Leinster V Edinburgh

Paulw

Should be a good game tomorrow. I think Leinster will make a good event of it, and hopefully put in a good score.

Team to play -
Leinster: R Kearney; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll (capt), G D'Arcy, L Fitzgerald; F Contepomi, C Willis; O Le Roux, B Jackman, S Wright, L Cullen, M O'Kelly, S Keogh, K Gleeson, J Heaslip.
Replacements: B Blaney, S Knoop, C Jowitt, S Jennings, C Keane, J Sexton, G Brown.

shmaido

Paulw wrote: »

Should be a good game tomorrow. I think Leinster will make a good event of it, and hopefully put in a good score.

Team to play -
Leinster: R Kearney; S Horgan, B O'Driscoll (capt), G D'Arcy, L Fitzgerald; F Contepomi, C Willis; O Le Roux, B Jackman, S Wright, L Cullen, M O'Kelly, S Keogh, K Gleeson, J Heaslip.
Replacements: B Blaney, S Knoop, C Jowitt, S Jennings, C Keane, J Sexton, G Brown.

anybody check to see if Cheika had a blind fold on last week or something, thats a crazy selection, willis was absolutely woeful

Paulw

Edinburgh team: B Cairns; A Turnbull, N De Luca, M Dey, J Houston; P Godman, M Blair (capt); A Jacobsen, R Ford, G Kerr, M Mustchin, B Gissing, R Reid, R Rennie, D Callam.
Replacements: A Kelly, A Allori, C Hamilton, S Cross, B Meyer, D Blair, C MacRae.

Referee: Romain Poite (France)


I guess we will have to see if Cheika is having a moment of madness or genius.

wesclark

can't go and have 2 30euro tickets.

Holler if you want them; 087 9289854.

I'm in Trinity all day

dc69

WILLIS is pony and trap,cant believe hes been picked again,needs to go back to the under 10's training to learn how to pass!the demolishment of edinburagh we all foresaw might not be so anymore,i have no doubts we will beat them but without that nice quick ball(that doesnt hit the backs in the face) we wont see that face nice flowing rugby with willis on the case.

i hope they give sexton a few minutes,looks a solid player,has a very nice boot,reminiscent of o'gara sometimes(his kicking for touch etc)

Snickers Man

With Whitaker out through injury, our options at scrum half are not all that great. We need to give guys like Willis some match time. He will improve.

You're not suggesting we treat him like Eddie O'Sullivan treats Paddy Wallace, are you?

tHE vAGGABOND

To be fair, I was at the game last week, and it was the worst weather I have ever watched a game in..

You should not judge any back on last week..

Lets hope weather is slightly better this week. Anyway, these two lads are our 9's for the season [and maybe beyond], and they both need games under their belt...

Sangre

"Cold and windy with heavy blustery showers of rain or hail, some thundery. The showers will become more scattered later this afternoon and this evening and winds will ease somewhat. Highest temperatures 6 to 9 degrees."


Its been a horrible day so far, lets hope it eases off. Don't fancy being out in the rain today.

zAbbo

does't look like rain outside, but sure is nippy, looking forward to it.

now to find somewhere tasty to eat beforehand.

bleg

if that rain that hit the west earlier hits for this match it's going to be very very scrappy

and very very coooooooooold

phog

Bad result tonight for Leinster in view of letting Toulouse score a BP against them in the last match.

Why they opted for a penalty kick when Edinburgh were down to 14 men cost them, Leinster won most if not all of their lineouts so they should have opted to kick to the corner and go for a push over try. Edinburgh were down a forward at the time and a try must have been possible.

Stev_o

Seriously could Willis be any worse???? If Cheika had any sense he'd tell him to find a different sport because this one aint for him. Cost Leinster the bonus point

toomevara

Oh dear, real curit's egg of a performance. Good first thirty, don't know what happened after that. Will rue not getting bonus point. Should BOD have played?

Stev_o

toomevara wrote: »

Oh dear, real curit's egg of a performance. Good first thirty, don't know what happened after that. Will rue not getting bonus point. Should BOD have played?

I dunno spent a great deal of time at shouting at his own players [Horgan incident] and the opposition, in fairness Lucca kept him well wrapped up for the whole game

toomevara

Stev_o wrote: »

I dunno spent a great deal of time at shouting at his own players [Horgan incident] and the opposition, in fairness Lucca kept him well wrapped up for the whole game

Absolutely, seemed really tetchy and obviously carrying that injury. Spot on re: de Luca, he was for me the man of the match...

Erin Go Brath

Missed opportunity for Leinster. Going for goal instead of going for the corner in the second half was a bad call. In the context of this group a bp was a must for Leinster tonight. Its going to be very uphill from here i feel. I don't really trust Leinster away from home in the HEC. If it wasn't for Godwins God awful kicking it could've been worse!

phog

Erin Go Brath wrote: »

Missed opportunity for Leinster. Going for goal instead of going for the corner in the second half was a bad call. In the context of this group a bp was a must for Leinster tonight. Its going to be very uphill from here i feel. I don't really trust Leinster away from home in the HEC. If it wasn't for Godwins God awful kicking it could've been worse!

Nay, Edinburgh were never going to win though Leinster should have got the BP, agree with you about going for goal when the Scots were down to 14.

Leinster may surprise us all and get the BP next week.

Erin Go Brath

phog wrote: »

Nay, Edinburgh were never going to win though Leinster should have got the BP, agree with you about going for goal when the Scots were down to 14.

