Heineken Cup QF - Leinster v Saracens 19 Sep

First topic message reminder :

Last weekend, Leinster were playing in a PRO14 Championship final with a full First team 23 squad out playing. Meanwhile Saracens fielded their 2nds and 3rds in a meaningless game against Exeter and rested all their stars.

Both teams operate good academies and make use of their players during the season. Saracens will be without their inside centre/10 Owen Farrell and Leinster may be without TH Tadgh Furlong and opensider Dan Leavy who was a real thorn in the side for the Londoners the last time he played them in 2018.

Neither side underestimates the other in their ability to match stout defence with relentless attack. The differences between the two teams may come from the bench at the hour mark.

With a French referee officiating, both teams will have to learn to adapt quickly to his interpretation of the new breakdown laws.

Odds for this match have Leinster at 1/4 and Saracens at 3/1. But between these two teams, nothing is certain. In Head to Head it’s currently 3-1 in favour of the newly installed PRO14 Champions.

Should be a cracker with Saracens season the line before they head for the other Championship.

Chip away.

Sexton half-time talk needed

Rugby Fan wrote:Sexton half-time talk needed

Probably tempting fate but Sexton is past it.

Scrum,penalty scrum penalty no way back

Very very impressive first half

Duty281 wrote:
Far from over yet though. Leinster have a vastly superior bench, and I doubt Saracens can keep this tempo and fierceness in defence up for 80 whole minutes.

Agree the bench might be vital. If Leinster can grab some early points in the second half they'll fancy this. If Sarries score first then that'd be a knock to morale.

You gotta think Robbie McBride must be Poopie himself watching this

Sexton really can’t get a break can he.

BOD telling off Lawrence

Sexton crying again.

Sexton should really be off for a hia. He looked really hurt. Sure he wasnt putting it on.

Leinster big favourites now, Saracens have hardly done a thing in this half so far and it's only going to get tougher.

BOD not asking why Sexton isn't having a HIA.

Duty281 wrote:Leinster big favourites now, Saracens have hardly done a thing in this half so far and it's only going to get tougher.

Momentum is very much in Sarries favour. They used some of their subs quite early though they won't be feeling as fresh now. Sarries are freshening up things now so should have some more energy in the final 10.

Been a great game so far

Think I'm about 5 mins behind but Leinster tackled player into touch and made contact with the neck so why no pen?

Saracens pack have simply been immense. Not sure I could pick a motm from them.

Leinster scored 3 points against the wind and Saracens have yet to score in the second half.

Heaf wrote:Think I'm about 5 mins behind but Leinster tackled player into touch and made contact with the neck so why no pen?

I agree, tmo and touch judge both make mistakes too.

Poor from Daly, but Sarries still got this I feel.

Maro is awesome

I don't feel Billy makes the ground he used to. Always seems to be wrapped up by the first tackler.

Scrum pens massive in this game

Sarries forwards too good

Itoje's been phenomenal. Should be MOTM. Foolish tactics from Leinster in the last few minutes, trying to make a miracle score from inside their own 22.

If Saracens hold on, the key moment in this half was Leinster's maul being turned over inside the Saracens 22 when the gap was just a score.

Game set and match.

What a kick.

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:Scrum pens massive in this game

Surprised the ref hasn't had a word really. Any other facet of play there was so many consistent offences and a warning or yellow would have been given.

Fantastic second half from Leinster but they lost all control when Sexton went off. First half Leinster were just really poor and Sarries dismantled them.

They deserve this win, but I still dislike Sarries.

I blame Mcbride

The wind played such a big part in this match but I can't recall the forecast being mentioned in any match previews.

Couple of nice tries from Leinster but they were outmuscled by Sarries ...

Each side scored 3 points againts the breeze, so it came down to which team could score most points with the wind.

The pundits have been made to look foolish by making Leinster such strong favourites based on their league form. They did not take into account the relatively poor opposition Leinster face in Pro14 and that Sarries have had no reason to use the Premiership as anything other than a training session.

8th seed beats first seed - that must be a first? No crowd helped for sure.

