Heineken Cup Weekend (9th/10th/11th November)

cruiserweight · 09-11-2007 1:43pm #1

Ulster and Leinster have named their teams for this weekends games

Ulster: B Cunningham; T Bowe, A Trimble, R Dewey, M McCrea; D Humphreys / P Wallace, I Boss, J Fitzpatrick, R Best (Capt), B Young, J Harrison, C Del Fava, M McCullough, N Best, R Wilson.

Subs: N Brady, D Fitzpatrick, R Caldwell, K Dawson, K Campbell, D Humphreys/P Wallace/ N O'Connor, M Bartholomeusz

Leinster: G Dempsey, S Horgan, B O'Driscoll (Capt), G D'Arcy, R Kearney, F Contepomi, Chris Whitaker, O le Roux, B Jackman, S Wright, L Cullen, M O'Kelly, K Gleeson, S Jennings, J Heaslip.

Subs: B Blaney, J Francisco Gomez, C Jowitt, K McLaughlin, C Willis, C Warner, L Fitzgerald

Any thoughts, insights or predictions? I am considering going to Edinburgh to see Edinburgh vs Toulouse

tHE vAGGABOND · 09-11-2007 2:24pm

Going to see Leinster tomorrow, tbh I cant see them beating Leicester - but you never know

RuggieBear · 09-11-2007 2:29pm

ditto

pyzon · 09-11-2007 2:31pm

does anyone know where you can see these matches on tv other then sky sports and highlights in the daft hours of the morning?

Tks

MikeHoncho · 09-11-2007 2:49pm

Going to the Leinster match tommorrow. Im going to give them the benefit of the doubt as its the strongest line up we have seen all season but would be sceptical at their chances.

Scrum half should be a big battle tommorrow as Whitaker is coming under alot of criticism and Murphy is fairly inexperienced but impressing.

Not sure about Gleeson at 6 either but saw it coming a mile off.

Front row battle should be interesting also. I dont think the Leinster scrum will be nearly as crippled as people believe it will be.

Did anyone read the RTE.ie Leinster province preview. He suggests Leinsters best backline might be to have Contepomi at inside centre with sexton at OH and Darcy moved out to wing. Its an interesting point as Darcy is getting swallowed up way to easily at 12 but given a bit more space on the wing he could be devastating.

cruiserweight · 09-11-2007 2:50pm

Munster have named their team as well

15: Shaun Payne
14: Brian Carney
13: Rua Tipoki
12: Lifeimi Mafi
11: Anthony Horgan
10: Ronan O'Gara (capt)
9: Peter Stringer
1: Marcus Horan
2: Jerry Flannery
3: John Hayes
4: Donncha O'Callaghan
5: Mick O'Driscoll
6: Alan Quinlan
7: David Wallace
8: Denis Leamy

REPLACEMENTS:

16: Frank Sheahan
17: Tony Buckley
18: Anthony Foley
19: Jake Paringatai
20: Tomas O'Leary
21: Paul Warwick
22: Ian Dowling

Jigsaw · 09-11-2007 3:16pm

I am going to the Ulster v Gloucester game tonight. I can only predict crushing defeat for Ulster. Bottom of Magner's League versus top of the Guinness Premiership.

I think that Danielli must be injured. There can surely be no other reason for his omission from the squad.

Stev_o · 09-11-2007 4:25pm

Jigsaw wrote: »

I am going to the Ulster v Gloucester game tonight. I can only predict crushing defeat for Ulster. Bottom of Magner's League versus top of the Guinness Premiership.

I think that Danielli must be injured. There can surely be no other reason for his omission from the squad.

Man bring a camera and photo Lesley Vainikolo one of the oh so many players to be like Lomu [ i know they aren't so dont go complaining to me] He ll score all night long me finks

zAbbo · 09-11-2007 7:08pm

Volcano certainly looks savage, it's on Sky Sports at 8pm as well.

Stev_o · 09-11-2007 9:17pm

Gloucester cutting Ulster to pieces man i love watching them with ball in hand they play one of the best rugby you'll ever see

Stev_o · 09-11-2007 9:20pm

Scary thing is that the Volcano can be playing for England this 6 Nations dear god....

