Cardiff Blues vs Leinster TEAMS ANNOUNCED

First topic message reminder :

CARDIFF BLUES

Blues:
15. Gavin Henson
14. Leigh Halfpenny
13. Casey Laulala
12. Gavin Evans
11. Tom James
10. Dan Parks
9. Lloyd Williams

1. Gethin Jenkins
2. Marc Breeze
3. Scott Andrews
4. MacCauley Cook
5. Michael Paterson
6. Maama Molitika
7. Sam Warburton (capt)
8. Xavier Rush.

Replacements: Rhys Williams, John Yapp, Sam Hobbs, Matthew Screech, Josh Navidi, Richie Rees, Ceri Sweeney, Richard Mustoe.

Not available due to injury

Alex Cuthbert - groin
Ryan Tyrell - hamstring
Paul Tito - head
Chris Czekaj - hamstring
Jamie Roberts - knee
Dafydd Hewitt - hamstring
Thomas Rhys Thomas - neck/shoulder
Taufa'ao Filise - shoulder
James Down - ankle
Andries Pretorius - knee
Deiniol Jones - shoulder
Martyn Williams - arm

Strongest side available, but that's not saying much with that injury list.

Interestingly, Sam Warburton captains the Blues for the first time with Tito injured, he is preferred to usual stand-in captains Gethin Jenkins and Xavier Rush.


LEINSTER:

15: Rob Kearney
14: Dave Kearney
13: Fergus McFadden
12: Gordon D'Arcy
11: Andrew Conway
10: Jonathan Sexton
9: Eoin Reddan

1: Cian Healy
2: Sean Cronin
3: Mike Ross
4: Damian Browne
5: Devin Toner
6: Kevin McLaughlin
7: Sean O'Brien
8: Jamie Heaslip CAPTAIN

REPLACEMENTS:

16: Aaron Dundon
17: Heinke van der Merwe
18: Jamie Hagan
19: Rhys Ruddock
20: Leo Auva'a
21: Isaac Boss
22: Isa Nacewa
23: Fionn Carr

Artful_Dodger wrote:

Morgannwg wrote:

Artful_Dodger wrote:This team of officials should never be on a rugby pitch again to be frank.

Artful_Dodger wrote:Welsh touched judges and TMO did everything to give Blues that match, ah well cheaters never prosper.

Hang on. A couple of weeks ago you and a few other said the Irish never point the finger at and moan about the officials. It appears this is not the case?

No I didnt actaully, maybe you could copy and paste were Ive said that.

By the way theres a difference complaining about the ref when you lose and complaining about the ref when Leinster are 14-0 up as I was at the start of this post and go on to win the match.

well go back and look at the Munster Scarlets articles and there you shall see. You're quite clearly complaining about the ref and denying it. We weren't allowed to give an opinion on the ref a few weeks ago without being told this.

I do agree that Italians and scottish refs are bog standard and have no place in our league if it is to prosper. As for the Blues try, the evidence was inconclusive. Blues have had many identical decisions go against them in past critical matches though, just ask any fan because I can think of a couple off the top of my head.

Because SOB has expanded his game, his breakthrough season he made big runs, but as per usual, the opposition adapts and players aren't as effective at this. Look at the likes of Powell etc. Huge runners, but then they are found out. SOB is adding a lot to his game and he still makes those huge runs. He scored a fantastic try today, due to how dynamic he is infact. A lovely inside pass to Heaslip, looping round him to collect it again and running through Murray. He is much more dynamic now than ever IMO.

He doesn't need to play like a fetcher always following the ball either. He steals ball when he sees the opportunity, he tackles anything that moves, and he is a fantastic support player these days. He isn't as effective being used to make the hard yards. That is where the likes of Ferris step in.

mpc28 wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:

mpc28 wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:Not sure what the craic is with that try.. firstly I thought it was just impossible to see if he put it down or not, but on TG4 it shown a magnified close-up and it was definitely held up. Poor by the TMO, and he is welsh? Explains it!

Also SOB is playing better than Warbs imo. He is really suiting the 7 role. Can't wait to see if the Irish pack can do the same vs Wales

I think the 7 role has restricted SOB as he doesn't seem to be as dynamic as he was last season, he is still a mighty fine player though.

