Leinster V Scarlets Now with added Teams

First topic message reminder :

LEINSTER:

15: Isa Nacewa
14: David Kearney
13: Eoin O'Malley
12: Fergus McFadden
11: Fionn Carr
10: Ian Madigan
9: Eoin Reddan

1: Jack McGrath
2: Sean Cronin
3: Jamie Hagan
4: Damian Browne
5: Devin Toner
6: Kevin McLaughlin CAPTAIN
7: Shane Jennings
8: Rhys Ruddock

REPLACEMENTS:

16: Richardt Strauss
17: Heinke van der Merwe
18: Nathan White
19: Leo Auva'a
20: Dominic Ryan
21: Isaac Boss
22: Noel Reid
23: Brendan Macken

SCARLETS:

15: Dan Newton
14: Liam Williams
13: Gareth Maule CAPTAIN
12: Scott Williams
11: Andy Fenby
10: Stephen Jones
9: New Strategy. No Scrum Half!

1: Rhodri Jones
2: Emyr Phillips
3: Deacon Manu
4: Sione Timani
5: Dominic Day
6: Josh Turnbull
7: Johnathan Edwards
8: Kieran Murphy

REPLACEMENTS:

16: Craig Hawkins
17: Phil John
18: Peter Edwards
19: Damian Welch
20: Ben Morgan
21: Liam Davies
22: Adam Warren
23: Viliame Iongi

REFEREE: Nigel Owens (WRU), ASSISTANT REFEREES: David Wilkinson, Stuart Gaffakin (both IRFU), 4th OFFICIAL: Ed Kenny (Leinster Rugby Referees), 5th OFFICIAL: John Montayne (Leinster Rugby Referees), TMO: Kevin Beggs (IRFU)

Same here Chunky. Looking at how other teams have been beaten out there this season, a LBP would be fantastic. We should go all out for the win first though, that should deffo be our priority. 4 points right now would do wonders for us.

Scarlets team looks pretty good bar Scrum Half. Who's this lad Kieran Murphy? And why is he not playing for us?

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:Scarlets team looks pretty good bar Scrum Half.

You don't rate the lad?

Chunky Norwich wrote:

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:Scarlets team looks pretty good bar Scrum Half.

You don't rate the lad?

He's a bit Anonymous

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:

Chunky Norwich wrote:

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:Scarlets team looks pretty good bar Scrum Half.

You don't rate the lad?

He's a bit Anonymous

Strange player to single out. There are wink leaks in that Scarlets team far weaker than 9.

Ah I just saw what you were on about!

why has he been removed?

1-14 are Irish and there are 7 internationals starting. Not bad going for a mid 6 nations game.

Chunky Norwich wrote:Ah I just saw what you were on about!

why has he been removed?

Who was he in the first place?

Scarlets have announced that Gareth Davies wil be scrum half after all, even though they were confident of beating Leinster with only 14 men

Great to see Dom Ryan back by the way.
We’re clearly bollixed for second rows when we can’t even put one on the bench. Hurry up there Mr Thorn.

I hadn't even noticed that our SH wasn't included!

Still 19 out of the 23 are Welsh (or WQ) and there's 5 internationals included. Very happy with that.

They weren't gonna bother with a scrumhalf because they planned to win just using their pack. Typical Scarlets.

Is Flanagan injured?

Again im surprised with McLaughlin captaincy when Ruddock and Jennings are there. I know Ruddock is young but he has captained them before and Jennings i thought was pretty much the vice-captain (is there such a thing?).

ha yes that typical Scarlets forward orientated style we play, curse us....


Perhaps they realise Stevo's been gearing up to play so they just decided to let him be the 9 AND the 10. He's just that good see

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:

Chunky Norwich wrote:Ah I just saw what you were on about!

why has he been removed?

Who was he in the first place?

I thought it was Gareth Davies.

Mickado wrote:Great to see Dom Ryan back by the way.
We’re clearly bollixed for second rows when we can’t even put one on the bench. Hurry up there Mr Thorn.

Kev will be 2nd row when Browne can take no more.

Big Leo to 8 and Ruddock to 6. No need of Flanagan.

Doesnt exactly leave us with much wiggle room if theres injuries

We didn't have much anyway. As long as we don't get about 3 injuries in the game tomorrow we should be ok.