Erin Go Brath · 09-11-2007 9:28pm

A bunch of grannies down the bingo would defend better than this Ulster team.

That Volcano is some animal alright. Wouldnt fancy him running at me full speed and having to take him down :eek:

razorblunt · 09-11-2007 9:33pm

Ulster look so bad its ridiculous, Matt McCullough shouldn be anywhere near a professional team never mind starting out of position.

He just went and scored ha ha!

Erin Go Brath · 09-11-2007 9:47pm

A bit of a comeback by Ulster. 15 points down is not bad considering they've conceeded 5 tries. Still Gloucester look like they can turn it on at will!

phog · 09-11-2007 10:29pm

Erin Go Brath wrote: »

A bunch of grannies down the bingo would defend better than this Ulster team.

That Volcano is some animal alright. Wouldnt fancy him running at me full speed and having to take him down :eek:

What's he like in defence? Sometimes these guys have only one string to their bow or have ulster even tested them?

Stev_o · 09-11-2007 10:33pm

phog wrote: »

What's he like in defence? Sometimes these guys have only one string to their bow or have ulster even tested them?

Tackling well he's like any pacific islander you ll know about it. Though he has given opposition gaps to run at

remus808 · 10-11-2007 2:52pm

Just saw this poll on the ERC official site... LOL

"Who will top Pool 6?
Munster (47%)
London Wasps (22%)
Llanelli Scarlets (19%)
ASM Clermont Auvergne (11%)"

Stev_o · 10-11-2007 3:20pm

Leinster are defending extremely well but Tigers still up to there old tricks of slowing the ball down in the red zone and getting away with it, lets see how long the ref allows it. Tigers are probably also kicking themselves that Tom Varndell isnt able to play thanks to the stupid RFU and the fact that their other sharp knife Hipkiss has the flu. Im still confident that they ll get a penalty try from a scrum as the Leinster scrum is in all sorts of problems and that ll increase when Castrogiavanni comes on

Laslo · 10-11-2007 4:07pm

Great victory for Leinster. GO ON!

Stev_o · 10-11-2007 4:19pm

Ill tip my hat off to Leinster they defended Leicesters plan A which was to over power them and it paid off in the end. They defended superbly really set a example. As a Leicester fan im sure many people will be demanding why Tom Varndell wasnt allowed play by the RFU and Hipkiss sickness. That said they ran out of ideas and couldnt form a plan b and fair play to Leinster im sure Cullen and Jennings are grinning from ear to ear

accensi0n · 10-11-2007 4:25pm

Gwan Leinster!

cruiserweight · 10-11-2007 4:31pm

Glad I put £20 on Leinster, but disappointed that I didn't get to the pub to see the game or to Edinburgh to see the Toulouse game. Had to listen to a combination of RTE and BBC Radio Leicester. BBC commented that Leinster seemed to disrupt the Leicester line-out quite well, put it down to Leo Cullen knowing a lot of the Leicester calls.

Marshy · 10-11-2007 4:41pm

Great win for Leinster. It was their defence that won the game for them. Leicester made it into their 22 7 times I think and came away with only 3 points to show for it. They couldn't find a way through when they got close to the line and Leinster deserve immense credit for that when you think of the quality they were up against.

Hoping Munster can match that type of performance later on. Probably unlikely though.

dc69 · 10-11-2007 5:38pm

Stev_o wrote: »

Ill tip my hat off to Leinster they defended Leicesters plan A which was to over power them and it paid off in the end. They defended superbly really set a example. As a Leicester fan im sure many people will be demanding why Tom Varndell wasnt allowed play by the RFU and Hipkiss sickness. That said they ran out of ideas and couldnt form a plan b and fair play to Leinster im sure Cullen and Jennings are grinning from ear to ear

tbh varndell is rubbish(need more than speed in rugby) and hipkiss is nothing special,wouldnt get on leinster team,so i dont think they would have made a difference,the only good backs for leicester imo are tualangi and rambini and murphy.
Their fowards however are immence and i cant believe how leinster stopped them ,great match and great win

remus808 · 10-11-2007 6:25pm

dc69 wrote: »

hipkiss is nothing special,wouldnt get on leinster team

In fairness, theres very few if any centres in the world that would make it into a leinster XV.. considering they have not 2 but 3 of the worlds best!!

