Rabbo Pro 12 Final thread(Teams included)

First topic message reminder :

Right, now, we know the teams, we know the venue, how do we think this one will pan out ? Although there is less at stake, I think that this game will be a lot better than HC final, and with Leinster having home advantage, it is hard to look past a Leinster win, but the Ospreys have been to the RDS this season and won so they will not fear going to Dublin, also Tandy has come in and breathed fresh air into the squad, but I still think Leinster will win but it will be very close, probably just a score in it. So I am going for Leinster by 3pts.

LEINSTER:

15: Rob Kearney 14: Fergus McFadden 13: Brian O'Driscoll 12: Gordon D'Arcy 11: Isa Nacewa 10: Jonathan Sexton 9: Eoin Reddan

1: Heinke van der Merwe 2: Sean Cronin 3: Mike Ross 4: Leo Cullen CAPTAIN 5: Devin Toner 6: Kevin McLaughlin 7: Shane Jennings 8: Jamie Heaslip

REPLACEMENTS:

16: Richardt Strauss 17: Cian Healy/Jack McGrath 18: Nathan White 19: Brad Thorn 20: Dominic Ryan 21: John Cooney 22: Ian Madigan 23: David Kearney

OSPREYS:

15 Richard Fussell
14 Hanno Dirksen
13 Andrew Bishop
12 Ashley Beck
11 Shane Williams
10 Dan Biggar
9 Rhys Webb
1 Paul James
2 Richard Hibbard
3 Adam Jones
4 Alun Wyn Jones (Capt)
5 Ian Evans
6 Ryan Jones
7 Justin Tipuric
8 Joe Bearman
Replacements:
16 Scott Baldwin
17 Ryan Bevington
18 Aaron Jarvis
19 James King
20 Tom Smith
21 Kahn Fotuali'i
22 Matthew Morgan
23 Tom Isaacs[/quote]

Oh dear. I hope if Ospreys lose they lose by more than 7 or that's quite scandalous.

Absolute joke! If that was reversed it would have been a pt on the second pen.

rodders wrote:Madness. That is crazy.

Ospreys have themselves to blame though.

No they have Poite to blame. He just handed Leinster another bail-out.

Jones should have been carded if VdM deserved one. Terrible refereeing.

Cari wrote:Well done Poite. You've single handedly reduced the Pro 12 final to a farce. F*ckwit.

Cari!!!!!

Ridiculous decision.

I hate it when any match is overshadowed by the referee.

asoreleftshoulder wrote:You can't award a penalty try unless it looks like a try scoring opportunity has been stopped using foul play.A scrum going straight down is not a try scoring opportunity.

If the pack is so dominant that the opposition refuse to scrum properly and if they did they would be pushed over their own line - yes it can be a penalty try for repeated penalty infringements and cynical play on their own try line

In fairness I don't think VDW should have got a yellow. Jones was collapsing too.

Ospreys had a big blindside to attack and they wasted a great opportunity.

Baffled by the refereeing in the scrums myself, Ruddock is correct in his commentry, the referee wont give a penalty try, he is afraid too.

In that series of scrums ospreys infringed as much as Leinster so they didn't deserve a try. Good enough for them. Yellow was a joke.

eirebilly wrote:

Cari wrote:Well done Poite. You've single handedly reduced the Pro 12 final to a farce. F*ckwit.

Cari!!!!!

Billy, but bad refereeing just spoils the game for everyone. That was three minutes extra time that was completely avoidable and unnecessary. No one knew what the hell was going on.

Morgannwg wrote:

rodders wrote:Madness. That is crazy.

Ospreys have themselves to blame though.

No they have Poite to blame. He just handed Leinster another bail-out.

Nope. Poite said he wasn't going to award the penalty try so why did they keep going for the penalty try when Leinster had no blindside winger? Unbelievably poor play by the Ospreys. Shocking.

As a prop I'd just like to say, what a joke. Refereeing at the scrum is the problem, not the scrum itself

asoreleftshoulder wrote:You can't award a penalty try unless it looks like a try scoring opportunity has been stopped using foul play.A scrum going straight down is not a try scoring opportunity.

I see where you are coming from but there was every chance that the O's could have pushed Leinsters scrumm over the try line. Leinster were totally cynical and refused to scrummage properly. For me a penalty try was deserved.

Rodders, Adam Jones has consistently been dropping that shoulder and puling the scrum down. He does every time Poite goes on the other side away from him. Good intelligent play from the prop, but what on earth is the lineman doing? And what on earth is Poite doing. The rights and wrongs of what is actually going on in that scrum Poite's refereeing is extraordinarily poor.

How to spoil a game, nice one Leinster.

