God's Country Vs D4, Kingspan Stadium, Friday 24th April 19:35

First topic message reminder :

Referee: John Lacey (IRFU, 44th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Leo Colgan, Olly Hodges (both IRFU)
Citing Commissioner: Eddie Walsh (IRFU )
TMO: Seamus Flannery (IRFU )




Ulster team & replacements to play Leinster, Guinness PRO12, Kingspan Stadium, Friday 24th April (19:35 kick off):
(15-9): L Ludik; T Bowe, J Payne, D Cave, C Gilroy; P Jackson, R Pienaar; (1-8): C Black, R Best (C), W Herbst, D Tuohy, F Van der Merwe, I Henderson, C Henry, R Wilson;
Replacements (16-23): R Herring, A Warwick, B Ross, R Diack, C Ross, P Marshall, I Humphreys, S McCloskey.




LEINSTER:
15.Rob Kearney
14. Zane Kirchner
13. Ben Te'o
12. Gordon D'Arcy
11. Luke Fitzgerald
10. Jimmy Gopperth
9. Isaac Boss
1. Cian Healy
2. Richardt Strauss
3. Mike Ross
4. Devin Toner
5. Mike McCarthy
6. Sean O'Brien
7. Dominic Ryan
8. Jamie Heaslip CAPTAIN

16. Sean Cronin
17. Jack McGrath
18. Tadhg Furlong
19. Ben Marshall
20. Jordi Murphy
21. Eoin Reddan
22. Ian Madigan
23. Darragh Fanning

It's hard to see who exactly is on the receiving end but it certainly looks deliberate and bloody nasty.

It was Van der Merwe. Didn't seem to cause him any grief though, so not much in it really.

Such poor discipline. Unlike Ulster

Rumours of MOC not being kept on for next season are circling on Boards.

LeinsterFan4life wrote:Rumours of MOC not being kept on for next season are circling on Boards.

where abouts. nothing coming up on the twitter machine?

Some guy on Boards who has a "reliable source" apparently, says MOC could be gone. MOC's interview on SKY after this game was interesting.

LeinsterFan4life wrote:Some guy on Boards who has a "reliable source" apparently, says MOC could be gone. MOC's interview on SKY after this game was interesting.

one of those. missed the sky interview. was the schmidt, Nucifora press conference mentioned

LeinsterFan4life wrote:Rumours of MOC not being kept on for next season are circling on Boards.

I dreaded this.  

I hope it doesn't get dirty.

Leinster frustrates the hell outta me and many others, but I do appreciate the man's difficulties in dealing with many players now who, let's be honest about it, have perhaps three of their two eyes now on that bloody World Cup.  And I do honestly think those thoughts and that future has written much into the overall Leinster season so far.

Having said that, MOC resisted using his squad and moaned when he had to.  He came into Leinster with his eyes opened and knew he was coming to a Union controlled 'Club' and that conditions would be much more controlled and different to Leicester.  But he accepted those conditions when he signed the contract.  So..................  he has to take his share of the blame - NOT for missing out on winning things! - but simply on the continuing level of performances.  Leinster has no right to win titles every year, but the supporters have a right to expect the side to put up a real quality fight, and play real rugby through the season to at least compete.  They have the talent, they can compete at a higher skill level.

But I was dreading a perhaps predictable fall out before the season ended.  These coaches do their best, they're all guys struggling to have careers and make those careers successful - but sometimes it just doesn't work out.

Oh well, we might have created another Gatland here.... If he steps back into AP, we might regret seeing him next year

MOC would be a good coach for a team in reconstruction or a team that struggles like Zebre as he makes you a tough team to beat but he clearly isn't suited to Leinster and their previous expensive game plan. I think he would make a decent forward coach though.