Connacht v Leinster

First topic message reminder :

The Leinster team to face Connacht in Saturday evening's RaboDirect PRO12 clash in the Sportsground (KO: 7.15pm) has been named...
Coach Matt O'Connor has made ten changes in total from the team that took to the field last weekend in the RDS with only two backs and three forwards retained from the 15 that accounted for Ulster.

With Zane Kirchner moving to the right wing from full back, Dave Kearney moves to the bench with brother Rob taking the number 15 jersey from the South African.

Luke Fitzgerald, who is due to win his 120th cap on Saturday, continues his fine run of form on the left wing.

With 402 Leinster caps between them, back in to the centre come the experienced duo of Gordon D'Arcy and Brian O'Driscoll. Eoin Reddan starts at scrumhalf against his former club, with Ian Madigan beside him at outhalf.

The pack also sees a number of fresh faces from last weekend plus a positional switch in the back row. Man of the Match from the Ulster game, Jordi Murphy is selected at flanker, with captain Jamie Heaslip returning at 8. Rhys Ruddock is once again selected at 6.

Former Connacht hooker Sean Cronin, who spent three years at the Sportsground before joining Leinster, is also selected to start against his former club. Joining him in the front row will be Martin Moore and Jack McGrath, who earned his 50th cap off the bench against Ulster.

Finally in the second row Devin Toner and Tom Denton start in place of Leo Cullen and Mike McCarthy. McCarthy is however named amongst the replacements.

LEINSTER:
15: Rob Kearney
14: Zane Kirchner
13: Brian O'Driscoll
12: Gordon D'Arcy
11: Luke Fitzgerald
10: Ian Madigan
9: Eoin Reddan
1: Jack McGrath
2: Sean Cronin
3: Martin Moore
4: Devin Toner
5: Tom Denton
6: Rhys Ruddock
7: Jordi Murphy
8: Jamie Heaslip CAPTAIN

REPLACEMENTS:
16: Aaron Dundon
17: Jack O'Connell
18: Mike Ross
19: Mike McCarthy
20: Dominic Ryan
21: Isaac Boss
22: Jimmy Gopperth
23: Dave Kearney

REFEREE: George Clancy (IRFU), ASSISTANT REFEREES: Leo Colgan, Ollie Hodges (both IRFU) CITING COMMISSIONER: Denis Templeton (IRFU) TMO: Jude Quinn (IRFU)

Connacht Head Coach Pat Lam has handed 21-year-old outhalf Jack Carty his first start for tomorrow night’s derby clash with PRO12 champions Leinster.

Carty is one of three changes in an all-Irish qualified backline with an average age of 22 years old. The Athlone-native, who is in his third year of the Connacht Academy, has captained the Connacht Eagles in the British & Irish Cup this season and has featured from the bench in PRO12 games against Benetton Treviso and Munster. Carty’s first of three senior caps came against Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun in September 2012.

Tomorrow night sees 21-year-old scrum half and this season’s top try scorer Kieran Marmion play his 44th consecutive game since his debut in 2012.

Darragh Leader has also been brought up from the Academy and starts at fullback tomorrow night in place of the injured Gavin Duffy. The 20-year-old Galway-man has played in three games this season, starting two on the wing at home against Glasgow Warriors and Scarlets.

The forward pack remains unchanged from last week with local flanker Andrew Browne earning his 100th cap for the province. John Muldoon is once again named at Openside while Jake Heenan remains on the injured list. Craig Clarke will captain the side.

There are two changes to the replacements bench with veteran second row Michael Swift returning from injury. Dublin-born Scrum half Paul O’Donohoe is in line to earn his 50th Connacht cap should he be called upon against his former club.

Speaking about the team selection and the upcoming game, Head Coach Pat Lam said:

“With our second and third choice outhalf out injured, we have decided to bring in young Jack Carty to start. Jack has been involved with us in training all year and has had some good performances with the Eagles. It is a great boost to his development as a young Irish qualified 10 to play against such quality opposition and I know he is very much looking forward to the test.

“Young Darragh (Leader) will start at fullback, a position in which he has proven himself with the Ireland U20s in the Rugby World Championship last summer.

“We have an extremely young back line going up against the best team in Europe and the league champions. But we have a belief in our young squad and if every player does their job and commits to the game plan we’ve put in place, then we have every chance of getting the desired result.”

Connacht lineup v Leinster

15.          Darragh Leader
14.          Fionn Carr
13.          Robbie Henshaw
12.          Eoin Griffin
11.          Matt Healy
10.          Jack Carty
9.            Kieran Marmion

1.            Brett Wilkinson
2.            Jason Harris-Wright
3.            Nathan White
4.            Mick Kearney
5.            Craig Clarke (captain)
6.            Andrew Browne
7.            John Muldoon
8.            Eoin McKeon



Replacements:

16. Dave Heffernan
17 Denis Buckley
18 Rodney Ah You
19 Michael Swift
20 George Naoupu
21 Paul O'Donohoe
22 Dan Parks
23 Tiernan O'Halloran

wolfball wrote:heaslip challenge here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCNtq7gU0rs

Thanks mate, its late and no attempt to tackle. Could be in some trouble.