Not a bad Scarlets side - still don't expect much but hopefully we can rediscover some form - a shame that Iestyn is out though

Should be a good game

Some bloke called rhys playing 8 for the Irish side, and some bloke called kieran playing 8 for the Welsh one.

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:Scarlets team looks pretty good bar Scrum Half. Who's this lad Kieran Murphy? And why is he not playing for us?

ha, hadn't looked at it like that Jen!

Murphy is a real up and coming talent for us this season, and has put in some good performances when Morgan's been away from the squad. Will be interesting to see how he goes against Leinster.

Any of you Welsh lads/ladettes coming over?

Nope

Was going to aim for this one as one of my away Scarlet trips, but made my way over for the Ireland v Wales match instead and can't afford two trips over in a month.

Now, if only this match could end up the same way as the 6N's one.....

rugbydreamer wrote:Nope

Was going to aim for this one as one of my away Scarlet trips, but made my way over for the Ireland v Wales match instead and can't afford two trips over in a month.

Now, if only this match could end up the same way as the 6N's one.....

It better focking not. There'll be a riot.

ah yeah, but I'll be happy


Would love love love a Scarlets win. I know it's doubtful but stranger things have happened...

Think I'm missing the first half of this one too as I'm travelling back West to my parents' house. Will have to find a link online for the 2nd half.

I let you away with the Wales game Dreamer but if Scarlets win you're taking personal responsibility. You're on a strict 2 strikes and you're out policy!

ha oh dear. Sure can't you just make it 3 strikes?

3 strikes? Don't be rediculous, it would never work...

I'd just like to point out that I had a dream last night that the Scarlets won 25-23.

Don't worry, it won't happen. We've actually been struggling to score anything resembling a try recently so it is a bit far fetched. Still, you never know.....

You never know dreamer - this could be the game Edwards learns not to give away penalties and Fenby cuts loose and strikes fear in to the very soul of Leinster! Or maybe not...

ahem, shouldn't laugh at that really. But 'crazy legs' Fenby, cut loose?! never! Hope he plays better than last week though.

JEdwards needs to be wiser as to where on the pitch he gives away his penalties. And him and Turnbull need to stop farting around in the midfield and actually start supporting the forwards in the contact area. They were both very poor at this against Glasgow. Secure the ball first please lads before wanting to play like you're a back!

Do you lads think you can take on a very young and inexperienced Leinster front row?

I see that being our big weakness tonight but still think we should win.

If Iestyn Thomas had have been fit then yes perhaps.

However we're playing a pretty inexperienced front row ourselves (Manu aside). We're starting with our 3rd choice hooker and we have the 4th choice one on the bench, that whilst he's great for Llanelli RFC, is not Pro12 level.

So I think that will level out the front row battle!

Just had a look at the stats for our two starting props.

Hagan is 24
McGrath is 22
Hagan is 6’’3’
McGrath is 6’’0’
They’re both 18st 2lbs!

2 big youngfellas!

16 - 13 FT score to Leinster. Scarlets gave away a penalty with 10 seconds to go.

Gutted doesn't come close to describing how I'm feeling.

I know I said I'd be happy with a LBP from this, but being so close to getting 2 points from the draw and then just throwing it away, really really hurts.

Da iawn Leinster though

rugbydreamer wrote:16 - 13 FT score to Leinster. Scarlets gave away a penalty with 10 seconds to go.

Gutted doesn't come close to describing how I'm feeling.

I know I said I'd be happy with a LBP from this, but being so close to getting 2 points from the draw and then just throwing it away, really really hurts.

Da iawn Leinster though

Ouch

Being that close to beating Leinster at the RDS is very good though, especially with so many backs away with Wales, wasn't a bad Leinster team either.

Samething happend last season vs munster and ulster. Guttd

Yikes that was pretty close eh! Fair play to the Scarletts pack they really fronted up and got stuck into us.

I think we deserved to win and by another score but was a touch disappointed with the performance of some.

Ruddock again wasn't great and is really proving he is a 6 not an 8 even if 8 is what he prefers.
Wasn't a good performance by Boss either when he came on.