Have to disagree with you, I believe the first try and his recent games show he is a much more dynamic player than he ever was last season. His awareness is much better as well. He is not restricted at all. He doesn't make as many rampaging runs, but I think he is a better player for it, and he still wrecks havoc around the pitch. He is best taking the ball at pace, similar to the likes of Faletau, more than being a hard yards player.

I dont see how he is a better player for it! is he likely to win european player of of the year again? i doubt it so i dont see how he can be a better player than he was last year. He made his name with his trademark breaks which he is now restricted on because he is trying to be a fetcher, i think he is better suited to the other side of the scrum but i guess we will have to agree to disagree on this one Rory.

Agree with you completely. SOB still looks good but after a good start tonight he faded and Warburton was well on top at the end

SOB is a 6. A brilliant one. I don't like him at 7.

I personally think 6 is his worst position. For me he is a 7 or 8. Nor will he get a chance at 6 for Ireland with Ferris there.

I don't think Warburton outplayed O'Brien at all. He made turnovers, scored a try, tackled everywhere, made lots of runs. I don't see how he played badly or was any less effective than he has ever been tbh.

Btw, I missed the start. I am guessing Henson pulled out with a broken toe nail or other injury?

DOD wrote:
Agree with you completely. SOB still looks good but after a good start tonight he faded and Warburton was well on top at the end

If SOB did look less effective near the end btw, he had moved to 6 with Murphy moving to 7 in the second half. Which further supports what I say about SOB being best as a 7.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:I personally think 6 is his worst position. For me he is a 7 or 8. Nor will he get a chance at 6 for Ireland with Ferris there.

I don't think Warburton outplayed O'Brien at all. He made turnovers, scored a try, tackled everywhere, made lots of runs. I don't see how he played badly or was any less effective than he has ever been tbh.

Clueless

glamorganalun wrote:Did I see parks make a tackle?

That was the same kind of tackle mike Catt tried on Lomu in the RWC in 95

DOD wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:I personally think 6 is his worst position. For me he is a 7 or 8. Nor will he get a chance at 6 for Ireland with Ferris there.

I don't think Warburton outplayed O'Brien at all. He made turnovers, scored a try, tackled everywhere, made lots of runs. I don't see how he played badly or was any less effective than he has ever been tbh.

Clueless

Mhm whatever you say DOD Did O'Brien not do those things or did he? Didn't you just admit above SOB was better until near the end when Warburton started playing better? Which was when SOB had actually swapped to 6 and Murphy played 7. Do keep up

glamorganalun wrote:Did I see parks make a tackle?

Yes. He usually does make a tackle at least once during a game.

SOB scored a try and was pretty ineffective after that. When compared to last year at 6 he has been less effective since being played at 7. The leinster backrow is more balanced with Jennings at 7. I don't think you will find many leinster supporters who would disagree.

DOD wrote:SOB scored a try and was pretty ineffective after that. When compared to last year at 6 he has been less effective since being played at 7. The leinster backrow is more balanced with Jennings at 7. I don't think you will find many leinster supporters who would disagree.

He was actually very good in the first half I thought, and still played well in the second half. Also, he has been less effective at 6,7 or 8 this year if you mean his typical runs. But he has been more effective at turnovers and his all around play. And here even I agree Leinster are more balanced with Jennings at 7, but that is because he and SOB work very well together. McLaughlin doesn't compliment SOB too well. However, Ferris and SOB work very well together.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:

DOD wrote:SOB scored a try and was pretty ineffective after that. When compared to last year at 6 he has been less effective since being played at 7. The leinster backrow is more balanced with Jennings at 7. I don't think you will find many leinster supporters who would disagree.

He was actually very good in the first half I thought, and still played well in the second half. Also, he has been less effective at 6,7 or 8 this year if you mean his typical runs. But he has been more effective at turnovers and his all around play. And here even I agree Leinster are more balanced with Jennings at 7, but that is because he and SOB work very well together. McLaughlin doesn't compliment SOB too well. However, Ferris and SOB work very well together.

