Leinster v Ulster Easter special

First topic message reminder :

It's here at last.

The winner of this one will have one hand and a few fingers on a home semi.

Leinster in decent shape. Missing Bod, Fitz, Redser, Sexto & Ferg from the top 23. Perhaps a week early for Strauss too.

Form is decent too. Can we keep it going?

Ulster have more injuries and less form. A HC quarter the following week. And lest we forget..... (Yes I'm going to use that phrase again)

LAST TIME THEY BEAT LEINSTER OUTSIDE RAVENHILL WAS IN THE SAME MILLENNIUM AS THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.

Means feck all though. They are a quality side, and well able to give us a shock.....But will they?

LEINSTER:

15: Rob Kearney
14: Dave Kearney
13: Brendan Macken
12: Gordon D'Arcy
11: Isa Nacewa
10: Ian Madigan
9: Isaac Boss

1: Cian Healy
2: Richardt Strauss
3: Mike Ross
4: Devin Toner
5: Quinn Roux
6: Kevin McLaughlin
7: Shane Jennings
8: Jamie Heaslip CAPTAIN

REPLACEMENTS:

16: Sean Cronin
17: Jack McGrath
18: Jamie Hagan
19: Leo Cullen
20: Rhys Ruddock
21: John Cooney
22: Andrew Goodman
23: Andrew Conway

ULSTER
(15-9): J Payne, A Trimble, D Cave, S Olding, C Gilroy, P Jackson, R Pienaar;
(1-8): T Court, R Best, R Lutton, J Muller, D Tuohy, R Diack, C Henry, N Williams;
Replacements (16-23): R Herring, C Black, K McCall, L Stevenson, I Henderson, R Wilson, P Marshall, P Nelson.

He’s got as many HC’s as Ian Madigan so.

Team announcement today then. I'm quietly confident that the return of players combined with the disappointment of recent weeks, might see a resurgence this week, back to the Ulster of pre-Christmas.

Bring it on! Nick Williams gona get ya!

Teams normally named by now, no?

BOOM

(15-9): J Payne, A Trimble, D Cave, S Olding, C Gilroy, P Jackson, R Pienaar;
(1-8): T Court, R Best, R Lutton, J Muller, D Tuohy, R Diack, C Henry, N Williams;
Replacements (16-23): R Herring, C Black, K McCall, L Stevenson, I Henderson, R Wilson, P Marshall, P Nelson.

Leinster team named
Healy
Strauss
Ross
Roux
Toner
McL
Jennings
Heaslip
Boss
Madigan
Isa
D'arcy
Macken
Dave K
Rob K

Suns- Mcgrath, Cronin, hagan, cullen, ruddock, cooney, goodman, conway

clivemcl wrote:BOOM

(15-9): J Payne, A Trimble, D Cave, S Olding, C Gilroy, P Jackson, R Pienaar;
(1-8): T Court, R Best, R Lutton, J Muller, D Tuohy, R Diack, C Henry, N Williams;
Replacements (16-23): R Herring, C Black, K McCall, L Stevenson, I Henderson, R Wilson, P Marshall, P Nelson.

Pretty much as expected, guys to to get back into the flow and Ulster need to get the momentum going towards the Saracens game

I don't like the looks of that Leinster backrow. Lacks a big ball carrier.

Our forwards on the bench are a lot stronger - could be decisive.

If everyone is fully fit we have every chance.

6-2 as expected.
We will learn a lot about Lutton this weekend

There's no way I don't want to win this one.

But I'd rather see us get through injury free and lose than win with more key players getting crocked! Of course, being an Ulster fan I expect that we'll win with no injuries- either that or we'll get hammered with 6 new leg breaks.

Ulster fans; a people of extremes.

We need the players coming back from injury to get a good run out. Chris Henry has been sorely missed over the past eight weeks and we lacked the leadership of Best and Muller. Payne also badly needs the game time. Ideally we need the teams to knock ten bells out of each other to get us hardened for Saracens, but no injuries thanks!

Also, note the treatment of Luke Marshall by Ulster with concussion with how Ireland used POM, Marshall and BOD. Serious questions need to be asked here.