Nachos Jones wrote:

wolfball wrote:heaslip challenge here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCNtq7gU0rs

Thanks mate, its late and no attempt to tackle. Could be in some trouble.

Prehaps its part of the of the contract talks. Reminding him that the IRFU can help him when he needs it unlike in the T14

how this was not forward is beyond me...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ0ho3RncCY

Connacht right now remind me of Ulster the year of/before the got to the HC 1/4. They would do well but not hold on to wins.

I think as Lam said they just need the belief and a little more guile and they could be pushing top 6. Just ask Edinburgh what a bit of belief does.

Yet another incredible farcical decision from the TMO. Connacht deserved the win and didn't even get a LBP - good to see Carty and Henshaw standing out.

Whats the point of TMOs if they can't get simple things right.


I thought Henshaw had a big game for Connacht. He looks to be getting more confident now and maturing. Carty and Leader done well for Connacht. They looked good attacking in the first half. Kicking left Connacht down though.


Leinster won the tight exchanges and started to dominate as the game went on. A few errors cost Conacht like McKeon dropping the ball in the center of the pitch when they had a good attacking opportunity.

Was this the first game dan parks didn't start?

If Connacht had approached the second half the same way they did the first half then they would have walked away with this game.

Over the 80 minutes I thought Jordi was the star of the Leinster pack.  That Leinster backrow is almost like playing with three 6 1/2s.

Never seen scrum penalties dished out for what were obviously a couple of slips by both sides over the course of the game. The ref just didn't want to have to deal with scrums so blew them up quick when he thought they might drag on.

Heaslip lucky not to get a yellow card. That won't get cited, it is Irish provinces playing each other ffs, only a fraction of interprovincial dirty play ever gets in front of a citing commissioner.

The darcy try was at best flat. The camera angles were all terrible, so a question of 'clear and obvious' was never going to work on a 2 foot pop pass taking a camera angle behind the goal or a camera on the half way line.  HC or international games would have cameras on the 5m line looking across and that would have been the definitive view.

What is it they say? Don't lose because of the ref, learn to win in spite of the ref.  This is what Connacht must learn to do.

Read some of the reports in the papers today, a couple are starting to talk about 'brave' performance from Connacht and referring back to the Toulouse victory.  It was a great victory but a one off win shouldn't be championed as the highlight for the entire season.  They need to take what they were doing in the first half and extend it to 80 minutes. They need to use that young backline more agressively. That pack lost focus, drive and intensity in the second half.  Don't let Lam off the hook for the performance over the course of this full season by letting the review of the season be set as 'that year Connacht beat Toulouse'.

Jordi Murphy definitely deserves a call up as replacement for O'Brien this 6 nations. He has been in fantastic form. Very well balanced player.

I hope he gets more game time at 7 than at 8 as well.

Should Tommy O'D or Henry not be ahead of him?
I really like Jordi and do believe he is going to be someone special.
I just don't want Ireland to go too Leinster centric when I'm think that currently Ulster/Munster are on a par with Leinster.
Some of those Connacht kids (more back line than forwards) need to be getting in around the Ireland setup.

thebandwagonsociety wrote:Should Tommy O'D or Henry not be ahead of him?
I really like Jordi and do believe he is going to be someone special.
I just don't want Ireland to go too Leinster centric when I'm think that currently Ulster/Munster are on a par with Leinster.
Some of those Connacht kids (more back line than forwards) need to be getting in around the Ireland setup.

Yeah you're right, TOD should be ahead as he plays alongside POM for Munster and has been in sublime form. His injury means he has lost a bit of momentum and he didn't have a great game against Ulster (with Henry impressing hugely) but i'm sure over the next few weeks he will be back up to speed.

I think Henry will already be part of the squad (he should be) so it is a direct battle between TOD and Murphy to replace SOB. I think TOD and Murphy are actually quite similar players, both are more in the David Wallace mould, rather than a more "traditional" 7.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:

thebandwagonsociety wrote:Should Tommy O'D or Henry not be ahead of him?
I really like Jordi and do believe he is going to be someone special.
I just don't want Ireland to go too Leinster centric when I'm think that currently Ulster/Munster are on a par with Leinster.
Some of those Connacht kids (more back line than forwards) need to be getting in around the Ireland setup.

Yeah you're right, TOD should be ahead as he plays alongside POM for Munster and has been in sublime form.  His injury means he has lost a bit of momentum and he didn't have a great game against Ulster (with Henry impressing hugely) but i'm sure over the next few weeks he will be back up to speed.

I think Henry will already be part of the squad (he should be) so it is a direct battle between TOD and Murphy to replace SOB.  I think TOD and Murphy are actually quite similar players, both are more in the David Wallace mould, rather than a more "traditional" 7.

Henry is the next best after SOB, and has proved that.

