Ignore this, I'm talking through my arse. A French team will win the Heineken Cup so they get 7 places next year and Biarritz will qualify regardless.Quote:
Originally Posted by Schumi
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Ignore this, I'm talking through my arse. A French team will win the Heineken Cup so they get 7 places next year and Biarritz will qualify regardless.Quote:
Originally Posted by Schumi
Clermont just about beat Racing Metro at home in the 1st round of top 14 playoffs. 21-17.
Playing Toulon in semis
Tolouse beat Castres 35-12 to reach the SF for the 17th year in a row!
They'll play Perpignan
I was watching the AIB league final but every time I switched over Toulouse were dominating them. Didn't even look close - 4 penalties for Castres, right?
Mary's put up a brave resistance to Cork Con and certainly had the better possession and territory, but the superior fitness and guile of the professionals in the Cork ranks won it for them.
Second year in a row that the AIL final has gone to extra-time. Good for the viewers. I actually though Marys left it behind them during the 80 mins, with a couple of poor penalties. You certainly wouldn't have backed him kicking the conversion to level it though...
Leinster v Munster semi in the Magners...but only just. Couldn't believe how Munster were actually beaten last night. Cardiff were very poor and Munster controlled most of the game. Leinster were made fight hard by their bogey team, but came through in the end after a major scare. Semi final in the RDS so they're ignoring the money and using the home advantage...sensible move. At least it gives us an Irish finalist no matter what and a big night on Saturday.
I think the Setanta commentators mentioned something about Croker not being available, but that if they'd both made the final they could have arranged it.
I doubt Croker would have been much over half full anyway tbh so it wouldn't have made much sense for Leinster to move it. The extra takings wouldn't have done much more than cover the rent and the atmosphere would have been crap.
Croker wont be used to big like Schumi said would not get a big enough crowd plus with a week turn around to short notice to move and organise tickets etc. moving would be a mistake anyway in terms of atomsphere
I'd say the short turn around is the main reason, as no way they could build the hype to sell enough tickets to make it the occasion. Maybe if Munster had qualified earlier...
Even then Macy I'm almost glad they didn't (even though it means I have no chance at a ticket). Croker is great when it's full, really capable of being something special, but it suffers terribly when anything less than three quarters full (60k). The drop off in atmosphere is painful and takes something out of the experience.
Surprised there hasn't been any mention of the game. I thought it was fairly easy for Leinster once they got on top, Munster didn't really produce anything to really threaten Leinster in the second half, not helped by a few panicky decisions by O'Gara imo. He was also lucky not to concede 10 for not shutting up when Owens was telling him to, is he to hot headed to be captain? I also felt that Leinster were unlucky with the decision with O'Learys tackle on Healy. I thought it was high, and should've been a penalty try (at least).
4 in a row to the "ladyboys" - time to pass on the ping pong balls?
Leinster far superior to Munster in nearly all facets. McGahan and Fisher need to handed their P45's I think.Quote:
Originally Posted by Macy
I thought the opposite for the 'high' tackle. I thought he took him around the shoulder.
His hand was on his shoulder, but the rest of the arm was neck level imo. I'm not suggesting it was deliberate btw, but if it was a penalty (which irrc it was) it should've been a penalty try, which would've been game over at that stage.Quote:
Originally Posted by joeSoap
Ireland squad for the summer tour, full strength...
Quote:
Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster), Tommy Bowe (Ospreys), Tony Buckley (Shannon/Munster), Tom Court (Malone/Ulster), Sean Cronin (Buccaneers/Connacht), Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster), Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster), Jerry Flannery (Shannon/Munster), John Hayes (Bruff/Munster), Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster), Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster), Chris Henry (Ballymena/Ulster)*, Marcus Horan (Shannon/Munster), Shane Horgan (Boyne/Leinster), Shane Jennings (St.Mary’s College/Leinster), Robert Kearney (UCD/Leinster), Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)*, Kevin McLaughlin (St.Mary’s College/Leinster), John Muldoon (Galwegians/Connacht), Geordan Murphy (Leicester), Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster), Paul O’Connell (Young Munster/Munster), Mick O’Driscoll (Cork Constitution/Munster), Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster), Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster), Tomas O’Leary (Dolphin/Munster), Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster), Jonathan Sexton (St.Mary’s College/Leinster), Peter Stringer (Shannon/Munster), Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster), Dan Tuohy (Ballymena/Ulster)*, David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster), Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)
* Uncapped player
French Top 14 final on Saturday evening - Live on Setanta 1
Clermont Auvergne v Perpignan
Clermonts fourth final in a row and 11th in all but they've never won it!
Perpignan are the holders
Clermont won 19-6
How the hell is Buckley constantly preferred to Tom Court?
