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

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.

How do you know they wouldn't have finished within 7? If the try wasn't awarded then they would have had another scrum anyway and looked likely to score. The Blues stayed in the game after the start, hence earning just the LBP.

It's all ifs and buts but the fact is that the try shouldn't have been awarded because the ball wasn't grounded or if it was there was no way the TMO could have seen it.

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.

So, if ROG & Murray were to blame for the loss, what were Sexton & Reddan doing for the 30 MINUTES they got? Surely they could have turned the game around in 30 minutes?

Sin é wrote:
So, if ROG & Murray were to blame for the loss, what were Sexton & Reddan doing for the 30 MINUTES they got? Surely they could have turned the game around in 30 minutes?

Well maybe they would have, if the pack weren't so knackered from tackling on the back foot for the 1st 50 min. Ireland were totally gone after the phillips try. ROG's poor descision making and his, D'arcy and BOD's innability to hold the Welsh midfield meant we were on the back foot for most of the game.

roddersm wrote:It's all ifs and buts but the fact is that the try shouldn't have been awarded because the ball wasn't grounded or if it was there was no way the TMO could have seen it.

Which we have pointed out time and time again.........

Sin é 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.

So, if ROG & Murray were to blame for the loss, what were Sexton & Reddan doing for the 30 MINUTES they got? Surely they could have turned the game around in 30 minutes?

Who's blaming RoG and Murray,I'm blaming the coach for not having a gameplan capable of winning the match and for not adapting the gameplan at any time during the match when it was obvious the plan A wasn't working.We got attacked with ball in hand by overusing our backrow and we kept kicking the ball back to them only to see Halfpenny kick it back further again.Even when Sexton and Reddan came on this kept happening so either they completely ignored orders or they were told this is the gameplan let's see if it magically starts to work where it didn't in the 6 Nations or the first 50 minutes.

Its simple really, Deccie should only play teams that suit his game plan.

Sorted.