Castres v Leinster

First topic message reminder :

The Leinster team to face Castres in Sunday afternoon's Heineken Cup Round 5 game in Stade Pierre-Antoine (KO: 1.45pm) has been named...
In total 12 players are retained from the team that lost to Northampton in December with Coach Matt O'Connor making changes at 10 and two changes in the back row.

After a strong performance off the bench last weekend against Connacht in the PRO12, Jimmy Gopperth starts at outhalf. In the back row, Rhys Ruddock has failed to recover from the calf injury suffered in the second half of the game in the Sportsground and as a result Kevin McLaughlin comes back in after a recent lay off with a thumb injury to take his place at 6. The other change sees Jordi Murphy retained at 7, with Shane Jennings on the bench.

Otherwise there is a familiar feel to the Leinster line up with Rob Kearney, Dave Kearney and Luke Fitzgerald as the back three, Fitzgerald having recovered from the illness that ruled him out of last weekend's game at short notice.

Gordon D'Arcy and Brian O'Driscoll are once again selected in the centre while Jimmy Gopperth will be joined at halfback by Eoin Reddan.

In the pack, it is the same front five as selected in December, with Jack McGrath, Sean Cronin and Mike Ross in the front row, with Devin Toner and Mike McCarthy packing down behind.

In the back row Jamie Heaslip will captain the side from 8, with the aforementioned Murphy and McLaughlin beside him.

Sunday's game also marks Rob Kearney's 50th Heineken Cup appearance and as a result he will be awarded an ERC Elite Award. The Louth native will be presented with a specially commissioned ERC cap after the game and joins other Leinster players like Gordon D'Arcy, Leo Cullen, Shane Horgan, Brian O'Driscoll and Malcolm O'Kelly on the list.

Gordon D'Arcy is only five appearances short of 100 Heineken Cup caps and would become the first Leinster player to achieve such a feat.

There was further good news from the Leinster camp with the news that Fergus McFadden has come through training this week unscathed and will be in contention for a place in the squad for the visit of the Ospreys in Round 6 of the Heineken Cup next Friday.

LEINSTER:
15: Rob Kearney
14: Dave Kearney
13: Brian O'Driscoll
12: Gordon D'Arcy
11: Luke Fitzgerald
10: Jimmy Gopperth
9: Eoin Reddan

1: Jack McGrath
2: Sean Cronin
3: Mike Ross
4: Devin Toner
5: Mike McCarthy
6: Kevin McLaughlin
7: Jordi Murphy
8: Jamie Heaslip CAPTAIN

REPLACEMENTS:
16: Aardon Dundon
17: Jack O'Connell
18: Martin Moore
19: Leo Cullen
20: Shane Jennings
21: Isaac Boss
22: Ian Madigan
23: Zane Kirchner

REFEREE: Nigel Owens (WRU), ASSISTANT REFEREES: Sean Brickell and Jon Mason (both WRU) CITING COMMISSIONER: Shaun Gallagher (ERU) TMO: Derek Bevan (WRU)

thebandwagonsociety wrote:

whocares wrote:

Nachos Jones wrote:

Golden wrote:Was the Leinster try good?

It was, good turnover centre field followed by a cracking run from Healy.

Looked like a forward pass here. Why no video ref when it matters?
Ah yeah I forgot...  the Leinster/Dublin way

who cares?

  

Anybody else think D'Arcy and BOD were miles off the pace of the Castres centres?  Bai at 13 for Castres had a great game.  Heading into their mid 30s D'Arcy and BOD jus't don't have the pace anymore.

Sorry if thats stating the obvious, but I thought Leinster were pretty exposed in the centre of the pitch today.

thebandwagonsociety wrote:

whocares wrote:

Nachos Jones wrote:

Golden wrote:Was the Leinster try good?

It was, good turnover centre field followed by a cracking run from Healy.

Looked like a forward pass here. Why no video ref when it matters?
Ah yeah I forgot...  the Leinster/Dublin way

who cares?

Roysh on Band. Im pished, stoned and happy. And I dont give a flyin fock.
Lock up your daughters, GF's,  wives and grannies... and Ladyboys.

We are Leinster on Tour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU93u7RhB-U

Artful_Dodger wrote:Sorry if thats stating the obvious, but I thought Leinster were pretty exposed in the centre of the pitch today.