Except in the Welsh game....

9390 attendance.
That's pretty good for CCS.
A well deserved bonus point at least.
Looked like Cardiff would get nothing at the start.

Feckless Rogue wrote:SOB is a 6. A brilliant one. I don't like him at 7.

I thought SOB had a brilliant game. Watch that try, he gives the pass to heaslip and then runs a super support line to finish....thats text book 7 play in my book. He's actually pretty small for a 6, too short for the line out and not great at taking the ball statically into heavy traffic. He was dwarfed by the Cardiff 6(?).

He is what he is...a 6.5. Heaslip had a cracking game despite giving away a fair few penalties and Toner looked good again. Kearney just looks better and better. Carr is out of his depth and Conway will be a top player when he develops physically. McFadden is not a 13 and needs to learn how to tackle.

From the blues I was really impressed with Laulala. He is some player.

That try awarded by the TMO was a joke though. Unbelievable, Jenkins was clearly held up by Heaslip, at best it was inconclusive. It was in total contrast to the descision in the Munster game, which wasn't given, when Murray probably did ground it but the TMO rightly ruled it was inconclusive.

roddersm wrote:

Feckless Rogue wrote:SOB is a 6. A brilliant one. I don't like him at 7.

I thought SOB had a brilliant game. Watch that try, he gives the pass to heaslip and then runs a super support line to finish....thats text book 7 play in my book. He's actually pretty small for a 6, too short for the line out and not great at taking the ball statically into heavy traffic. He was dwarfed by the Cardiff 6(?).

He is what he is...a 6.5. Heaslip had a cracking game despite giving away a fair few penalties and Toner looked good again. Kearney just looks better and better. Carr is out of his depth and Conway will be a top player when he develops physically. McFadden is not a 13 and needs to learn how to tackle.

From the blues I was really impressed with Laulala. He is some player.

That try awarded by the TMO was a joke though. Unbelievable, Jenkins was clearly held up by Heaslip, at best it was inconclusive. It was in total contrast to the descision in the Munster game, which wasn't given, when Murray probably did ground it but the TMO rightly ruled it was inconclusive.

Laulaula? Really?!

He turns over possession constantly.

He had a poor game today.

Yes...SOB only won his European player of the year playing six...maybe it was in the vertically challenged Heineken cup which was being played in some parallel universe we werent aware of....

He won it playing across all three backrow positions actually did he not? And once again, the Wales game was not the fault of SOB/Ferris.. it was our tactics, how we used them both, and our very poor back-line play.

wales606 wrote:
Laulaula? Really?!

He turns over possession constantly.

He had a poor game today.

You must have been watching a different game. He totally dominated the midfield. Huge, powerful and with good hands. I thought he was blues best player by a mile. Wish he had an Irish granny...

roddersm wrote:

wales606 wrote:
Laulaula? Really?!

He turns over possession constantly.

He had a poor game today.

You must have been watching a different game. He totally dominated the midfield. Huge, powerful and with good hands. I thought he was blues best player by a mile. Wish he had an Irish granny...

He has 1 cap for NZ I think.

He has been in poor form this season, he tries stupid offloads all the time and his kicking is awful - he is giving away loads of possession.

If he is defended against well, he is of more benefit to the opposition.

Fair enough Wales606, I've only seen him a few times but I've been impressed each time. He caused havock against Ulster earlier in the season and was a standout player for me tonight. McFadden really struggled against him.

I thought Lualua had one of his better games today, especially in the 1st half - but through most of this season (that I've seen), like Wales606 says, he continually goes to far and gets isolated or keeps trying the miracle pass out of tackles and instead looses the ball

Rory_Gallagher wrote:He won it playing across all three backrow positions actually did he not? And once again, the Wales game was not the fault of SOB/Ferris.. it was our tactics, how we used them both, and our very poor back-line play.

The majority at 6 with one or two at 8. Don't believe he played any at 7. Also we lost the Wales game because we lost the collisions, ergo our backrow mostly did not do well.

He played at 8 twice against Ulster, and many more times than that. He played 7 plenty also. He was mostly at 6 or 8. Sure he even played 7 in the HEC final in the first half..

