Fever in the Aviva II – this time, it’s provincial

First topic message reminder :

Leinster v Munster on Friday night. Should be a cracker, all internationals will be back with both teams and we’ll both be going hammer and tongs at it to get up to speed for the HC the following week.

Let the banter begin.

Turnips….

Thread update. Teams announced:

Leinster also name team

15: Rob Kearney
14: Isa Nacewa
13: Fergus McFadden
12: Gordon D'Arcy
11: Luke Fitzgerald
10: Jonathan Sexton
9: Isaac Boss

1: Cian Healy
2: Richardt Strauss
3: Mike Ross
4: Leo Cullen CAPTAIN
5: Devin Toner
6: Sean O'Brien
7: Shane Jennings
8: Jamie Heaslip

REPLACEMENTS:

16: Sean Cronin
17: Heinke van der Merwe
18: Jamie Hagan
19: Kevin McLaughlin
20: Rhys Ruddock
21: Eoin Reddan
22: Ian Madigan
23: Eoin O'Malley


Munster:

Wian du Preez, Damien Varley, BJ Botha

Donnacha O'Callaghan, Paul O'Connell

Donnacha Ryan, Denis Leamy, Niall Ronan

Conor Murray, Ronan O'Gara

Lifeimi Mafi, Will Chambers

Keith Earls, Johne Murphy, Doug Howlett

Bench: Denis Fogarty, Marcus Horan, John Hayes, Peter O'Mahony, James Coughlan, Tomas O'Leary, Ian Keatley, Danny Barnes

leinsterbaby wrote:I think Humphrys is decent. Hey if France can get to the toilet final with a scrum half at oh and NZ can get there with a cancer surviving skateboarder and a reject then Ulster can get by. They have the goods they just need to step it up.

Clermont will kill Humphreys - they are the boys who gave ROG 18 stitches in the head.

I fancy Clermont to win the whole thing. Just getting stronger and have an even deeper squad this year. Winning the TOP14 with kids? Can afford to spare their World Stars for the HC.
The team to be avoided at all costs.
I could see em do the Double.

Gibson wrote:Top of the League Maaaaw!

Not after tonight's match you won't be...

I'm not surprised POC was critical of the discipline - Munster and Opsreys have the most yellows in the league so far - one for every match it seems.

Munster were dreadful. Nothing in the backs and we picked a poor pack. Penalty count was again ridiculous but our defence was pretty decent other than that. I would be a bit concerned if I was a Leinster fan, against what many believe to be a poor scrum Munster dominated at one stage Munster blew them back with Leamy in the bin. In general Munster got clean quick ball. Defending was great for a lot of the night is probably the positive. And the fact that I think this is our second game in a row where we have got a penalty try from a scrum against Leinster.

Sin é wrote:

leinsterbaby wrote:You can't score tries if munster consistently concede pens. Same old story, munster indiscipline makes it all too easy.

At least POC/Munster realise that there is a problem with giving away penalties and realise it has to be sorted.

Schmidt & Sexton didn't notice that Leinster gave away 13 penaltie (to Munster's 17).

Thats the second time that Schmidt has whinged after a Munster/Leinster game. He really came across as arrogant in that interview - 'we wanted to play rugby'.

A few of those pens were charity penalties to keep munster in the game. Munsters disciplinary record v Leinster is apauling. No wonder schmidt did that.

Not just against Leinster. I know you can rake backwards at ruck time but SOB appeared to not bother moving it backwards with POM.

Anyone got a summary of the Ireland guys/potential ireland guys. I know keet went off injured and Val said McFadden was poor. I only saw a dodgy stream of the 2nd half but i thought mcfadden was decent albeit i did notice he flew up out of the line at least once. He really needs to either get that right or cut it out altogether.

I cant believe how superior Munster were in the scrum. BJ is a cracking TH. The thing will be to keep him fit though.

Poor game. Typical early season fair. Would not make sweeping statements writing off either team so early in season

munsters discipline was absolutely appaling last night.. Leinsters was not much better. Back play poor on both sides i thought. Mc fadden adds gas at 13 but not sure if much else. Leinster scrum struggled 2nd half but plenty of time for feek to sort it. So much for munster giving away penalties left right and centre and sexton missing them

I had thought McFadden was good I must say. I was there but haven't watched it back and thought mcf was great in midfield off lineouts and made Chambers lose ground.

I dnt know y people are sayin he was poor

I also thought he was pretty good though he is not a 13. I saw glimpses of what he could offer over D'Arcy at 12 and he actually reminds me of D'Arcy in his younger years. He has to start at 12 for Leinster, and I hope for him to start for Ireland in the 6 nations also.