Yeah we were in trouble every time they Casters centres got a run and Gopperth at 10 made it worse,he's a very inconsistent defender and for such a big man he falls off tackles way too often.In fairness he had a great game but he wasn't perfect by any means.

So now the pool looks like:

Leinster 17
Northampton 13
Castres 9
Ospreys 5

Even with a bonus point win over the ospreys were only on 22 points. Toulon, Clermont, Ulster/Leicester and possibly Munster will finish ahead of us. So not much chance of a home quarter final.

So with Munster on 18 and us on 17, theres a good chance well draw them in the quarters isn't there? And they have scored more tries so even if they don't get a bp and we do we'd still be behind them.

Golden
The winner of Toulouse -Sarries will almost certainly have a home QF.

At the moment Munster could end up away to Clermont and Leinster possibly facing Toulouse.
Strange that the 4 provinces have appeared so successful this year yet none may get a home QF.

Great game between Toulouse and Sarries here. Man I love the HC.   

Gibson wrote:Great game between Toulouse and Sarries here. Man I love the HC.   

Yep its a good game.

Ah forgot this game was still to come

Guy Noves. The very essence of the HC. That man loves this Cup.

He helped make it what it is.  

Respect the bones of im. Leinster followed his clubs  lead.

Well done lads. 14 nil down and dug out a win in France while not playing that well. A point or more next week and we will live to fight again. On a drier track in late April. possibly away in France. but bring it on.

Artful_Dodger wrote:Anybody else think D'Arcy and BOD were miles off the pace of the Castres centres?  Bai at 13 for Castres had a great game.  Heading into their mid 30s D'Arcy and BOD jus't don't have the pace anymore.

Yeah was going to say this - but also make reference to Leinster's defence generally this season, they seem to be opened up fairly easily, it was the same against Connacht. What's the thoughts from the Leinster fans.

That's said Leinster showed serious composure in that game, many teams would have cracked under that pressure from Castres but Leinster look to have a bit of steel about them again, they look like a side hungry for trophies.

Very impressed with Heaslip, Reddan and Fitzgerald, Cronin looking sharp with his carrying and Healy looked a beast when he came on.... surprised Kearney got MOTM ahead of Gopperth....

There was a marked improvement in our scrum when Healy and Moore were on. Which is nice.

Couldn't believe Healy was on the bench for this one, what a comeback, and what an impact he made!

Martin Moore is surely only a few weeks away from overtaking Mike Ross permanently. I'll be very disappointed if Moore isn't in the 6N squad.

I would hope you're right Notch, Moore is our best performing tighthead this season by a stretch.

rodders wrote:

Artful_Dodger wrote:Anybody else think D'Arcy and BOD were miles off the pace of the Castres centres?  Bai at 13 for Castres had a great game.  Heading into their mid 30s D'Arcy and BOD jus't don't have the pace anymore.

Yeah was going to say this - but also make reference to Leinster's defence generally this season, they seem to be opened up fairly easily, it was the same against Connacht. What's the thoughts from the Leinster fans.

That's said Leinster showed serious composure in that game, many teams would have cracked under that pressure from Castres but Leinster look to have a bit of steel about them again, they look like a side hungry for trophies.

Very impressed with Heaslip, Reddan and Fitzgerald, Cronin looking sharp with his carrying and Healy looked a beast when he came on.... surprised Kearney got MOTM ahead of Gopperth....  

We've been hearing that about Darcy and BOD for the last 3 years at least. Darcy has been in great form this season and BOD made a vital turnover when Castres were on our line.

Our midfield defence was poor but Bai is a very, very good player and it wasn't helped with Gopperth missing 7 tackles. That was the first time our defence has looked that shaky in the HC this season but Castres are a very good team at home.

Heard somewhere that it was Castres first home defeat in 51 weeks. Great to win that game in spite of our defence and to come back from 14-0 down against a side with such a good home record shows the mentality is still there. I thought the tackling all round was very poor. Jennings was a noticeable improvement in this area when he came on. McLoughlin was anonymous.

BOD again was poor. I dont think ive seen him have a good game this season. Even in matches were the team has done well hes been poor (relative to his team mates). e.g against New Zealand I thought he was one of the worse players on the pitch. DArcy has had a good season and has another season in him but Leinster need a new 13 soon.

D'arcy is having a good season I agree - but O'Driscoll has been pretty terrible bar the Saints game.