I thought O'Malley and McFadden came out pretty good last night and obviously Íosa was doing his walking on water trick. Avuav's made a big impact when he came on and Hagan did pretty well too.

Great game even if it probably was quite frustrating for both sides given the final close score.

Leinster needed a tough game. No, like Schmidt alluded to, I don't pretend to like tough games - but as the end beckons for all competitions, Leinster needed to be reminded of what a not so free running game looked like and how it might be managed. They mightn't have really worked out how to manage it but they'll have come away with lots of stuff to work on and hone. Boy, did Scarlets stand up to the task and give them that tough game. A Furious defensive game that left Leinster quite short on options.

The disparity in how Ireland play and how the Provinces play is seriously undermining the potential of both. Players coming back to province are so out of step with the rhythms that it always needs a few games before they are back up to speed on Provincial patterns.

But Scarlets weren't observers in our domestic Provincial/International difficulties..they came to disrupt Leinster's game, play without fear, and with the intention of putting in a full 80 minutes of aggressive intensity. Their defence looked much more watertight than ours and so I was at least delighted that in the second half the Leinster guys knew their best bet was to keep bullying themselves up field and to keep possession even with so little opportunity to make the possession count.

It was very nice to see us realising how good their defence was and as a team make a concious effort to simplify things and keep the ball.

Being able to change the plan during the game is always good.

Fair play Scarlets again. Great honesty of effort, in a way I was gutted for ye

Fergus has a very unsual kicking style. He kicks it more like you would kick a GAA ball, he gets some savage curl on it.

They also don't seem to lob as much, he kicks like a rocket, it stays quite low. He is the same out of hand as well.

Anyone else think that Boss was really poor when he came on? Ruddock at 8 too?

Good to see Dom Ryan back on the pitch.

I don't think it even needs a question...Boss proved he was quite poor but Redden wasn't getting much traction either from that particular game. I think Scarlets were forever causing disruption to our perfectly smooth plans and yep, they did unsettle us. So Boss comes into a side already unsettled and unsure about how the game is going to go, and that mood catches him and gives him some wobbles.

I just think Scarlets forced the unsteady mood onto us as a whole and players performed not so well under the pressure.

First of all credit to the Scarlets, they defended so well last night, but for the second half they hardly looked like scoring.

Thought Ryan seemed to make a really positive impact on the game.

How long did Ryan get on the pitch? How did he play?

He only got 10 mins but he looked really good I thought. Carried well and made a couple of great tackles. I think we're going to see a big year from Dom next season.

Sounds great, but doesn't sound like he is doing the 7 thing everyone is wanting from him? Do you see him as a 6 or a 7?

That's just it. Everyone seems to be clamouring for him as a 7. But to me he is a best at 6.

He is really a 6.4 or so. 3" shorter than the lineout 6s like Rocky, Tom Croft etc.

A few inches taller than groundhogs like Shane Jennings etc. He is a real inbetwener.

Certainly fast enough to be a link man. Fast enough off the side of a scrum to kill an opposition 10. Fabulous tackler, very strong. Good carrier.

I think he may end up at 7 just because Leinster and Ireland have too many 6s and not enough 7s.

He is 6 foot 3 apparently, 1.91m. There are few 7s that tall. Barclay comes to mind, and Ouedraogo for France, who isn't a "proper" openside, but a fantastic link-man. There is also Chris Henry who has now made an excellent transition to 7. That is all that comes to mind really for 7s that tall. But even all 3 of those players I mention are very different players, so when people describe "natural" 7s, it can be pretty confusing as all 7s play a different type of game for their team IMO.

For example, I think Jennings is not like McCaw, but he plays a more constructive game and helps keep the pace for Leinster. So maybe Ryan could suit Leinster even if he isn't a breakdown specialist, as he could provide an excellent role as an up-front tackler and link-man. Which is more reminiscent of the french 7s. I have always felt Leinster play similar to a more consistent France.

The two back row combinations I would like to see for Leinster:

Pro 12:
6) Ryan
7) Jennings
8) Ruddock

Jennings to come off for Auva'a at some point, Ruddock goes to 6 and Ryan to 7.

HEC:
6) McLaughlin
7) SOB
8) Heaslip

Jennings/Ruddock on the bench. I still think SOB is the best option for Leinster and Ireland at 7.