SOB/Ferris were used as battering rams all game and were ineffective because of it. Heaslip was useless in general. If your only gameplan is to use your big backrows to run at the opposition defence, of course you will come second. Poor coaching by Kidney.

Smirnoffpriest wrote:I thought Lualua had one of his better games today, especially in the 1st half - but through most of this season (that I've seen), like Wales606 says, he continually goes to far and gets isolated or keeps trying the miracle pass out of tackles and instead looses the ball

I feel sorry for Lualala, he is a good player has had some great games for the blues but that backline is an awful selection. He has had more partnerships than Elizabeth Taylor this season.

But Dan Parks...? His inclusion is inexcusable. If it is for his goal kicking then he is a luxury. His defence is appalling and if any other Celtic league team had the brains Leinster do where their attack is all about exploiting Parks refusal to defend then Blues would be bottom of the Rabbo 12.

Leinster always do the same to the Blues. Inside ball to a big player running at the Boulavard that Parks was meant to be defending.

Cardiff Dave wrote:9390 attendance.
That's pretty good for CCS.
A well deserved bonus point at least.
Looked like Cardiff would get nothing at the start.

it was a good turn out. it was an important game for blues in terms of the league. how many fans turned out to see the grandstand signing that is orange?

that backdivisions was a shambles last night. some good play (from lualala, 1/2p; gavin evans was very busy too) but it looked very disjointed i thought.

gavin henson pulled out with a calf injury, i heard. here we go again.

DOD wrote:SOB scored a try and was pretty ineffective after that. When compared to last year at 6 he has been less effective since being played at 7. The leinster backrow is more balanced with Jennings at 7. I don't think you will find many leinster supporters who would disagree.

+1
Its what we always end up with when we are in trouble at the breakdown. Everytime. I dont like SOB at 7 either, it limits his natural game greatly. But it seems to be his international destiny. Schmidt is playing him there too. It must be Deccie's call. When and if, we get to the latter stages of the HC, we will see SOB, Jennings & Heaslip.

we lost more than the collisions v wales dod. truly out thought and outsmarted. swatted casually aside by a well drilled good young side. a failure of strategy and coaching

sob better at 6 but not a bad 7. schmidt tends to play him there in big games so though most of us leinster fans feel he is abetter 6 we will give schmidt a bit of leeway for the time being

dogtooth wrote:gavin henson pulled out with a calf injury, i heard. here we go again.

I presume many of you are not old enough to remember but Gareth Edwards was similar, would rarely play for Cardiff, Wales or Lions if even slightly injured. Luckily he rarely was, but for Cardiff RFC he probably played in less than half their matches. Almost refusing to play unless 100% fit.

I've seen it all now. Henson compared to Gareth Edwards. I must have missed the bit when Edwards appeared on The Goodies.

Lordy!

maestegmafia wrote:
But Dan Parks...? His inclusion is inexcusable. If it is for his goal kicking then he is a luxury. His defence is appalling and if any other Celtic league team had the brains Leinster do where their attack is all about exploiting Parks refusal to defend then Blues would be bottom of the Rabbo 12.

Leinster always do the same to the Blues. Inside ball to a big player running at the Boulavard that Parks was meant to be defending.

Small hint by Jif on Scrum V linked to the positive rumour that Parks is out at the end of the season.

With a decent flyhalf Blues would be a far better side.

dogtooth wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:9390 attendance.
That's pretty good for CCS.
A well deserved bonus point at least.
Looked like Cardiff would get nothing at the start.

it was a good turn out. it was an important game for blues in terms of the league. how many fans turned out to see the grandstand signing that is orange?

that backdivisions was a shambles last night. some good play (from lualala, 1/2p; gavin evans was very busy too) but it looked very disjointed i thought.

gavin henson pulled out with a calf injury, i heard. here we go again.

I was joking actually.
That attendance against the current European champions equates to the stadium being only 1/3 full, or 2/3's empty if you like. Nearly 18,000 unoccupied seats in other words. I'm sure there were many free tickets available too for this game on top of the groupon offer of £7.50 each. That's cheaper than watching the semi pro sides on a Sat afternoon.
My point is that CCS is a totally unnecessary luxury for Cardiff Blues and the £500,000 pa (and the rest) it costs could be much better spent on other things such as keeping Welsh players in Wales for a start.

