly due to frustration at playing in a pack that was getting hammered in the set pieces. Donnacha Ryan did well off the bench. One positive is that Shane Geraghty declared for England, absolute clueless player, we have 4 or 5 better options at out-half.

Leinster were a bit better, with D'Arcy showing a lot of graft and Sexton, like O'Gara, getting it done when it mattered.

With both provinces away from home if they get through to the semis, and neither in great form, I'd be betting on a French winner this year.

Ulster were unlucky that they again got a tough group (no pudding Italian teams yet again), but if you can't beat Edinburgh away from home you probably have no business in the quarters.

For me Trimble is well ahead of Earls as Fitzgerald's replacement on the wing and Isaac Boss is the best performing Irish scrum half this season by quite a margin. I'd expect Trimble to play against Italy, but Boss is probably too much of a stretch unless there's injuries. Paddy Wallace played well but D'Arcy is likely to start, good to have an option at 12. Special mention for Ferris, he was simply awesome, like a supercharged Quinlan. I hope he stays fit as he could be the difference for the 6 Nations.

[Real ale Madrid]

Interesting weekend.

Rugby doesn't come much worse than Friday nights borefest in Thomond. Very few came out of it with any credit, but ROG and Quinlan were the standouts for me. Been pointed out a lot in the media, but O'Connell seems to be getting very mouthy, possibly due to frustration at playing in a pack that was getting hammered in the set pieces. .

What did you think of O'Connell's sin binning?

I've only seen it once but I thought the referee was incorrect in calling a ruck and O'Connell was entitled to go for it.

I think Munster are in a decent side of the draw - wouldn't be a bit surprised to see the Ospreys overturn Biarritz in the quarters.

[OneRedArmy]

What did you think of O'Connell's sin binning?

I've only seen it once but I thought the referee was incorrect in calling a ruck and O'Connell was entitled to go for it.

I think Munster are in a decent side of the draw - wouldn't be a bit surprised to see the Ospreys overturn Biarritz in the quarters.

I thought O'Connells sin-binning was as much for mouthing as in from the side. Munster were also lucky not to lose a prop to the bin at various points.

Munster usually up their game when it gets into the business end of the tournament, and who knows what will happen if we have another good 6 nations, but they really look like a team on the decline IMO.

[Real ale Madrid]

I think as captain he is entitled to be talking to the ref. The same ref was guessing as to what was going on at various intervals, I thought he was brutal. Its same french ref that wrongly gave a penalty to New Zealand against Munster last November 12 months when he penalised Mick O'Driscoll at rucktime when the AB's had clearly failed to control the ball. The AB's went up the field and scored the winning try.

I think its a little harsh to say Munster are in decline - I think you have to give Northampton a lot of credit for the way they performed. Munster seem to be playing better away from home alright tho. It will be another close game in April.

I remeber a few years ago Munster and Leinster were in the semi's with the final at Lansdowne and the expectation on them was huge. Munster lost in Toulouse and Leinster were beaten the following day by Perpignan, I wouldn't be putting too much money on an all French final just yet.

[tetsujin1979]

I remember that final, 2fm were giving away tickets every day to make up the shortfall in travelling fans
the touts took a hiding as well, every cloud and all that

[Aberdonian Stu]

Yeah it didn't help either that the ERC didn't do any sort of discount on the day. Obviously their hands were tied as people who bought early would have been up in arms but not being able to charge a low rate meant they couldn't get a late surge of fans in the door.

[OneRedArmy]

I think its a little harsh to say Munster are in decline

Maybe, but their huge success over pretty much the last decade has been built on strong set pieces. I know you criticised the ref, but many referees would've punished Munster more for their scrum problems. They were also very poor in the lineout, which is very dependant on Flannery coming back to fix.

O'Gara played very well, but O'Leary was poor, admittedly trying to make the best of poor ball.

In the backs the centre combination just isn't working. They really miss the creativity of Mafi and Tipoki. Earls is having second season blues and de Villiers looks slow and ponderous. Really only Warwick looks dangerous, but with the weaknesses up front neither he nor Howlett are getting ball they can run with.

As I said, come the quarter finals they may up it a few gears, but on the basis of Friday they are well off the mark and I actually think their pool was comparatively quite weak. Northampton are decent without being anything special, Treviso are a non-entity and Perpignan were below par.

[Jofspring]

Setup a league on www.guinnessfantasyrugby.com if anyone is interested in joining.

League name: foot.ie
Password: munster

[Macy]

I think its a little harsh to say Munster are in decline

They're not really bringing anyone through though are they at the moment - did I hear that Earls was the only player under 25 in the Munster team at the weekend?

[old git]

They're not really bringing anyone through though are they at the moment - did I hear that Earls was the only player under 25 in the Munster team at the weekend?

hard to bring players through when you have a succesfull team . the stakes are so high now you nearly have to put out your best team every game now .. i'm sure there is a few young munster lads itching to break through to senior team

[OneRedArmy]

hard to bring players through when you have a succesfull team . the stakes are so high now you nearly have to put out your best team every game now .. i'm sure there is a few young munster lads itching to break through to senior team

To be fair, Leinster have managed to bring a fair few through.

[Jofspring]

To be fair, Leinster have managed to bring a fair few through.

There are plenty of good players on the fringes ready to make the breakthrough with Munster, its just a matter of timing it right for when they can make the step up. You can see this is evident in Munsters A team who at the moment are undefeated in the british and irish league and regularly beat Leinster, Ulster and Connacht's A teams. Ya Leinster are giving the younger lads a chance but they got a hiding against Newport Gwent Dragons for doing it. As someone has said the stakes are high these days so its not as easy to give younger lads first team experience. There are problems with players coming through in certain positions but with the professional set ups through out the country i'm sure the IRFU and clubs are working on these problems.