I suppose the glaring difference in previous seasons I defensively they were so strong - there seems to be huge gaps now in the Leinster defence and quite a few times O'Driscoll is the culprit by coming out of the line- not just here, Carr's try last week was the same.

The point is this a coaching issue or is O'Driscoll's judgement going in defence? Defensively he was very strong for the Lions but this season he seems all over the place.

Leinster's defence last season was terrible especially towards the end of the season. The Glasgow semi final in the Rabo sticks out as we gave away huge meters everytime we had the ball.

Our defence is actually the thing most Leinster fans have been very happy with. Its our attack that seems to be the problem. I think you just have to give credit to Castres as they are a very good team at home.

What a legend. Although surely he shouldnt have been rushed back so quick? He wasnt even named in the original team sheet.

Beast

Defensively we have been bend-don't-break this season with a little more bend.  It is the attack side of the ball that has fallen back a significant amount.

That said, we have scored the 3rd most points in the Rabo (and are 6 points behind second on the list being Munster).

We have also conceded the second lowest points tally so far in the HCup (and are well behind the lowest tally set by an impressive Ulster).

Overall, I feel we are missing a spark of creativeness in the backline and also hard ball carriers up front.

But our depth is better now than it has ever been and there are plenty of academy players coming through that can step into the first team seemlessly now.

Our depth is good for now but word is that both Heaslip and SOB are gone.

LeinsterFan4life wrote:Our depth is good for now but word is that both Heaslip and SOB are gone.

Jennings is really in his last season as well.  But that means that Murphy, Ruddock, Ryan, Leavy, Auv'a, Gilsenan (potentially Marshall) all to step up.  From an Irish perspective, we know what we have with SOB and Heaslip, it could (a long shot could) be good for Ireland to give more opportunity to the long list of youth to see if they can develop further. Though wear and tear on SOB will be a major worry.  Heaslip tends to peak when he comes up for contract/Lions and notable occasions so whoever gets him in France better be prepared for some Phillips-esque performances at club level.

thebandwagonsociety wrote:

LeinsterFan4life wrote:Our depth is good for now but word is that both Heaslip and SOB are gone.

Jennings is really in his last season as well.  But that means that Murphy, Ruddock, Ryan, Leavy, Auv'a, Gilsenan (potentially Marshall) all to step up.  From an Irish perspective, we know what we have with SOB and Heaslip, it could (a long shot could) be good for Ireland to give more opportunity to the long list of youth to see if they can develop further. Though wear and tear on SOB will be a major worry.  Heaslip tends to peak when he comes up for contract/Lions and notable occasions so whoever gets him in France better be prepared for some Phillips-esque performances at club level.

SOB is irreplaceable and should be kept at all costs. I'd imagine Jenno will be kept on past this season if his form continues and I'd expect Ryan to leave and one of Leavy, Van der Flier and Gilsenan to move on as they are all great prospects at 7.

LeinsterFan4life wrote:Our depth is good for now but word is that both Heaslip and SOB are gone.

Word is that neither of them have made their mind up yet but both want to stay. Question is do the IRFU want to keep them enough.

Absolutely SOB should be kept, but if he wants to go or his agent is asking for crazy money, there is too much uncertainty for the next few years to bankrupt a province in order to keep someone who is irreplaceable.

I'd have said years ago that Ferris is irreplaceable and should be kept at all costs.  If he was on a max long term contract it would cripple a provinces finances and their ability to put together a strong squad.

We know wear and tear will impact SOB in France, because of the type of player he is and how he plays the game.  That is also code for people saying he is going to become injury prone.  Do you want to wrap up 5-6-700k a year on that risk?

Also, I want to academy to be producing multiple SOBs. It is an area of strength, the backrow and it is highly attritional. We have quality kids coming through. If they only have a short career, lets make the most of it.

On an aside, I have to say I liked the way BOD stepped in and had a go at the Castre fella for illegal use of the boot. Thought maybe a second row enforcer or backrow animal should have been front and centre protecting his players but it ended up being BOD who stepped up to the role.

thebandwagonsociety wrote:Absolutely SOB should be kept, but if he wants to go or his agent is asking for crazy money, there is too much uncertainty for the next few years to bankrupt a province in order to keep someone who is irreplaceable.

I'd have said years ago that Ferris is irreplaceable and should be kept at all costs.  If he was on a max long term contract it would cripple a provinces finances and their ability to put together a strong squad.