I think his turn of pace is his biggest asset and really made things hard for Chambers and when screens were employed it was generally McFadden who ran the in to out line as opposed to the typical 13 line of out to in, it really stretched the Munster defence I felt and would have been good if Jenno had held onto that switch.

Sexton meant to be on RTE Radio 1 (Saturday Sport) shortly moaning about the media giving him a hard time in the World Cup!

http://www.rte.ie/radio/

Im sure you will be twisting his words regardless.

Kicked well last night did johnny. If only he could "run" a game and backline he may become a reasonable player

dublin_dave wrote:Im sure you will be twisting his words regardless.

Kicked well last night did johnny. If only he could "run" a game and backline he may become a reasonable player

Only repeating Des Cahill (Jonny Sexton speaks about how badly he was treated by the media at the world cup). I've provided the link for you to listen for yourself.

If only he could make the step up to international level.

Again he has been the starting out half in our only decent performances the last 15 months.

Fair enough will have a listen anyways.

dublin_dave wrote:Again he has been the starting out half in our only decent performances the last 15 months.

Fair enough will have a listen anyways.

Yep, two decent performances in about 20 starts. And O'Gara dug him out of a few holes as well.
Pity he couldn't perform against Wales when he came on. He had 30 mins with his favourite scrumhalf.

McFadden wasn't poor, I was just disappointed with his performance, I'm not sure hes going to make it as an international player anymore. He seems incapable of throwing a soft pass and his defence has gone to bits lately, I mean standing off rog is unforgivable.

Dave,

The reason for this is that Sexton has been solidly first choice since we won the Grand Slam in 2009.

He made his debut in 2009 and has nearly 30 caps for Ireland already. He is basically playing in every single match.

Yes he had good performances in our games against England and Australia but there were other days he simply didn't perform.

Yesterdays kicking display has reassured me of his abilities in that regard. I do think that some people make good points about him getting a backline moving.

He is stifled by rubbish centres and it reflects badly on him - he is forced into running it himself or doing that same loop move over and over again. Rarely will he actually just get it moving through the hands - though I accept this is in a big way down to the centres too.

The way I see it is that we still have a battle for the 10 shirt, with Jonny leading by a nose.

If Sexton hadn't missed all those kicks at the World Cup he would have kept his starting place and the media wouldn't be criticizing him. But he did miss them. That's his own bleedin fault, so I don't know what he's complaining about.

O'Gara was fine when D'arcy and O'Driscoll were very creative. But they're not fast enough anymore. So a midfield with O'Gara, D'arcy and O'Driscoll will create nothing. We need Sexton to be starting for Ireland. Nothing to do with age. he's just more dangerous than O'Gara, and links very well with BOD.

Our performance against England in the 6 Nations was brilliant. The pack were brilliant. But most of the attacking was down to Sexton, picking the right time to run, the right time to tap and go or kick for touch etc. We just can't attack as well with O'Gara. Even if he does have a good day with the boot. He just far more predictable than Sexton.

Were people really impresse with is kicking yesterday? None of those kicks were incredibly difficult. I expected him to slot all of them. He did decent besides that. Sexton didn't create an awful lot yesterday but Munster didn't.

Red Stag

Could you give a ref's view of these two incidents:

SOB shoeing of Ryan
Nacewa taking Murphy out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOivIPe8NYc&feature=player_embedded

Feckless Rogue wrote:If Sexton hadn't missed all those kicks at the World Cup he would have kept his starting place and the media wouldn't be criticizing him. But he did miss them. That's his own bleedin fault, so I don't know what he's complaining about.

O'Gara was fine when D'arcy and O'Driscoll were very creative. But they're not fast enough anymore. So a midfield with O'Gara, D'arcy and O'Driscoll will create nothing. We need Sexton to be starting for Ireland. Nothing to do with age. he's just more dangerous than O'Gara, and links very well with BOD.

Our performance against England in the 6 Nations was brilliant. The pack were brilliant. But most of the attacking was down to Sexton, picking the right time to run, the right time to tap and go or kick for touch etc. We just can't attack as well with O'Gara. Even if he does have a good day with the boot. He just far more predictable than Sexton.

+1.

Its just FACT. End of.

Spot on. How long is rog contracted to irfu for?

This sexton/rog competition should be a good thing but hasnt quite panned out that way. Its a bit of a circus and acts as a smokescreen to a bigger problem our poor back play

Just after Ross gets tackled on the try line Mafi sticks his hands in Sextons eyes. Watch out for the citing commissioner....

Mickado wrote:Just after Ross gets tackled on the try line Mafi sticks his hands in Sextons eyes. Watch out for the citing commissioner....

Lets hope he is dealt as leniently as Sexton was when Sexton kicked Mafi in the head

When was that 1996?