It's Chris Henry and Ricky Lutton who are the key men. I honestly would feel pretty good about our chances if we had John Afoa starting this game...

Just remember before anyone gets too excited about winning this...this isn't an even playing field here, Leinster don't have the Heino coming up ...

rodders wrote:Just remember before anyone gets too excited about winning this...this isn't an even playing field here, Leinster don't have the Heino coming up ...

Thankfully Ulster have a decent bench to fall back on and keep things fresh and protect guys for next week

I expect thats our strategy- wear them down up front and use the impact subs on the bench in the final quarter.

Not sure where this strong forwards bench is for Ulster. the only advantage you have is the extra back row. the rest of the players are way behind ours. and you will need the extra back rows as only Diack is fully fit out of the 5.

Our bench front row is miles ahead of yours as is our starting front row. and while Leo and Louis are very different 2nd rows. I would take Leo every day and twice on Sundays.

It's down to physicality. We have more physicality to come off the bench in Stevenson, Henderson and Wilson. Thats a big injection of beef. We also have a more physical starting second row and back row.

I'm not saying we have a better pack, although if we had Afoa and a few more guys closer to full fitness we might do.

Agree about your starting front row as a unit- again if we had Afoa... We really are missing our key man. Replacement front row for either side isn't great however.

The big advantage you have is tighthead to be honest. Two better tightheads than what we have in our squad. I'd love to poach one of them to start. Apart from that, there isn't much i would be happy to trade with Leinster up front. If we can slow the game down, we have more out and out physical power. The big concern is the scrums.

I expect Leinster to continue to be able to compensate for that btw. Their forwards mobility, technical skill and offloading game has been compensating for a lack of outright power for several years with great success.

Last time we beat them it was because we managed to make the game about sheer physicality but that was off the back of a dominant scrum. Again, if not for the situation at tighthead I would feel confident about taking them on up front but i still expect to be winning collisions.

You will probably have to shift Diack to 7. Wilson to replace Williams and henderson into 6.

Impact and grunt perhaps. but tired and unfit players both on and off.

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:You will probably have to shift Diack to 7. Wilson to replace Williams and henderson into 6.

Impact and grunt perhaps. but tired and unfit players both on and off.

I think you're a bit optimistic to think they're all going to be puffing after 40 mins!

Sure we'll see. Hope it's a cracker with no injuries for either side, and 28 20 to us.
Any of you coming down for it?

No, saving my money for the playoffs.

I mean money for merchandise and that. We won't be travelling anywhere

Notch wrote:No, saving my money for the playoffs.

I mean money for merchandise and that. We won't be travelling anywhere

well if you win tomorrow. you are fairly guaranteed a home semi.

Hoped to make it down Val but can't ....besides I'd best stay up here in the sunshine than come down there and freeze my bollix off....

Hey Notch is the snow cleared your way yet?

Beautiful sunny day here. Snow didn't hang around for more than a few hours the other day.

Feic sake.... is it a sell out val?

Not sure where the Ulster lads are getting this pack superiority thing from?

You do have an extra man on the bench and yes that will benefit you but I can see your scrum being penalized all day long. We have one of the best front rows in the league starting for us and a front row bench that looks pretty handy.

Your lock pairing is better granted although I think you Northern lot do underrate our lads in this regard.

I would say that the two backrows are pretty even, including Ruddock/Wilson.

This is going to be a tough game I would say.

I wonder where O'Malley went to? He looked to be in good form and Macken hasn't featured much since EOM came back from injury.

Also SOB? He would shift this game right in our favour if he was playing, where is he?

pete (buachaill on eirne) wrote:Not sure where the Ulster lads are getting this pack superiority thing from?

You do have an extra man on the bench and yes that will benefit you but I can see your scrum being penalized all day long. We have one of the best front rows in the league starting for us and a front row bench that looks pretty handy.

Your lock pairing is better granted although I think you Northern lot do underrate our lads in this regard.

Yeah I heard them say Toner and Cullen was one of the worst lock parings in the league. They have good depth at lock, you will sometimes see them playing 4 r 5 locks in a matchday squad. We have waaay better depth in the back row and better in the front row too

pete (buachaill on eirne) wrote:

I would say that the two backrows are pretty even, including Ruddock/Wilson.