Leinster may surprise us all and get the BP next week.

I hope they do. If Godwin kicked his missed chances over it would've made it very tight, although yeah Leinster never really looked in danger of loosing this. They need to go all out and try and get a bonus next week to keep up the pressure on Toulouse and Leicester though. It doesn't need me to say it, but the margins in this group are so tight that a BP will make a huge difference in the final reckonings.

dc69

this is the second time i think jackman has been robbed of the man of the match award,i really think he deserved it above contepomi,willis was better today but still ****,if they had brought chris keane on for the last 20 mins i honestly think we would have gotten the bonus point

just to add heaslip was immence,deserves call up i actually cant wait to see eddies next team

Crash

Two people in my mind on the leinster side who deserved the MotM award:

Jackman
Cullen

Jackman for his general field work, for decent scrummaging, and his lineout was a hell of a lot better than his average over the last year.

Cullen for the simple fact that he had a hand in everything. and I mean everything.

toomevara

Its heartening to watch a Leinster performance where the best players on the field are forwards. Great performances from Jackman, Heaslip, Cullen, Gleeson et al. Now, if only that much vaunted centre partnership could click offensively I think Leinster could really be contenders.

zAbbo

There goes the chances of getting out of the group, 8 points from 2 home games isn't good enough, and missing out on a Losing BP away to Toulouse has all but ended the HC for Leinster.

Jackz

You could see Contepomi roaring at Willis each time he passed to him signaling that the pass was droping too low as it reach him.

phog

zabbo wrote: »

There goes the chances of getting out of the group, 8 points from 2 home games isn't good enough, and missing out on a Losing BP away to Toulouse has all but ended the HC for Leinster.

It's not so much in missing out on the losing BP it was the way they allowed Toulouse win with a BP that was crazy and yes they should certainly got a winning BP last night. It will cost them yet.

toomevara

Jackz wrote: »

You could see Contepomi roaring at Willis each time he passed to him signaling that the pass was droping too low as it reach him.

Yeah, a foot to far in front most of the time and too low. Also too many steps from base of a ruck before the pass.

Jackz

And it took away some of his running options, steping off the foot of the recieving side because he had to turn and move in Willis's direction, most times he had to kick.

Stev_o

Well Leinster are 3rd in the group now with Leicester picking up the win today

DmanDmythDledge

Cullen has been class this season, has to be part of Ireland's second row in the new year.

bleg

hard to see leinster qualifying out of that group now, have to go to edinburgh as well, and they don't have the best away record there...

toomevara

bleg wrote: »

hard to see leinster qualifying out of that group now, have to go to edinburgh as well, and they don't have the best away record there...

I might be hopelessly optimistic here but I think Leinster will get out, just. I wouldn't worry about Edinburgh, Leinster have their measure. They're cussed and difficult but Leinster have the beating of them as long as the away gremlins don't strike again

DmanDmythDledge

Forgive me for being so pessimistic but I don't Leinster will have the beating of Toulouse or Leicester.

toomevara

DmanDmythDledge wrote: »

Forgive me for being so pessimistic but I don't Leinster will have the beating of Toulouse or Leicester.

They've already proved they can beat leicester (albeit at home), and as for Toulouse, well they weren't very impressive against an average looking leicester side yesterday...it's doo-able (just).

marco_polo

toomevara wrote: »

They've already proved they can beat leicester (albeit at home), and as for Toulouse, well they weren't very impressive against an average looking leicester side yesterday...it's doo-able (just).

I thought that Toulouse getting the losing bonus point was a terrible result for Leinster. Especially in the light of a failure to to pick up one on friday night and the gifting of the BP at the end of the game to Toulouse a few weeks ago.

A two point deficit with only one home game left suggests that leinster will have to win all of those three remaining games in order to progress, which is a tall order indeed.

phog

marco_polo wrote: »

I thought that Toulouse getting the losing bonus point was a terrible result for Leinster. Especially in the light of a failure to to pick up one on friday night and the gifting of the BP at the end of the game to Toulouse a few weeks ago.

A two point deficit with only one home game left suggests that leinster will have to win all of those three remaining games in order to progress, which is a tall order indeed.

That in itself mighn't be enough, 3 wins will bring them to 20 points, Toulouse are currently on 10 and if they win 2 out of their 3 reamining games will give them 10 points and if they collect 2 BP (either winning or losing) then they will be level. It will then be decided on both teams performed against each other and currently that would give Toulouse the top position.

I've said this before and I'll say it again, Leinster allowing Toulouse to score the winning BP will cost them.

Langerland

My God you Leinster boys are tough on Willis. Sure he's Driscolls cousin. He'll be playing for Ireland in the six nations!

MikeHoncho

Fair play to Leinster for addressing the scrum half issue: http://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/2007/1210/easterbyg.html?rss

While Easterby was never the best in the world his experience will be valuable as Willis just aint cutting the mustard yet.

Stev_o

Langerland wrote: »

My God you Leinster boys are tough on Willis. Sure he's Driscolls cousin. He'll be playing for Ireland in the six nations!

Story of rugby in Ireland....as corrupt as it gets

il gatto

Leinster have failed to professionally manage their performances against both Edinburgh and Toulouse. They've given away a bonus point and failed to take another. Somebody needs to take them by the scruff of the neck and start giving orders (O'Driscoll you would think). It's that sort of flippant decision making which doesn't win you Heineken Cups.
Willis is not good enough at this level. Easterby will be a huge improvement, 36 or not.