Think it was 2008 Glas.

Quite recent then. Ulster are the team anyway.

Glas a du wrote:When was that 1996?

2009.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U227_GpgO0

Mafi got carded for the retaliation punch. Sexton was cited and was suspended for a week. What a joke.

My god Mafi's a real thug. That tip tackle should have been a red card.

Just seen the highlights, just a few observations. POC joined the maul from an offside position when Heaslip was sent off. The penalty try wasn't even a penalty, Coughlan wasn't bound and had picked up the ball, Nacewa quite entitled to go for it.

Glas a du wrote:My god Mafi's a real thug. That tip tackle should have been a red card.

Just seen the highlights, just a few observations. POC joined the maul from an offside position when Heaslip was sent off. The penalty try wasn't even a penalty, Coughlan wasn't bound and had picked up the ball, Nacewa quite entitled to go for it.

If Mafi did that now he would be Red Carded. I don't think its right to call Tip Tacklers thugs - I wouldn't consider Sam Warburton a thug because he got red carded for one.

Do you think a week was enough for the retailiation kick in the head?

Glas a du wrote:The penalty try wasn't even a penalty, Coughlan wasn't bound and had picked up the ball, Nacewa quite entitled to go for it.

Nope. Sean O'Brien didn't remain bound. See pic.

https://i.servimg.com/u/f43/16/53/77/41/penalt12.jpg

That's fine but it wasn't SOB he penalised.

Glas a du wrote:That's fine but it wasn't SOB he penalised.

He is penalising him there.

I thought it was SOB who was penalised. He wasn't bound at all.

Sin é wrote:Red Stag

Could you give a ref's view of these two incidents:

SOB shoeing of Ryan
Nacewa taking Murphy out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOivIPe8NYc&feature=player_embedded

I'd say penalty for both. Maybe a yellow card for D.Ryan incident but I think pen would be ok.

Shoeing is a tough one though. You're allowed to step on people if you're going for the ball. If you intentionally do it is illegal.

Sin e why bother discussing things with welshmen about an irish game. If mafi did something he will be cited endof. He didnt and he wont be so forget it.

DOD, thats more than a bit one-eyed? It's one rugby fan talking to another, surely, not sure what Glas's nationality has to do with it?.

I think it may be due to Glas having a hatred of Munster.... His comments about Mafi are unjust. Why is he only focusing on Munster's infringements?

What Thomond said aslongas. Glas has a long running dislike of munster . Not sure why, something in the past maybe or just some self victimisation

Thomond I think he;s taking the pish - why get so upset about it. Chillax

I'm not upset at all Stag. Just making a point.

I know Glas hates Munster - think it has something to do with the Shane Williams / Marcus Horan racist citing thingy so he likes to discredit Munster & its players every chance he gets.

Thanks Stag for the opinion. So you reckon Sob's shoeing was a penalty to Munster?

Ref was ok but thought he was a typical French ref in terms of being a homer.

Sin E definitely a penalty in my opinion. However referee shouldn't have let it get that far. Either whistle early for Donnacha Ryan being there illegally or else you penalise O'Brien some trampling/stamping on him.

The referee failed to do either which I would say is poor game management and could have lead to a punchup or an injury.

I was far from impressed with ref. No major blunder didn't affect the game but a top professional ref should be capable of more.

In this clip we see him ignore a potential flashpoint, give poor signals (he signals a Leinster penalty).

The fact that English wasn't his first language meant he used the whistle rather than his voice to control the match and there was a whopping penalty count - 28 penalties in 80 minutes.

I felt that he was late to go to yellow cards (1 each) and escalated badly I thought. A better ref would have either dealt with the fact both teams were infringing with warnings and cards or else uses voice to get them complying.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:I thought it was SOB who was penalised. He wasn't bound at all.

Awarding a penalty try makes no sense at all then if that's the case. It was Nacewa that stopped the try. SOB not binding probably helped Munster!

Poite used to be like that as well. In fairness both teams were guilty.of childish penalties. I disagree with the language issue as part of the assessment. The penalties he gave were clear to all concerned. The stamping was a once off.

Hey glas why dont you check to see if part of the hobbits retirement plan is to apologize for telling porkies at official citing hearings.

Aye OK

I'm concerned for Osprey fans. when he came on yesterday it was like a switch had been flicked. They get urine all crowd now, what will they do after he retires? That's why I think they should swap Bowe for Carr.

Lads he has a point, if O'Brien is being penalised then it shouldn't be a peno try As he didn't stop the try.

Had a chat with a Munster fan after the game who thought the penalty try should have come a few mins earlier for pulling down the maul 3 times. 3 is the magic number apparently...