I thought you would not have been so despondent regarding the crowd. That is one of the best attendance figures for the Blues all season, it was a good game, they struggled at the start but in the end were unlucky to lose. Leinster are a very good team and are proving that throughout this seasons campaign. A 39 point better result than the last time the Blues played Leinster.

What did you make of Mark Flanagan lads? Thought he done very well for his first start. Another massive fella!

DOD wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:He won it playing across all three backrow positions actually did he not? And once again, the Wales game was not the fault of SOB/Ferris.. it was our tactics, how we used them both, and our very poor back-line play.

The majority at 6 with one or two at 8. Don't believe he played any at 7. Also we lost the Wales game because we lost the collisions, ergo our backrow mostly did not do well.

Here's some stats for you from scrum.com one of Sins favourite websites.I know how you drool all over Sin for his use of stats so lets see if you're consistent.

Our backrow made 44 metres to the Welsh backrows 21,our backrow made 1 clean break to the Welsh 0,our BR 11 passes to Wales 4 and on turnovers won there are no stats so I went to the IRB website which says that ruck and maul turnovers won were 4 to 1 in favour of Ireland.The only area the Welsh backrow outperformed ours was tackling they made 55 missed 0 to our 29 missed 3.This would suggest that our backrow were on top and maybe the fault lay elsewhere,like picking a kicking outhalf who kicked badly and having a weak defence at 10 and 12.We also had no running threat from 10 to 13 as all 3 players are getting on and struggle to make breaks any more. http://www.espnscrum.com/2011-rugby-world-cup/rugby/match/93498.html
http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/home/matches/match=11227/statistics.html

Statistically the Leinster backrow out played the Cardiff backrow at the weekend too.

Thought Flanagan played very well for his first start (a man possessed and clearly loving getting the starting jersey). I hope he gets a couple more games at Pro12 this season.

With hindsight, Ulster should be delighted that Xavier Rush didn't head over to them. He is a shadow of his former self. Molitika is also plenty past it. Warburton will struggle more and more to make up for having these guys in the same backrow. He deserves better around him.

My biggest disappointment from the game -- the referee. I was scratching my head at his decisions for the first 10 minutes, shouting at the tv for the next 20 minutes, and laughing at his decisions from the half hour mark. Particular highlights;

- Leinster knockon at the cusp of half time (Kearney? taking the ball down the right wing). The referee missings the ball rolling on the ground under the tackle, so the assistant sends in the message for a knock on. The ref, not understanding a work whistles penalty to Blues for Leinster coming in from the side.

- The ref wanted to say tackler release, gets confused about colours (the Blues are white and Leinster are blue after all in this game) so shouts.... red release!...eh...white release!.... eh.... blue release!. then just shuts up and lets play continue

At best, this can described as a learning experience for the fella.

What did people think of the video refs descision to award the try to Jenkins? I thought it was a bit of a joke to be honest and even Jenkins looked bemused.

There was a startling contrast to the video refs descison not to award Murrays try in the Munster game.

Jenkins 'try' earned the Blues a bonus point which could prove costly to the other teams fighting for a play off spot.

I think the ref had some very odd ideas about both sides to be honest - seemed a little out of depth

I thought it was a poor call from the TMO based on the question he was asked.

If the ref asks “Try, yes or no” then the onus is on the TMO to find an angle that shows that it was a try.
If the ref asks “any reason I cannot award the try” then the onus is on him to either prove it wasn’t a try and if he can’t then award it.

You could clearly see no grounding, but what you could see is Healy’s foot and Heaslips arm under the ball carrying arm of Jenkins. Could have cost us big time. luckily we can still win a game after poor calls like that. Calling the blues “white” and Leinster “blue” was needlessly confusing.

In the Munster game Conor Murray looked to have scored but no angle showed the grounding so the TMO ruled it was 'inconclusive'.

Jenkins by contrast looked to be grounded short, then came up to place the ball over the line and it looked like Heaslip got under and held him up. Certainly no angle showed the grounding.