I suppose this will be one for the "rugby purists "

That referee is disgusting! Shocking just shocking.

If it goes straight down like it did a few times, then I think it is considered that neither side had no momentum, so you can't award a penalty try, that's as far as I know. Jones was no saint in those scrums either.
However, there were about two or three scrums where Ospreys went forward and Leinster popped up. Poite was indecisive and hesitant.


If Rolland was reffing it could well have been a try. He has no problem giving the big call.

leinsterbaby wrote:In that series of scrums ospreys infringed as much as Leinster so they didn't deserve a try. Good enough for them. Yellow was a joke.

Slap the side of your face and get your 1 eye straight, Leinster are scrummaging down on adam jones so he cant engage properly, leinster have been penalised all game for it.

wales606 wrote:

asoreleftshoulder wrote:You can't award a penalty try unless it looks like a try scoring opportunity has been stopped using foul play.A scrum going straight down is not a try scoring opportunity.

If the pack is so dominant that the opposition refuse to scrum properly and if they did they would be pushed over their own line - yes it can be a penalty try for repeated penalty infringements and cynical play on their own try line

Ospreys were bringing it down themselves fishing for cards. Jones deserved a yellow himself. Very cynical play which is why there was a melee in the tunnell too.

Ospreys don't have a dominant pack at all. Poite is easily fooled.

Cari wrote:

eirebilly wrote:

Cari wrote:Well done Poite. You've single handedly reduced the Pro 12 final to a farce. F*ckwit.

Cari!!!!!

Billy, but bad refereeing just spoils the game for everyone. That was three minutes extra time that was completely avoidable and unnecessary. No one knew what the hell was going on.

All is good Cari. It was a very odd period of the match that i think Poite totally lost what was going on. He was right to award Leinster the final penalty though.

Hookisms and Hyperbole
There was no reason for the Ospreys to pull the scrum down especially against 7 men

wonder_man wrote:As a prop I'd just like to say, what a joke. Refereeing at the scrum is the problem, not the scrum itself

Totally agree. Poite's pauses are far too long in each scrum and that was just a mess. He bottled it. The whole game is going to be overshadowed by that incident now regardless of the result. Appalling.

Was watching a pretty entertaining game here until this French Holly Wilaboobie started ruining the game. Even before he totally fell out of his tree I was only wondering how he's allowed to ref here with such an awful command of English. The man has lost it, and ruined this game...

Hookisms and Hyperbole wrote:Rodders, Adam Jones has consistently been dropping that shoulder and puling the scrum down. He does every time Poite goes on the other side away from him. Good intelligent play from the prop, but what on earth is the lineman doing? And what on earth is Poite doing. The rights and wrongs of what is actually going on in that scrum Poite's refereeing is extraordinarily poor.

Totally agree Hookie.

rodders wrote:

Morgannwg wrote:

rodders wrote:Madness. That is crazy.

Ospreys have themselves to blame though.

No they have Poite to blame. He just handed Leinster another bail-out.

Nope. Poite said he wasn't going to award the penalty try so why did they keep going for the penalty try when Leinster had no blindside winger? Unbelievably poor play by the Ospreys. Shocking.

Yes, so they have Poite to blame because the repeated offence were bordering on a penalty try. Unbelievable poor and shocking from Poite not Ospreys. He's killed the play-off final within half a game of rugby when we are trying to expand the domestic league. This isn't a good advert. Leinster were also lucky not to have players in the bin sooner beacause of the offences after the Andrew Bishop break.

wales606 wrote:

If the pack is so dominant that the opposition refuse to scrum properly and if they did they would be pushed over their own line - yes it can be a penalty try for repeated penalty infringements and cynical play on their own try line

If you say so but I've can't remember ever seeing a penalty try for a scrum going straight down and I'd love to see an example of it.

The refs usually wait for a scrum where the attacking team gets some go forward,the O's didn't do that.I agree that Poite made a mess of that whole situation but he screwed both teams,the yellow wasn't deserved both players went down together.

slartibartfast wrote:How to spoil a game, nice one Leinster.

I suppose this will be one for the "rugby purists "

How are we spoiling the game when we are the ones trying to play rugby blame the ref not leinster

Ridiculous refereeing, that's all I can say.

I don't understand how a ref can say he can't award a penalty try but he can give another yellow??

And people saying the O's were fishing for cards, why would they want another Leinster prop off and having to go to uncontested scrums?!?

Hope Poite can sort himself out for the 2nd half, and that both sides (especially Leinster sorry) decide to actually scrummage properly.

Poite was a part of it but not 100 percent behind it. The players deserve some blame. VDM/McGrath and even Jones were not saints in that passage of play. Hope Leinster hammer the Os, so this is irrelevant.