This is going to be a tough game I would say.

I wonder where O'Malley went to? He looked to be in good form and Macken hasn't featured much since EOM came back from injury.

Rotated. Him and Macken will be rotated at 13. In the same way as we didn't replace Rocky, we rotated SOB and McLaughlin because of their different strengths.

pete (buachaill on eirne) wrote:Also SOB? He would shift this game right in our favour if he was playing, where is he?

Apparently rested by IRFU. Like Conor Murray. They are not ALL back this week.

BOD may well have been rested if he was not banned. Luke Marshall too. Although I think that is supposed to be more down to Ulster.

According to Geoff, Marshall trained fully. Just wanted to give him an extra week due to the concussions.

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:

pete (buachaill on eirne) wrote:Not sure where the Ulster lads are getting this pack superiority thing from?

You do have an extra man on the bench and yes that will benefit you but I can see your scrum being penalized all day long. We have one of the best front rows in the league starting for us and a front row bench that looks pretty handy.

Your lock pairing is better granted although I think you Northern lot do underrate our lads in this regard.

Yeah I heard them say Toner and Cullen was one of the worst lock parings in the league. They have good depth at lock, you will sometimes see them playing 4 r 5 locks in a matchday squad. We have waaay better depth in the back row and better in the front row too

pete (buachaill on eirne) wrote:

I would say that the two backrows are pretty even, including Ruddock/Wilson.

This is going to be a tough game I would say.

I wonder where O'Malley went to? He looked to be in good form and Macken hasn't featured much since EOM came back from injury.

Rotated. Him and Macken will be rotated at 13. In the same way as we didn't replace Rocky, we rotated SOB and McLaughlin because of their different strengths.

pete (buachaill on eirne) wrote:Also SOB? He would shift this game right in our favour if he was playing, where is he?

Apparently rested by IRFU. Like Conor Murray. They are not ALL back this week.

BOD may well have been rested if he was not banned. Luke Marshall too. Although I think that is supposed to be more down to Ulster.

Yeah I couldn't get over the weakest second row pairing thing, they are weak by our standards but are a vital part of a team that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Can any Ulster fans give a bit of background on Ricky Lutton? First start at tighthead in a big game, is there any chance he is a future Ireland international?

Archer, Bent, Buckley... yes I'd say there is a slim chance

Lutton is 26 i think, and a LH! Unless he has a meteoric rise then no chance!

OK, nobody panic here. Like me.

Has anyone got a link for this game? Cant believe how many sites have been shutdown/disallowed.

PM me if ye have. Its worth a blowjawb.

PM'd ya Gibbo, that link should work when the match kick off in about 60 seconds time.

Come on Ulster, lets smash 'em!

Feet up, beer in hand.

Ireland, entertain me.

Would also appreciate a link if anyone has one.

Hanx.

Hope it's a draw!!!!

Link I sent Gibbo isn't working so got nothin for ya folks

Thanks for trying.
Somebody please provide updates.
SUFTUM

Lutton more than holding his own, Ulster penalty from the scrum!

YES! Scrum penalty. Healy hasn't managed to get into Lutton yet. We'll see how his fitness is though as the game goes on.

Stop trying that grubber! Turnovers in the 22 can't be risked.

Leinster are getting very quick ball, and the penalty. Madigan gets it, 3-0 Leinster

Thanks for trying Dodge. Appreciate it bud.

The usual links I had were shutdown. RTE are bhuggers for it.

Haven't missed a Leinster game in yonks. Im on a mission from BOD.

P.S. Anyone who has a working one, please let me know. Thanks.

Try ulster!!!

Woo! Diack goes in at the corner. Some lovely passing from Jackson, great hands by Tuohy to put Williams through that gap too.

What is Clancy looking at? Ulster clearly have to upper hand in the scrum, but George gifts Leinster another easy kick.

C'mon Ulster!

I live in Cyprus, so you can imagine a wee bit of good news wouldn't go amiss this week!

You guys are my eyes and ears.

Paint a vivid picture!

Blue can do no wrong at the breakdown, Healy should have been penalised there.