BOHSBOHS · 10-11-2007 6:26pm

yup great defence by leinster
leicester were probably a bit distracted with their ,who can grow the best facial hair competition

dc69 · 10-11-2007 6:40pm

karmabass wrote: »

In fairness, theres very few if any centres in the world that would make it into a leinster XV.. considering they have not 2 but 3 of the worlds best!!

sounds nicer every time its said

zAbbo · 10-11-2007 7:17pm

Great game, just back to find Munster going over for 7 points against wasps

Would be great if the two Irish teams could beat the two best English teams on the opening weekend

marco_polo · 10-11-2007 7:19pm

Munster 20-13 up at half time. Good work so far, keep it up boys

Marshy · 10-11-2007 8:21pm

24-23 to Wasps in the end. Disappointing, a game Munster could've won. Pity their second half performance wasn't as good as their first. ROG looks back to his best on a positive note.

Bounty Hunter · 10-11-2007 8:43pm

Munster did not deserve to lose that game, Quinlan was immense. Mafi and Tipoki look very good. I dont what to blame the ref so will avoid mentioning his part in the game. O'Gara wearing red again and back on form. Fair play to wasps though stopping a Munster team like that is really impressive. despite the loss I really got the impression the Munster players believe they can get their trophy back this year (thats right its theirs:D). as always the travelling crowd was brilliant and the bonus point could be very big.

Sabre0001 · 10-11-2007 9:07pm

Cracking match and great performance from Munster - pity about the result...Surprised that O'Gara didn't try a drop goal when they were on the 22line, especially as he had the confidence to go for one from much further back!

Maybe some of the decisions could have gone a different way but that's another conversation

Very proud of the performance and great to see the Irish lads back on form and ready to scrap for everything!

Thought Buckley did alright when he came on - no John Hayes but shows that we aren't completely out of depth without him.

Diamondmaker · 10-11-2007 9:19pm

BOHSBOHS wrote: »

yup great defence by leinster
leicester were probably a bit distracted with their ,who can grow the best facial hair competition

I had to split my slef at the match watching Geordy s new look, Goode was bad too and one of the front row on the bench was sporting what seemed to be a new soup strainer also.

Great game by Leinster not sure why Phil got MoM though?

Few other legends in there, Ollie Le Roux is now officially a tearrace legend sporting 3 different personalised songs, at least , already !!

Oliee ollie ollie ollie ollie ( ole ole ole

)

copacetic · 10-11-2007 9:22pm

BOHSBOHS wrote: »

yup great defence by leinster
leicester were probably a bit distracted with their ,who can grow the best facial hair competition

it's for charity to support the Matt Hampson trust..

copacetic · 10-11-2007 9:24pm

Diamondmaker wrote: »

Great game by Leinster not sure why Phil got MoM though?

will try and watch highlights later but was at the game and he made all the breaks, the try came from slick move from hime and some great tackles along with a great kicking day. The one he missed was actually good, was behind the posts and the touch judges were not at all sure in not giving it. Had to be him imo.

uberwolf · 10-11-2007 11:47pm

copacetic wrote: »

will try and watch highlights later but was at the game and he made all the breaks, the try came from slick move from hime and some great tackles along with a great kicking day. The one he missed was actually good, was behind the posts and the touch judges were not at all sure in not giving it. Had to be him imo.

I thought it had to be one of the forwards, except Jackman that is.

bleg · 11-11-2007 12:36am

munster had a great game today and should be proud of their performance, dowling should have been starting on the wing instead of horgan, he should never pull on the munster jersey again, he simply is not up to scratch. stringer played well in face of the young pretender and the battle was 50-50, pretty much how it was all over the pitch. one of the best games of rugby i've seen in a while. great to see the heineken cup back and irish players playing as well as we all know they can.

copacetic · 11-11-2007 1:17am

uberwolf wrote: »

I thought it had to be one of the forwards, except Jackman that is.

certainly as a group they won the game, but probably no individual stood out among them the way the 10 did although gleeson and heaslip were outstanding, as was cullen. Oh, and jennings. Making my own point there!