How the TMO could award it I have no idea but its a terrible inconsistancy that could have serious implications come the play off spots. 1 point could be crucial.

You could see from Jenkins reaction it wasn't a try. The scoring team were already lined up for the 5 metre scrum! Let be honest props (and I was one in my time) are great optimisers of energy. If they thought it was a try they would have walked back to the 10 metre line in order to rest/catch a breather before the restart, instead of the try being awarded and them running half the field before dealing with an immediate restart.

If the ref had asked 'any reason i cannot award the try', then it would have been the correct decision. But it was 'try, yes or no' which means you need to see grounding. Something which is based on leaving the decision making and judgement with the referee and leaving a TMO with only the ability to communicate the replay facts.

asoreleftshoulder wrote:

DOD wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:He won it playing across all three backrow positions actually did he not? And once again, the Wales game was not the fault of SOB/Ferris.. it was our tactics, how we used them both, and our very poor back-line play.

The majority at 6 with one or two at 8. Don't believe he played any at 7. Also we lost the Wales game because we lost the collisions, ergo our backrow mostly did not do well.

Here's some stats for you from scrum.com one of Sins favourite websites.I know how you drool all over Sin for his use of stats so lets see if you're consistent.

Our backrow made 44 metres to the Welsh backrows 21,our backrow made 1 clean break to the Welsh 0,our BR 11 passes to Wales 4 and on turnovers won there are no stats so I went to the IRB website which says that ruck and maul turnovers won were 4 to 1 in favour of Ireland.The only area the Welsh backrow outperformed ours was tackling they made 55 missed 0 to our 29 missed 3.This would suggest that our backrow were on top and maybe the fault lay elsewhere,like picking a kicking outhalf who kicked badly and having a weak defence at 10 and 12.We also had no running threat from 10 to 13 as all 3 players are getting on and struggle to make breaks any more. http://www.espnscrum.com/2011-rugby-world-cup/rugby/match/93498.html
http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/home/matches/match=11227/statistics.html

It's just DOD blaming the Irish backrow cos there are no munster players there. Can't blame the 2nd row, half backs, back 3 or the coach cos Munster players were playing/coaching in those positions. It's sad but true and now i'll be attacked for anti- munster bias cos I have the cheek to criticise Kidney and question ROG's ability and even consider the fact the Sexton should have been selected ahead of him.

There were 2 real positives from this game I think.

Our lineout seemed much better I hope this trend continues as I think it's our one real weak spot in an otherwise excellent team.
Mike Ross could be seen tackling and hitting rucks in the 77th and 79th minute,he has looked a bit lethargic and unfit up to this so to see him lasting the full 80 and still working hard at the end is a great sign.

the-goon wrote:

asoreleftshoulder wrote:

DOD wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:He won it playing across all three backrow positions actually did he not? And once again, the Wales game was not the fault of SOB/Ferris.. it was our tactics, how we used them both, and our very poor back-line play.

The majority at 6 with one or two at 8. Don't believe he played any at 7. Also we lost the Wales game because we lost the collisions, ergo our backrow mostly did not do well.

Here's some stats for you from scrum.com one of Sins favourite websites.I know how you drool all over Sin for his use of stats so lets see if you're consistent.

Our backrow made 44 metres to the Welsh backrows 21,our backrow made 1 clean break to the Welsh 0,our BR 11 passes to Wales 4 and on turnovers won there are no stats so I went to the IRB website which says that ruck and maul turnovers won were 4 to 1 in favour of Ireland.The only area the Welsh backrow outperformed ours was tackling they made 55 missed 0 to our 29 missed 3.This would suggest that our backrow were on top and maybe the fault lay elsewhere,like picking a kicking outhalf who kicked badly and having a weak defence at 10 and 12.We also had no running threat from 10 to 13 as all 3 players are getting on and struggle to make breaks any more. http://www.espnscrum.com/2011-rugby-world-cup/rugby/match/93498.html
http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/home/matches/match=11227/statistics.html

It's just DOD blaming the Irish backrow cos there are no munster players there. Can't blame the 2nd row, half backs, back 3 or the coach cos Munster players were playing/coaching in those positions. It's sad but true and now i'll be attacked for anti- munster bias cos I have the cheek to criticise Kidney and question ROG's ability and even consider the fact the Sexton should have been selected ahead of him.

Nnnnnoooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!! Please don't mention those two outhalfs in the one post, it is a call to arms for all Munster/Leinster/Lunster people.

Maybe Sexton's Munster bloodline should be brought to the table at this stage in order to soften the debate and ease the transition between international outhalfs.

thebandwagonsociety wrote:

the-goon wrote:

asoreleftshoulder wrote:

DOD wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:He won it playing across all three backrow positions actually did he not? And once again, the Wales game was not the fault of SOB/Ferris.. it was our tactics, how we used them both, and our very poor back-line play.

The majority at 6 with one or two at 8. Don't believe he played any at 7. Also we lost the Wales game because we lost the collisions, ergo our backrow mostly did not do well.

Here's some stats for you from scrum.com one of Sins favourite websites.I know how you drool all over Sin for his use of stats so lets see if you're consistent.

Our backrow made 44 metres to the Welsh backrows 21,our backrow made 1 clean break to the Welsh 0,our BR 11 passes to Wales 4 and on turnovers won there are no stats so I went to the IRB website which says that ruck and maul turnovers won were 4 to 1 in favour of Ireland.The only area the Welsh backrow outperformed ours was tackling they made 55 missed 0 to our 29 missed 3.This would suggest that our backrow were on top and maybe the fault lay elsewhere,like picking a kicking outhalf who kicked badly and having a weak defence at 10 and 12.We also had no running threat from 10 to 13 as all 3 players are getting on and struggle to make breaks any more. http://www.espnscrum.com/2011-rugby-world-cup/rugby/match/93498.html
http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/home/matches/match=11227/statistics.html

It's just DOD blaming the Irish backrow cos there are no munster players there. Can't blame the 2nd row, half backs, back 3 or the coach cos Munster players were playing/coaching in those positions. It's sad but true and now i'll be attacked for anti- munster bias cos I have the cheek to criticise Kidney and question ROG's ability and even consider the fact the Sexton should have been selected ahead of him.

Nnnnnoooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!! Please don't mention those two outhalfs in the one post, it is a call to arms for all Munster/Leinster/Lunster people.

Maybe Sexton's Munster bloodline should be brought to the table at this stage in order to soften the debate and ease the transition between international outhalfs.

Sexton will be having nothing to do with Munster. His bloodline comes from the autonomous Kingdom of Kerry. And he's very proud of it.
All the best footballers come from Kerry & Dublin. Everyone knows that.

Just sayin...

roddersm wrote:What did people think of the video refs descision to award the try to Jenkins? I thought it was a bit of a joke to be honest and even Jenkins looked bemused.

There was a startling contrast to the video refs descison not to award Murrays try in the Munster game.

Jenkins 'try' earned the Blues a bonus point which could prove costly to the other teams fighting for a play off spot.

It was inconclusive as you and everyone else have already said. So why ask again?

They earnt the losing bonus point.

Morgannwg wrote:
It was inconclusive as you and everyone else have already said. So why ask again?

They earnt the losing bonus point.

Then it shouldn't have been awarded, in which case they didn't earn anything as they shouldn't have finished within 7.

roddersm wrote:

Morgannwg wrote:
It was inconclusive as you and everyone else have already said. So why ask again?

They earnt the losing bonus point.

Then it shouldn't have been awarded, in which case they didn't earn anything as they shouldn't have finished within 7.

You get into alot of woulda-coulda-shoulda though if you go down this route. Leinster won by less than 7 but weren't very convincing. If 1/2penny was more than 7 points behind maybe one or two of his misses would go over as there would have been less pressure. If the try wasn't given, Blues would have had a 5m scrum, a scrum where the ref was blowing in the Blues favour on a number of occasions (still a great attacking position with potential of 3-7 points on the table).

Having said that, I felt Leinster had extra gears to call on if they had fallen behind in this game to come back and press the game. All in all, I thought the Blues deserved to get something from the game.