Wasps v Leinster Saturday 1st April

First topic message reminder :

Wasps have named a very strong side:

15. Kurtley Beale
14. Christian Wade
13. Elliot Daly
12. Jimmy Gopperth
11. Willie Le Roux
10. Danny Cipriani
9. Dan Robson
1. Matt Mullan
2. Tommy Taylor
3. Jake Cooper-Woolley
4. Joe Launchbury (c)
5. Kearnan Myall
6. James Haskell
7. Thomas Young
8. Nathan Hughes

Replacements:
16. Ashley Johnson
17. Simon McIntyre
18. Marty Moore
19. Matt Symons
20. Alex Rieder
21. Joe Simpson
22. Alapati Leiua
23. Josh Bassett

Decent Leinster side too:

15. Joey Carbery
14. Adam Byrne
13. Garry Ringrose
12. Robbie Henshaw
11. Isa Nacewa (captain)
10. Jonathan Sexton
9. Luke McGrath
1. Jack McGrath
2. Richardt Strauss
3. Tadhg Furlong
4. Devin Toner
5. Hayden Triggs
6. Dan Leavy
7. Sean O’Brien
8. Jack Conan

Replacements:
16. James Tracy
17. Cian Healy
18. Michael Bent
19. Ross Molony
20. Josh van der Flier
21. Jamison Gibson-Park
22. Fergus McFadden
23. Zane Kirchner

GunsGermsV2 wrote:Munster at home should be able to beat Sarries, although I would say if Leinster played Sarries at home they would also beat them. I think both Munster and Leinster would struggle to beat Clermont away but both could pull it off. Not much between the sides at the moment.

I think Munster are a more difficult prospect than Leinster. Certainly think Sarries will have been a sterner test for Leinster than Wasps.

Semi finals is harder to call than quarter finals. I thought it would be 4 home wins. Edge to home teams in the semi finals though.

Sarries are probably a better team but I think the score line v Glasgow flattered them. Glasgow ran out of ideas and then gave up. Yes they would be tougher than Wasps but the Leinster pack and backs would be more than a match for the Sarries players.

Sarries game plan seems to revolve around a ferocious blitz defence. When I have seen them play they seem to often have less possession and soak up pressure until the opposition cracks. I think Leinster are better equipped to deal with that than Glasgow. I'd fancy Sexton to mix things up a lot more to keep the Sarries defence guessing until we found a way through. I dont think our defense would be as leaky as Glasgow's though we have our moments too.

I was kind of hoping we would get either Toulon or Sarries in the Semis and it would be more satisfying knocking one of them out.

GunsGermsV2 wrote:Sarries are probably a better team but I think the score line v Glasgow flattered them. Glasgow ran out of ideas and then gave up. Yes they would be tougher than Wasps but the Leinster pack and backs would be more than a match for the Sarries players.

Sarries game plan seems to revolve around a ferocious blitz defence. When I have seen them play they seem to often have less possession and soak up pressure until the opposition cracks. I think Leinster are better equipped to deal with that than Glasgow. I'd fancy Sexton to mix things up a lot more to keep the Sarries defence guessing until we found a way through. I dont think our defense would be as leaky as Glasgow's though we have our moments too.

I was kind of hoping we would get either Toulon or Sarries in the Semis and it would be more satisfying knocking one of them out.

Toulon have not been particularly impressive this year, it is unsurprising they bowed out unceremoniously in the 1/4 finals, I thought they were lucky to make it that far.

Rugby is an 80+ game. I think the Wasps-Leinster game would have been much tougher if not for Le Roux's silly error. Leinster were unpicked on a few occasions, just Wasps didn't have enough coherency.

Saracens were always on top vs Glasgow, Glasgow just managed to hang in there for 60 minutes and couldn't match the intensity for 80 minutes. Now of course injuries don't help - J.Gray is a big blow but Saracens were denied tries on a few occasions. Not as if Saracens created only 4 opportunities and scored 4 tries.

Munster's lack of tries conceded is a big concern in the semi finals.