London Irish vs Cardiff Blues - THE TEAMS

First topic message reminder :

London Irish: Delon Armitage; Topsy Ojo, Jonathan Spratt, Shontayne Hape, Adam Thompstone; Adrian Jarvis, Darren Allinson; Clarke Dermody (capt), David Paice, Faan Rautenbach, Nick Kennedy, Matt Garvey, Bryn Evans, David Sisi, Alex Gray.

Replacements: James Buckland, Alex Corbisiero, Paulica Ion, Bob Casey, James Sandford, Tom Homer, Steven Shingler, Paul Hodgson.



Blues: Leigh Halfpenny; Alex Cuthbert, Casey Laulala, Gavin Henson, Chris Czekaj; Dan Parks, Lloyd Williams; Gethin Jenkins, Rhys Thomas, Taufa'ao Filise, Bradley Davies, Paul Tito (capt), Michael Paterson, Sam Warburton, Xavier Rush.

Replacements: Ryan Tyrell, John Yapp, Scott Andrews, Maama Molitika, Josh Navidi, Richie Rees, Ceri Sweeney, Richard Mustoe.

Referee: Mr Neil Paterson (Scotland)

BritishLion wrote:Welsh team vs English/Welsh team actually

Spratt
Allinson
Shingler
Ed Siggery

the list goes on..

Uh Shingler's actually Scottish you'll find.

BritishLion wrote:Does anyone else think Halfpenny should be Wales first choice kicker??

He is clearly the best.

Does my head in that they always pick the 10 to take kicks by default. Makes no sense why.

As far as I'm aware he has only been taking the kicks recently for the blues as first choice, but I agree he is a brilliant kicker, though I wonder how long before he starts to pick up hamstring injuries with the way he thumps the ball, it will take a heavy toll, just like it did on Henson.

I think Henson's giant thighs and over training caused a lot of his groin injuries.

KickAndChase wrote:

BritishLion wrote:Welsh team vs English/Welsh team actually

Spratt
Allinson
Shingler
Ed Siggery

the list goes on..

Uh Shingler's actually Scottish you'll find.

Shingler might try and claim to be French next week.

Le Shingler. Has a ring to it and sounds like a Bond villan.

Dan Parks = 3 toed sloth.

No wonder they wanted Shingler, Parks is rubbish. Scotland will be after Dai Flanagan next.

BritishLion wrote:No wonder they wanted Shingler, Parks is rubbish. Scotland will be after Dai Flanagan next.

But seriously, Parks is all we have.

Godman? Laidlaw?

Our refs suck too

BritishLion wrote:Godman? Laidlaw?

You seriously think AR will play Laidlaw? He'll probably play Parks / Godman with other on the bench.

Laidlaw and Weir will get their shot if they win the Heineken Cup singlehandedly.

Ion comes on, and straight away the Irish scrum looks better, they win the penalty.

Armitage hasn't got in a fight yet though. Good work.

lovely strike from Armitage

Great kick from that Trinidadian Frenchman Armitage. Is he Scottish qualified?

Although I think he's already played for an international team at some point, the SRU aren't bothered about all that cross checking so are replacing Shingler with him

In fairness I'm qualified for 5 teams

blues doing better. looking much more dangerous. still too close for comfort though.

henson is looking ok but he is showing why he shouldnt be picked for wales, yet. only his 3rd game for blooos isnt it?

I'd prefer Henson to Byrne.

Rees on for lloyd Williams. Haven't been very impressed with him since the world cup warm up matches. Does he really deserve to be on the bench for Wales?

Who, Byrne? No

can't believe how little reward Irish are getting for their dominance at the scrum...

Yea Corbisiero is dominating Andrews

I'm bored. The ref is belting "PENALTY ADVANTAGE" at them as if to infer he'll take it away if they don't use it. What a dull tactic.

disagree with that penalty too, seemed like he was first man there

Me too - he's right to be annoyed

Yea looked like a penalty to Irish there

Irish just need to attempt to get an actual try , which they are capable of , and they'd be fine.

haven't been overly impressed by the ref to be honest, and his mistakes are costing Irish points, it's a shame.

"He tries to do the Parks routine" hahaha.

Bring on Shingler. Shingler v Parks showdown.

Also, why is this on Al Jazeera sport?

What an awful group this turned out to be. Edinburgh are the best of a bad bunch. May finish on level points with the Blues but stay top for scoring the most tries.

Yup, a bit wide there

No if they're level with Blues on points Blues will go through as they won the head to head 5-4.

Edinburgh will bonus point Irish, Blues won't bonus point RM92 and so Edinburgh go through.

If the Blues win then both should go through surely?
their both ahead of the other second placed teams.

Edinburgh and Blues could still both go through, one as group winner and one as best runner up.

It doesn't come down to total tries scored if you are deciding between teams in the same group. They decide the placings on the 2 head to head matches between those 2 teams.

Table points
Tries
Cards.

The total tries scored in the pool stages is only used to separate teams from different groups that are tied on points.

Maybe that was what you meant. Just wanted to clarify.

Excellent Blues defence

Come on Irish. Got a feeling Cardiff will win though

Jesus the blues fight hard for the ball and Dan Parks lumps it aimlesslessly up field and let Irish attack again, he is such a poor player.....

AlynDavies wrote:Jesus the blues fight hard for the blues and Dan Parks lumps it aimlesslessly up field and let Irish attack again, he is such a poor player.....

Total waste of space NWQ player

Parks is angry over the Shingler debacle.

Who's the welsh commentator? God he's annoying. Shut up.

well that should be that. Dreadful match, Irish once again unable to string two decent performances together.

Will Halfpenny even take a run up for this kick?

Casey "La-La-La". Dear God.

1/2p you beauty!

Why did the Ospreys let Halfpenny go?

Bradley you muppet...

BritishLion wrote:Why did the Ospreys let Halfpenny go?

We did?

Result!