Spot on Mr A. The play at the final whistle epitomised why Buckley isn't an international footballer. A club 3rd's player would be embarrassed by his body position going into the challenge. Add the fact he's 6'5" and 20 stone and it reflects worse on him.
Heineken Cup Draw is done:
Heineken Cup 2010/11
Pool 1
Cardiff Blues
Northampton Saints
Edinburgh
Castres Olympique
Pool 2
Leinster
Clermont Auvergne
Saracens
Racing Metro 92
Pool 3
Munster
Ospreys
London Irish
Toulon
Pool 4
Biarritz
Bath
Ulster
Aironi Rugby
Pool 5
Leicester
Scarlets
Perpignan
Benetton Treviso
Pool 6
Toulouse
London Wasps
Glasgow Warriors
Newport Gwent Dragons
Ulster probably the happiest, despite being third tier.
Ulster's pool is definitely winnable. Leinster and Munster have both drawn by far the strongest fourth seeds. Will be tough, especially with French rugby on the up.
Ireland try again against the All Blacks this Saturday morning at 8.35. We've never beaten them. I was fearing a right hammering given the injuries we have, but the New Zealanders have 3 new caps, plenty of injuries themselves and were caught early this time last year by France, so I hope we give them a right good game. End of a long season tho, so I'd be pleasantly surprised if we got within 7-10 points.
Ireland:
Rob Kearney (Leinster); Tommy Bowe (Ospreys), Brian O'Driscoll (Leinster, capt), Gordon D'Arcy (Leinster), Andrew Trimble (Ulster); Ronan O'Gara (Munster), Tomas O'Leary (Munster); Cian Healy (Leinster), Sean Cronin (Connacht), John Hayes (Munster), Donncha O'Callaghan (Munster), Mick O'Driscoll (Munster), John Muldoon (Connacht), David Wallace (Munster), Jamie Heaslip (Leinster).
Replacements: John Fogarty (Leinster), Tony Buckley (Munster), Dan Tuohy (Ulster), Shane Jennings (Leinster), Eoin Reddan (Leinster), Jonathan Sexton (Leinster), Geordan Murphy (Leicester).
New Zealand:
Israel Dagg (Highlanders); Cory Jane (Hurricanes), Conrad Smith (Hurricanes), Benson Stanley (Blues), Joe Rokocoko (Blues); Daniel Carter (Crusaders), Jimmy Cowan (Highlanders); Ben Franks (Crusaders), Keven Mealamu (Blues), Owen Franks (Crusaders), Brad Thorn (Crusaders), Anthony Boric (Blues), Jerome Kaino (Blues), Richie McCaw (Crusaders, capt), Kieran Read (Crusaders).
Replacements: Aled de Malmanche (Chiefs), Neemia Tialata (Hurricanes), Sam Whitelock (Crusaders), Victor Vito (Hurricanes), Piri Weepu (Hurricanes), Aaron Cruden (Hurricanes), Zac Guildford (Crusaders).
But before that Ireland play thier 2nd game in the Junior World Cup tonight in Argantina against England. Thought we were very unlucky not to get a draw against France, but still in with a chance to qualify for the semis if we beat England and Argentina and pick up a bonus point or two. Should be another good game.
Sounding like a broken record but I fear for our front row on Saturday.
If the pack can get the backs enough ball then we're in with an outside chance with such a quality backline available, but man for man our pack is way off the AB's. I fear for Muldoon and Wallace against Kaino and McCaw. I hope I'm wrong but it could be carnage.
There's no forwards on the bench that you can bring on for the front five with any confidence either.
I suspect we'll lose on sheer number of penalties conceded. In terms of tries I reckon both teams will get one or two.
Well done Heaslip, you're an absolute disgrace.
What the **** went through his head? Absolutely ridiculous.Quote:
Originally Posted by OneRedArmy
Given the embarrassment at the half time score, there were quite a few individual and team positives in the second. Trimble, Buckley and Tuohy were excellent. Redden was great when he came on.
Great spirit and hopefully we'll learn from it, particularly Heaslip who let the whole team and the fans down massively.
What happened? Only watched first 10 minutes or so before having to head outQuote:
Originally Posted by OneRedArmy
Sent off after 10 mins for repeatedly dropping the knee on McCaws head at a ruck when we were on their try line. To compound it O'Gara went to the bin shortly after for a professional foul and we were down to 13. We shipped 21 or 28 points in that 15 min period. Madness.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dodge
Fairly pleased with the performance after that. The scrum was a bit shaky for obvious reasons but was a lot more solid than it usually is with Hayes. Buckley was fantastic in the loose as well - his handling was incredible at times. Court missed a couple of tackles when he came on, so I think the decision to go with Buckley was 100% right.Quote:
Originally Posted by OneRedArmy
I thought Trimble had an excellent game too, so that's at least two positives. NZ were understandably complacent once the game was over as a contest but they still looked absolutely awful in defence. Kearney put in his usual game performance and O'Driscoll & d'Arcy had some good midfield breaks. Very concerned about the injuries though. He'll have to put out as weak a side as possible against the Maoris (phenomenally pointless fixture that should never have been booked to begin with) if we're to have any chance against the Aussies.