We know wear and tear will impact SOB in France, because of the type of player he is and how he plays the game.  That is also code for people saying he is going to become injury prone.  Do you want to wrap up 5-6-700k a year on that risk?

Also, I want to academy to be producing multiple SOBs. It is an area of strength, the backrow and it is highly attritional. We have quality kids coming through. If they only have a short career, lets make the most of it.

Id understand if SOB left if he was offered 500-600k but Someone in the media said that SOB was offered 475k a year by Toulon. Now that is probably not true but if we can't match or get near to that then we may aswell say goodbye to most of our players now. The french still have this new deal deal to come too and the clubs look as if they are only going to get richer. The future of European rugby is bleak at best.

Big French and English trawlers hoovering up all the choice fish. The new, big, rugby clubs, will get fat on the back of their sugar Daddies intentions... and when the time and price is right, the same Daddies will sell out to the big corporations.

All franchised by Coca-Cola, McDonalds, WONGA, Nike, SLUT! magazine,  Domino Pizza, an ting.  Its the pro-Soccerball scenario. Ive seen the video before.

It was really nice while it lasted.

I won't blame SOB and / or Heaslip for going, if they do.  Its a short and dangerous sporting life. Underpaid when compared to so many in  far safer and more lucrative sports around them. They deserve the best recompense for themselves and their families.

LeinsterFan4life wrote:
Id understand if SOB left if he was offered 500-600k but Someone in the media said that SOB was offered 475k a year by Toulon. Now that is probably not true but if we can't match or get near to that then we may aswell say goodbye to most of our players now. The french still have this new deal deal to come too and the clubs look as if they are only going to get richer. The future of European rugby is bleak at best.

I thought the top Irish guys were on 200-300k max? No way can we start paying out salaries like that even for SOB.....

rodders wrote:

LeinsterFan4life wrote:
Id understand if SOB left if he was offered 500-600k but Someone in the media said that SOB was offered 475k a year by Toulon. Now that is probably not true but if we can't match or get near to that then we may aswell say goodbye to most of our players now. The french still have this new deal deal to come too and the clubs look as if they are only going to get richer. The future of European rugby is bleak at best.

I thought the top Irish guys were on 200-300k max? No way can we start paying out salaries like that even for SOB.....

 

I thought Heaslip was on 400k? The guys would also get the money for playing for Ireland and sponsorship money, as well as bonuses for winning games and comps.

Dwayne Rooney probably gets that a week... including sponsorship. Funny ol game eh?

I think Sexton's less than glorious experience with Racing will make players think twice. At least on the rugby playing side of things it's a step down, and it has a negative effect on your international prospects.

I'd have no problem with Heaslip going for the cash and a new country and lifestyle, since he's around 30 and has given the vast majority of his best years to Leinster. It also would free up cash for the IRFU to hold onto O'Brien. Losing him at this stage of his career would be terrible for Leinster and for Ireland.

Feckless Rogue wrote:I think Sexton's less than glorious experience with Racing will make players think twice. At least on the rugby playing side of things it's a step down, and it has a negative effect on your international prospects.

I'd have no problem with Heaslip going for the cash and a new country and lifestyle, since he's around 30 and has given the vast majority of his best years to Leinster. It also would free up cash for the IRFU to hold onto O'Brien. Losing him at this stage of his career would be terrible for Leinster and for Ireland.

Way to go. Lose Heaslip to sponsor SOB. Makes total business and rugby sense. Jordi Murphy stepping up helps too.

Gibson wrote:

Feckless Rogue wrote:I think Sexton's less than glorious experience with Racing will make players think twice. At least on the rugby playing side of things it's a step down, and it has a negative effect on your international prospects.

I'd have no problem with Heaslip going for the cash and a new country and lifestyle, since he's around 30 and has given the vast majority of his best years to Leinster. It also would free up cash for the IRFU to hold onto O'Brien. Losing him at this stage of his career would be terrible for Leinster and for Ireland.

Way to go. Lose Heaslip to sponsor SOB. Makes total business and rugby sense. Jordi Murphy stepping up helps too.

What happened to SOB being over rated?   

Just watched the match ( ta to rugbyvk on youtube)

great match. thats what we like to see. Leinster held castre out on their line 3 times each time stripping th eball. that was a the crucial factor. Leinster show why tehy are considered the team to beat.