- No home crowd
- Leinster players not used to the same level of competition the usual schedule would allow
- Saracens fired up for an all-or-nothing game
- Strong wind, which seemed to favour the side with it to a large degree

All these were factors. We also thought the Leinster lineout might be an issue but it turned out to be the scrum. Owen Farrell missing didn't really matter either. With the wind against them, Saracens relied on Wigglesworth to clear lines, so Goode was never under any real pressure at 10.

Absolutey splendid. Well done Saracens! Just spectacular. I'm immensely grateful, especially considering the odds, our current situation, what we've been through this season and the quality of the opposition.

Is it Ben Kay coughing? That boy needs to get a test

I napped... had a comment left in limbo so going to re-type and send! Well done Sarries, quite the win you’ve pulled off. Onwards and upwards from here (literally).

Well done Sarries. Still the machine that if more than the cogs.

Leinster just weren't at the races and maybe just thought they'd win.

Going to be 2 years before the next grudge match.

Well done sarries, what a team fully deserved.

that had test match intensity but it felt like only one side were prepared for it.

maybe not surprising as that's Sarries last important match if they lost, for at least a year. So can understand they were up for it in a legendary way.

Brad Barritt's post-match speech was the most eloquent and honest i think i've ever heard from these overly media-trained players these days.

anyway well done sarries better team on the day. hard lines Leinster.

Match had test level intensity from one side, Saracens who were the better team throughout. Even when Leinster threatened to get back into things Saracens could find another gear way too easily to cope with it. Saracens are a great side once they get ahead in a game, how they manage that situation, absorb pressure and pull away in games is a real case study.

Far better than Leinster (on the day..... I had written 'on the day' but to be fair Saracens have consistently demonstrated this now for years) and comprehensive victory from any angle.

Tough loss from a Leinster perspective. We stopped Sarries in all the ways I was hoping. They didn't get much of a rumble on in phase play and our defense looked comfortable bar one excellent play off a lineout but our scrum imploded,our maul was dominated and we were very poor under the high ball.
I don't think our scrum is that weak overall so would be confident we can improve that pretty quickly, the question I'm left with is if we tighten up at the scrum then would Sarries be able to open us up in other areas?
I guess we'll never find out as this Sarries team is reaching the end of the road but it will be interesting when Ireland play England.

Rhodes has been cited for striking Henshaw with his head. Can't remember the instance tbh let alone if it were looked at. Unlucky for Leinster if hes banned.

asoreleftshoulder wrote:Tough loss from a Leinster perspective. We stopped Sarries in all the ways I was hoping. They didn't get much of a rumble on in phase play and our defense looked comfortable bar one excellent play off a lineout but our scrum imploded,our maul was dominated and we were very poor under the high ball.
I don't think our scrum is that weak overall so would be confident we can improve that pretty quickly, the question I'm left with is if we tighten up at the scrum then would Sarries be able to open us up in other areas?
I guess we'll never find out as this Sarries team is reaching the end of the road but it will be interesting when Ireland play England.

No Furlong turned out to be a big blow for you boys. He's possibly the best tighthead in the world at the minute and though your back up guys are pretty good the difference was glaring. Mako Vunipola isn't famed for his scrumming prowess either though Koch on the other side very much is.

Saracens will have a very different look to the side next time you play them but given the quality of some the young players they have coming through they might not be weaker. If they use the Championship wisely (which I'm sure they will) then expect those youngsters to be far more experienced by next time out. That's not including the load players either.

Only ended up watching the second half so no idea what happened in the first. Leinster's scrum sounded/seemed like it had collapsed (was it 7 penalties in the end?). It is hard to win when a set piece is falling apart and who had M Vunipola and Koch winning the contest so thoroughly against Healy and Porter.

Well done to Sarries, got some 80 minute efforts from M Vunipola and Itoje as well as several others I have probably forgotten. Surprised they managed to get such a lead, however they managed to hold on at the end. Get a lovely semi final against Racing next week!

Rhodes citing came from the 2nd min of the game. Looks pretty much a red from the angle I've seen. Not sure it counted towards his motm or not.

I bet Leinster pushed for that citing. Sore losers.

No 7&1/2 wrote:Rhodes citing came from the 2nd min of the game. Looks pretty much a red from the angle I've seen. Not sure it counted towards his motm or not.

this is right up there with the dumbest posts here. and thats saying something

TightHEAD wrote:I bet Leinster pushed for that citing. Sore losers.

This comes a close second.