Gutted with that really. Hard to draw any positives given it was like a training spin in the 2nd half.
I'd put the full team out against the Maori . Hopefully flannery and Horgan can get out.
I disagree that it's hard to draw positives. I watched the NZ TV feed and there was no sense the ABs took their foot off the pedal. It's not their style to coast. The cameras regularly cut to Henry and he wasn't happy. The commentators were extremely unhappy the ABs shipped 4 tries and praised Ireland's 2nd half play.
I'd change the two half backs for Australia though.
Well if Henry was not happy then NZ must have been taking thier foot off the gas. Grand if you want if you want to take positives but any positives must be taken into context of the intensity of the second half which was not at normal test match level. Ireland showed a professional attitude in not giving up totally in the second half which is least you would expect. If buckey and Trimble play as well for 80 mins against Australia then I'll be happy to change my view.
I thought we were brilliant in the 2nd half. Fair play to em because NZ could put a 100 on you if heads dropped. It's a shame Heaslip lost the plot because the game was starting to hot up and I think we'd have ran them close.
Was Wayne Barnes going to give us a penalty on their line or did he want to wait another 2 minutes for the ball to come back?
Buckley was excellent and I hope he keeps getting more game time.
Side picked to play the Maori on Friday...
15 Geordan Murphy (c), 14 Shane Horgan, 13 Gavin Duffy, 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Johne Murphy, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Chris Henry, 7 Niall Ronan, 6 Rhys Ruddock, 5 Dan Tuohy, 4 Ed O'Donoghue, 3 Tom Court, 2 John Fogarty, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 John Hayes, 18 Donncha O'Callaghan, 19 David Wallace, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Ronan O'Gara, 22 Rob Kearney.
First impressions are that it is a weak side defensively, and has a very inexperienced pack bar Horan. Great opportunity for guys like Henry and Ruddock to make a name for themselves but theres a distinct lack of a real leader on the pitch to galvanise the side. This could be every bit as ugly as Saturday morning. At least theres a class bench there to be sprung if it goes pear shaped.
I'd predict a 20 point beating.
Don't know a massive amount about some of those players so it's hard to know. The team has a bit of a hodge podge feel to it (Gavin Duffy at centre!?) and that is unlikely to lead to a good performance, but at the same time these guys will probably benefit from the experience.
After a pretty good performance against the Maori, team against the Wallabies is as expected, although I wouldn't have picked O'Leary or M. O'Driscoll. Surely Redden deserves his place? Kidney certainly doesn't have his favourites in the same way Fast Eddie did, but O'Leary is as close to teachers pet as it comes.
Good to see P. Wallace get the chance, D'Arcy's injury made the decision easy, but Wallace was the standout performer against the Maori IMO, constantly breaking the gainline and lots of clever offloads. Big chance for him on Saturday.
I think Wallace has done enough to warrant selection ahead of D'Arcy, but Reddan was fairly poor against the Maoris and was caught out at the ruck a few times. O'Driscoll is probably the better bet ahead of Tuohy but I have a feeling we'll see Mick go off injured at some point anyway. The only change I'd have made is to put Geordan Murphy in ahead of Kearney.
I forgot about Geordan (how apt given how many times he's been forgotten at international level). Agree that he deserves to start. He's playing with a lot more confidence that Kearney. Kearney has had an absolute stinker of a season after a magnificant season last year with Leinster, Ireland and Lions. Hopefully its not permanent.Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin
He's shown glimpses but he's been hampered by a couple of small injuries and maybe a bit of a Lions hangover. There's a few lads in there who will particularly benefit from a summer's rest.
I think Murphy's defence isn't up to standard at international level. Great going forward and has always been an excellent fielder of the ball but his defence has always been shaky. If he had been a more solid defender then he would have 100 caps I think.
What do people think our chances are on Saturday? Hopefully the fact that our scrum shouldn't be under as much pressure has got to give us a realistic chance of a win on Saturday. It does require some new faces to have big games. Delighted Sexton got the nod at out-half and fair dues to Paddy Wallace as well getting himself back in there - played a great game last Friday night against the Maori. Hopefully the lads that played against New Zealand will be out to redeem themselves. A win would be a nice boost I think, and maybe a psychological blow given that its the last time we play them before the World Cup in a years time. It should be an interesting game. Still think we are too knackered to get a win - Id do for a narrow win for the Aussies 14-11, but hopeful of a good result.