Oilrig · 11-11-2007 2:35am

Listening on the radio.

If Horan had kept his mouth shut when pinged Munster could have got out of there with the win and denied Wasps the bonus point.

Money is on Leinster so far.

remus808 · 11-11-2007 2:51am

Excellent day of rugby, and (following on from solid performances last week) a much needed rebirth of irish rugby! Look forward anxiously to the 6N now, hopefully huge competition for places!

This is my first real season of following club rugby, have to say it has a certain edge over internationals IMO! Really enjoying the HC

Amz · 11-11-2007 3:14am

Thought ROG's comments about one or two of the players not having the belief to win were a bit off. That won't help any questions of morale.

Delighted with the win for Leinster, Munster were possibly unlucky not to get the win, but both groups look like they're going to be quite interesting at the very least.

sroberts82 · 11-11-2007 3:27am

Great day for leinster today. Played some good rugby out wide as we know they can, but what was most pleasing was the pack, the front row in particular. Denying Leicester the bonus point at the end too could prove crucial. Losing today would basically have bee nthe end of leinsters season before it had begun, but they really sent Leicester packing. Will be a different story over there, but the first hurdle has been overcome. As for munster, well I dont care to be honest. Well done Wasps.

remus808 · 11-11-2007 3:42am

Amz wrote: »

Thought ROG's comments about one or two of the players not having the belief to win were a bit off.

He actually said that? Christ that's bad form, from a captain especially! and audacious considering his awful WC!

madds · 11-11-2007 10:16am

Saw the highlights package last night and Leinster's defence was superb. Morale seems to be very high as they were quick to congratulate each other whenever a Leicester attack was foiled. Great to see Girv ready to take a few wallops from Corry when protecting the ball at a ruck on our line on 80 mins. I wonder will Cheika go with two 7's against Toulouse next weekend?

MooseJam · 11-11-2007 12:40pm

Munsters second try was class, could look at it over and over again

Diamondmaker · 11-11-2007 12:57pm

uberwolf wrote: »

I thought it had to be one of the forwards, except Jackman that is.

Agreed the game was won up front and thro the front line defence. You beat a Leincester team something mighty must have happnede in the forwards.

I thought Ollie was extremely charasmatic and the Leinster scrum was solid on their put in but the Leicester scrum was carnage on their put in. Down to Ollie and perhaps the inside knowledge that Jennings and Cullen brought.

uberwolf · 11-11-2007 1:28pm

madds wrote: »

Saw the highlights package last night and Leinster's defence was superb. Morale seems to be very high as they were quick to congratulate each other whenever a Leicester attack was foiled. Great to see Girv ready to take a few wallops from Corry when protecting the ball at a ruck on our line on 80 mins. I wonder will Cheika go with two 7's against Toulouse next weekend?

where would one find such a highlights package?

RuggieBear · 11-11-2007 1:29pm

uberwolf wrote: »

where would one find such a highlights package?

i believe he is talking about the one on RTE at 11.30 last night.

Stev_o · 11-11-2007 2:58pm

karmabass wrote: »

Excellent day of rugby, and (following on from solid performances last week) a much needed rebirth of irish rugby! Look forward anxiously to the 6N now, hopefully huge competition for places!

This is my first real season of following club rugby, have to say it has a certain edge over internationals IMO! Really enjoying the HC

True you wont find any world cup shenanigans in style of play for a lot of reasons. Great weekend of rugby i might add and after my fair share of half decent looking rugby yesterday i decided to start watching Bristol do 100% forward work and beat Cardiff^^

Sangre · 11-11-2007 3:14pm

Darcy got no less then 3 penalties in our 22 for the other guy holding on the ground. Its like we have 4 opensides on the pitch.

RuggieBear · 11-11-2007 3:16pm

Sangre wrote: »

Darcy got no less then 3 penalties in our 22 for the other guy holding on the ground. Its like we have 4 opensides on the pitch.

he was my man of the match.

Heineken Cup Weekend (9th/10th/11th November)

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