Cymroglan wrote:Hookisms and Hyperbole
There was no reason for the Ospreys to pull the scrum down especially against 7 men

I dont know if your listening to the commentry from Mike Ruddock but he said the Ospreys were not going to get that try as the ref wouldnt be brave enough to award it. He wanted an excuse to let Leinster off.

No arguments though Leinster are the better team apart from in the scrums. I think the Ospreys have been treated unfairly though in that last passage of play and by a ref who is scared to do his job. Very disappointing.

Like Jiffy once said a rugby match should be about the two sides, not the man in the orange shirt. Well this match is all about Poite now isn't it?

Morgannwg wrote:

rodders wrote:

Morgannwg wrote:

rodders wrote:Madness. That is crazy.

Ospreys have themselves to blame though.

No they have Poite to blame. He just handed Leinster another bail-out.

Nope. Poite said he wasn't going to award the penalty try so why did they keep going for the penalty try when Leinster had no blindside winger? Unbelievably poor play by the Ospreys. Shocking.

Yes, so they have Poite to blame because the repeated offence were bordering on a penalty try.

The repeated offences were by Adam Jones who collapsed at least 2 scrums, including the one were VDW got carded.

AlynDavies wrote:

leinsterbaby wrote:In that series of scrums ospreys infringed as much as Leinster so they didn't deserve a try. Good enough for them. Yellow was a joke.

Slap the side of your face and get your 1 eye straight, Leinster are scrummaging down on adam jones so he cant engage properly, leinster have been penalised all game for it.

It'll take a week of slaps for this guy to see straight. Should have seen his commentary after every Wales game in the 6 Nations.

Why has sheepheads post been removed to we cant complain on mass about it? That has to be worth a ban, I come from Northern Ireland and he is referencing balaclavas over a rugby match - most disgusting thing I've read on here.

I have absolutely no bloody clue who was at fault among the players. I'd hazard a guess that there was gamesmanship on both sides. But that was terrible from Poite. About 6 or 7 minutes on one scrum?!!? The crowd booing. The players riled up. Not good to watch.

I really do prefer the Barnes approach. As long as the ball comes out, play on and let the game flow.

Ospreys had a few chances to play it and they didn't. They were fishing for cards and a penalty try. That's not why we watch rugby. So I'm glad they didn't score.

"I cannot award a penalty try because I 'ave been paid not to!"

Poite's problem is that most of the issues are on the opposite side of the scrum to where he is standing. Adam Jones is a top class prop because he knows when to push the boundaries and gain an illegal advantage when the ref is standing on the other side. What is most astonishing from Poite is that he is pinging the Leinster prop against Jones when he is standing on the other side and simply cannot see what is going on. When he does, Leinster win the penalty. If Poite has any sense, and it doesn't appear he does, he will watch the Adam Jones side in the second half.

That's just not smart enough by the Ospreys. They had a massive overlap in the backs, massive numbers with D'Arcy and Nacewa tied up on the blindside.

They had good possession in the scrum and the upper hand, but Poite wasn't giving the penalties. He was struggling to ascertain who was responsible for bringing the scrum down, and both sides were trying to take advantage of him. In that situation, when the ref doesn't know who's responsible, the eventual penalty is a lottery. Both sides were scrummaging illegally at times; it was a blydi mess. And Ospreys needed to get the ball away and exploit that big overlap because they weren't getting the decisions they were after from the ref.

Takes brains to win Finals; Ospreys thought they could convince Poite to give the penalty try but they were outwitted by Leinster in the end. Ospreys pack got white line fever. Should have listened to their halfbacks. Biggar will be furious!

I guess someone already complained Dodger? Agree it was an offensive and unnecessary remark.

Anyway, i hope the second half takes away from Poite's poor reffing in the first half.

Sheephead that kind of stuff belongs on a soccer thread not here

Now the Ospreys are either very angry and will tear into Leinster or they will give up the game.

Ospreys have come out firing

sheephead wrote:Fans throwing objects from the crowd as players tussle at the tunnel! Should have a large fine or play a few games behind closed doors for that! Brave people the irish as long as they can hide behind fences or balaclavas

Brave person you are as long as you don't have to say that to somebody's face and can hide behind an online profile. Can it mate, everywhere has its twits.

Controversial ending there but Leinster are good for their lead, no doubting that. Dirksen certainly proved his int'l credentials with that challenge against Nacewa

O's need to be relentless 2nd half. From somewhere they need to find breakdown dominance. Hard to see them winning this if Leinster are allowed this much territory and possession.

GET IN BECK!!!!

Try?

jesus christ he's going to tmo?

TRY FOR BECK

Perfect start for the O's

Going to the TMO???