I'd consider Murphy and TOD for blindside tho, seeing as POM hasn't been great of late.

Connacht were robbed in this - Copperth's pass to D'arcy for the try was a mile forward and Heaslip clearly knocked on before the previous penalty was awarded.

Leinster were pretty poor generally and BOD had probably the worst game I think I've ever seen him play.

I would like to see Murphy groomed at 8 but game time anywhere is good for him. If Heaslip goes to France he will be needed there and we need backup 8's anyway. We have a few 7's

Heaslip's some boy, every time a Lions tour comes up or his contract is up his form improves 200%.....

rodders wrote:Heaslip's some boy, every time a Lions tour comes up or his contract is up his form improves 200%.....

Heaslip's some boy, every time Sean O'Brien is out he has to do all that fancy ball carrying again and the possibillity of him being noticed by lads like Rodders improves 200%.....   

I noticed him knocking that ball on anyways unlike the referee.....

I dont know if it is because its Connacht but none of the media seem to be saying the poor little guy almost did it. Rather than the errors that cost them.

rodders wrote:I noticed him knocking that ball on anyways unlike the referee.....

Yeah we won that game by a mixture of keeping calm and being poxed lucky.

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:

rodders wrote:Heaslip's some boy, every time a Lions tour comes up or his contract is up his form improves 200%.....

Heaslip's some boy, every time  Sean O'Brien is out he has to do all that fancy ball carrying again and the possibillity of him being noticed by lads like Rodders improves 200%.....   

Lol.

It is SOB's fault that Heaslip doesn't carry, sure you can only have one ball carrier in the back row. Sure someone has to tackle while your team has the ball..

  

Ah Rory. Just because you just don't get it doesn't mean it's not true.

Why would you waste a player like Heaslip on the close in carrying when you have Sob (and/or Healy) in your team?

His carrying is better in the wide channels where he can use his tricky feet.

Heaslip and Sob's games have evolved together for Leinster and Ireland. Heaslip did more deck work a couple of years ago, now both of them share it more.

Without Healy/Sob and to some degree Strauss Leinste,r particularly, are short of
heavy gainline breaking carriers. Heaslip has to do more of it. Him Cronin and Darce are probably the best linebreakers left in the team.

The difference between SOB and Heaslip is SOBs unseen work can still be seen whereas Heaslip only gets noticed when he does seen work ......   

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:Ah Rory. Just because you just don't get it doesn't mean it's not true.

Why would you waste a player like Heaslip on the close in carrying when you have Sob (and/or Healy) in your team?

His carrying is better in the wide channels where he can use his tricky feet.

Heaslip and Sob's games have evolved together for Leinster and Ireland. Heaslip did more deck work a couple of years ago, now both of them share it more.

Without Healy/Sob and to some degree Strauss Leinste,r particularly, are short of
heavy gainline breaking carriers. Heaslip has to do more of it. Him Cronin and Darce are probably the best linebreakers left in the team.

Nope you're right Jenifer, I just don't get it. I just don't understand how rugby works and only see the flashy side of the game..

If only I learnt the art of "unseen work" maybe I could see how great Heaslip is.

I wouldn't worry too much Rory. Fellahs like Schmidt see it, that's the important thing.

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:I wouldn't worry too much Rory. Fellahs like Schmidt see it, that's the important thing.

Schmidt also sees some other crazy things, like the merit of starting McFadden, Reddan, Toner, the Kearney bros.

I regret posting that

gleesonisgod wrote:I regret posting that

  

gleesonisgod wrote:

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:I wouldn't worry too much Rory. Fellahs like Schmidt see it, that's the important thing.

Schmidt also sees some other crazy things, like the merit of starting McFadden, Reddan, Toner, the Kearney bros.

  

I reckon yourself and Rory should take over from Joe ASAP and save us poor Irish Rugby fans from these appalling decisions.

George Hook is retiring in a few years, there's a few posters on here on both sides of the debate that could fill the contrarian nonsense quota for RTE after he goes   

We need George - he spouts nonsense and wisdom in equally measure but at least he is entertaining unlike that waste of space McGurk.

McGurk is sometimes really rude and Hook would be well justified in punching his lights out.
He also has nothing to offer in terms of personality or knowledge of the game.

geoff998rugby wrote:We need George - he spouts nonsense and wisdom in equally measure but at least he is entertaining unlike that waste of space McGurk.

McGurk is sometimes really rude and Hook would be well justified in punching his lights out.
He also has nothing to offer in terms of personality or knowledge of the game.

And worse He's a Nordie!   

There is a pair of them in it. Hook is more grating than entertaining at this point. Give us Philip Matthews.

  We disowed McGurk when he signed for RTE

You can keep him

The only reason for not getting rid of McGurk is if he was tempted to move back up the road   

I don't think so, he's probably pretty settled down there. Give him some extra time off for the golf course or the pub or whatever his favoured distraction is and get a new face in for the rugby.

His wife did well interviewing Rob Kearney and Heaslip...